POLICY:

Members of the Garfield County Sheriff�s Office shall adhere to the procedures necessary to schedule, attend, document and pay for any Sheriff�s Office related training and / or travel. Training classes, travel arrangements and other accommodations will be arranged with the best interest of the Sheriff�s Office budget in mind.

PURPOSE: 

The Garfield County Sheriff�s Office offers a variety of training and travel opportunities.  To obtain the most efficient and economical use of our resources, it is necessary to establish a consistent process for all training and travel matters.

METHOD:

Mandatory Training:  Employees of the Sheriff�s Office are often times required to attend MANDATORY training throughout the year.  These trainings may vary from in-house certifications to outside training which has been deemed necessary for a specific position. When mandatory training is scheduled, all employees required to attend that training shall attend.  Only those employees who suffer emergencies, are sick, or have pre-approved leave shall be excused, but may be required to attend a make-up date.

Voluntary Training:  All training not scheduled as mandatory shall be considered VOLUNTARY.  The Fair Labor and Standards Act (FLSA) allows an employer not to pay wages for non-mandatory training attended while an employee is on days off. However, the Garfield County Sheriff�s Office considers ALL approved training valuable since training benefits both the employee and the organization.  Therefore, employees attending approved training will be paid for attending training whether scheduled to work or not. 

Any member of the Sheriff�s Office who wishes to attend voluntary training shall complete a Training Request Form and submit it to their supervisor.  The supervisor will approve or disapprove the request dependent upon schedule, need, previous training, or other factors related to the benefit of the organization.  Approved requests will be forwarded to the Training Coordinator for processing and arranging training and travel.  The Training Coordinator will provide the employee a completed packet of registration information, a per diem check if required, and travel plans.  If an employee is unable to attend scheduled training, it is the employee�s responsibility to notify the Training Coordinator IN ADVANCE to cancel the arrangements. Failure to comply may result in denial of future training and / or discipline.

Documentation:  All training attended by employees of the Sheriff�s Office shall be documented.  Upon completion of any training, an employee should obtain a certificate, itinerary or agenda to verify the training.  These documents should include: the type of training, date, location and number of hours of training credit.  The employee shall provide a copy of these documents to the Training Coordinator who will forward them to the Human Resources Administrator for permanent inclusion into the employee�s training file.  The employee shall maintain a training log on the Sheriff�s Office data base and shall add all training courses to that log in a timely manner.

Compensation:  Compensation will be paid to all employees that attend mandatory or pre-approved voluntary training.  There will be NO travel time allowed when traveling to any training in Garfield County.  Travel time for out of County travel will begin either from the Garfield County Sheriff�s Office or the employee�s residence, whichever is closer to the destination. 

When attending training, employees will place ACTUAL time in training on their time sheet (not shift time) and make a notation about the training (Firearms training, Interview training, etc).  Do not include free time such as lunch unless being trained while eating (working lunch).  Include any travel time as stated above on the timesheet (11 hours, travel to Denver and training).  Do not include meal breaks during travel.

If, at the end of the pay period, an employee is �short� hours because of training, an "Administrative Adjustment" may be made by the Finance Supervisor to the time sheet so that the employee will not suffer a financial shortage or have to use PDO.  Since most training is scheduled in advance, efforts should be made to avoid a shortage including: shift adjustments, overtime shifts, etc.  An adjustment will only be made for shortages due to training (not vacation, sick, etc.). Adjustments will not be made for Patrol Trainees while attending CLETA.

Travel Incentive Programs:  Any benefits (i.e. frequent flyer coupons, reduced rates, free trips, etc.) awarded or accrued as a result of Sheriff�s Office paid business related travel will be deemed owned by the Sheriff�s Office and shall be applied to future Sheriff�s Office business related purposes, if such an account is established by the employee. Travel plans and air carrier selection should not be based on obtaining benefits from a frequent flyer program.  It is the employee�s responsibility to keep track of benefits awarded from a frequent flyer program, and separate personal accruals from Sheriff�s Office business related accruals.  Employees shall not voluntarily be removed from scheduled flights for any purpose.

Travel Expenses:  Most travel expenses, with the exception of meals, will be paid for in advance or purchased with the Garfield County Purchase card.  These expenses include:  the cost of a training class, rental vehicles, accommodations, etc.

Meals:  The Garfield County Sheriff�s Office will adhere to a Per Diem method for most meal expenses.  Funds   will be advanced or reimbursed at a rate established by the General Services Administration and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service, NO receipts required.  The full table of rates determined by the GSA may be found at www.gsa.gov/perdiem.  The Training Coordinator will be responsible for processing the necessary paperwork for meals and incidental expenses in accordance with the latest GSA established rates.  If attending a conference, seminar or other event where some or all meals are included, the per diem will be adjusted accordingly as determined by the GSA Meals and Incidental Expenses breakdown table found at www.gsa.gov/mie.  The time span for pro ration of the per diem rates is as follows:

�        ONE-DAY OR PARTIAL DAY TRAVEL:

BREAKFAST

Per Diem rate may be claimed only if the travel requires an employee to depart before 6:00 am, or return to the County after 6:00 am, to attend GCSO business away from the regular workplace.

LUNCH

Per Diem rate may be claimed only if the travel requires an employee to depart before noon, or return to the County after noon, to attend GCSO business away from the regular workplace.

DINNER

Per Diem rate may be claimed only if the travel requires an employee to depart before 6:00 pm, or return to the County after 6:00 pm, due to GCSO business away from the regular workplace.

INCIDENTALS

The full incidentals amount will be included for all partial days of travel.

�        IN-COUNTY MEAL REIMBURSEMENT:

The County will NOT reimburse an employee for an in-County meal.  Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the Sheriff or his representative.  When submitting the receipt for reimbursement, include the reason or purpose of the in-County meal and names of the people in attendance at the meeting.

�        OUT OF COUNTY TRAVEL:

The County will advance employees for the first day as noted in the One Day Travel above, plus the Per Diem rate determined by the GSA for each full day away as approved in the Pre-Authorization Request form. 

�        PURCHASE CARDS:

County Purchase Cards may NOT be used in conjunction with per diem to purchase meals during travel. Receipts are always required on Purchase Card charges.  The County reimburses up to a 15% tip and is included in the per diem rate.

The County purchase card in lieu of per diem may be used during out of state travel if PRIOR approval is received from the Sheriff or his representative and is so noted on the Pre-Authorization request.  All receipts are required.  Total expenditures for meals charged to the Purchase Cards will not exceed the GSA established rate for the specified location per day and any charges exceeding that limit will be reimbursed to the County by the employee.

Do NOT charge alcohol on County Purchase Cards.  Alcohol charges are not allowed and are not reimbursable.