Finance Policies and Procedures

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Travel

Pre-travel

1. Pre-Travel Approvals

At EarthLab, travel must be preapproved, by the EarthLab Director for non-grant funded travel or the Principal Investigator (PI) for grant-related travel. Consulting with your manager or the EarthLab Finance & Admin team prior to booking travel can also help reduce up-front costs for lodging and flights.

If you anticipate having guests from outside of the UW travel that will be billed to your program or project, you will be expected to follow this procedure on their behalf. This helps reduce delays in travel reimbursement for your guest.

How to Request Pre-Travel Authorization

First, determine your organization-level business case, which includes how the travel relates to your work assignment and the expected benefits of the trip for the University, your unit, and/or your grant-funded project.

Fill out this form to send the information to the EarthLab F&A Pod, to confirm travel funds are available in the budget(s) you specify. Be prepared to answer questions including total expected cost and budget(s) to charge.

EarthLab – Susan Dickerson-Lange
Center for Nature and Health – Gregory Bratman or Josh Lawler
Climate Impacts Group – Susan Dickerson-Lange or Jason Vogel
NW CASC – Meade Krosby
Washington State Climate Office – Guillaume Mauger
Washington Ocean Acidification Center – Jan Newton or Terrie Klinger

Your business case approver should reply all to the email with written approval.

The EarthLab F&A Pod will review your budget to confirm that funds are available and provide a written response, copying the EarthLab director.

Should both approvals have been made, the EarthLab director will reply all with written approval.

Congratulations, you are now approved to travel. Please contact the EarthLab executive assistant or fiscal specialist to review options for booking travel up front.

Travel site

2. Travel Status

Personal Time

Employees may want to add personal time to their business travel. If you plan to take any personal time during your work trip, you need a Comparison Airfare. This should be for a direct flight between your business destination and departure point for the dates you would have travelled without personal time. You must obtain this price quote before traveling, at the same time you purchase your airfare. If you have any questions about the rules for the Comparison Fare, please check in with our EarthLab Financial team earthfa@uw.edu before purchasing your tickets.

International Travel

If you are travelling internationally for UW business, you are required to register your travel with UW Global Travel. When you register your international travel, you will have access to 24/7 UW emergency response services, enrollment in emergency medical insurance and more. If your international work travel lasts longer than 30 days, your travel must also be approved by the UW Office of Global Affairs. Please review the UW Temporary International Remote Work Policy (updated August 2025).

Official and Temporary Duty Stations

UW uses the term “official duty station” to describe your primary physical address of work. You may only have one official duty station. “Temporary duty station” is where you will be travelling to – the official definition is a physical address where you will be working for less than one year.

Travel expenses to and from a temporary duty station can be reimbursed, but travel to and from a permanent duty station cannot. Learn more on the UW Travel website.

Diagram showing travel reimbursement rules: official residence and official workstation connected by a non-reimbursable daily commute (red dashed line), with green solid lines showing reimbursable travel to four temporary duty stations. — Diagram showing travel reimbursement rules. Obtained from the WA Office of Financial Management

Common Eligible Travel Expenses + Payment Methods

Here are some common travel-related purchases and how to pay for them:

Purchase	Payment method	Notes on Payment Method
Conference registration	ProCard
Airfare for one or more UW employee	Corporate Travel Account (CTA)	If personal time is included, then traveler must purchase their own airfare.
Airfare for one or more non-UW employees	Corporate Travel Account (CTA)
Lodging for five or more UW employees	Corporate Travel Account (CTA)	Only when used in the U.S. or British Columbia, Canada where the UW is reserving and paying for the block of rooms and prior written approval has been obtained from Corporate Travel Services (email procard@uw.edu).
Lodging for one to five UW employees	Personal card, with some exceptions. Please consult with the EarthLab F&A Pod	Please obtain an itemized receipt for reimbursement
Lodging for one or more non-UW employees (including faculty or staff candidates)	Corporate Travel Account (CTA)	Limited to per diem
Lodging for one or more UW students	Corporate Travel Account (CTA)
Rental car for travel from Seattle	U-Car (UW car rental system)	Use a U-Car for travel within Seattle or driving from Seattle to another location
Rental car for travel outside of Seattle	Book on personal card and seek reimbursement	If you need to rent a car while outside of Seattle

Non travel reimbursements during your trip

Employees may be eligible for non-travel business related expenses such as, but not limited to, conference registration, meals, etc. Non-travel expenses are subject to change, please review the College of Environment Reimbursements web page for the most up to date information or consult with the F&A team at earthfa@uw.edu.

What to Collect While IN TRAVEL STATUS

You must collect receipts for ALL purchases, even under $75. Please avoid making purchases via digital wallet (e.g. Venmo, PayPal) when possible. Check that the receipt includes the following information:

Vendor name
Date of payment
Total amount, including tip
Description of services
Indication that the bill was paid. (This could include the last four digits of the card number used to pay the bill, or the word “paid” on it. For hotels and rental cars, request the final, itemized bill upon check-out or car return. For Uber and other ride share, download the receipts from the app.)
Note that confirmation emails for lodging, rental cars and ground transportation do NOT count as receipts.
Screenshots of ride share options. Descriptions of the business purpose for using a rideshare or taxi services (e.g., took an Uber from home to airport).
Agendas for all conferences and meetings.
Descriptions of the business purpose for additional expenses indirectly related to your travel. Examples: Tickets to an event for team bonding; Art supplies required for participation in a workshop.
If you made a purchase with a digital wallet app such as Venmo or PayPal, provide a bank/credit statement (with redactions) showing the purchase. Please avoid digital wallet purchases when possible.

Using a Corporate Travel Account

Please contact EarthLab Finance and Administration (F&A) team at earthfa@uw.edu BEFORE you book a flight or hotel on EarthLab’s CTA. Notes on using a CTA:

Hotel bookings are only purchased from the CTA if there are five or more staff on the same booking. Otherwise, you must request reimbursement.

The department must obtain a folio from the hotel for each room or a statement showing the breakdown of the total charges by room, by night and guest name. This detail should be audited for compliance with applicable regulations and filed with the CTA documentation.

If unallowable charges are billed to the CTA, the department is responsible for reconciling these charges to 64-XXXX discretionary funds or obtaining reimbursement from the traveler and depositing these funds using a reverse expenditure.

3. Reimbursement

3. Travel Reimbursement

Travel costs charged to UW budgets must be work related and are to be obtained at the most economical price. Staff members are expected to use restraint in incurring travel expenses.

Most costs associated with travel should be purchased using University payment methods such as the Corporate Travel Card (airfare) and conference registrations (ProCard). If you use your personal payment method, you will be reimbursed for authorized travel expenses once you submit the EarthLab travel reimbursement form; ideally within 30 days and no later than 60 days after travel ends. If you request travel reimbursement after 60 days, the reimbursement amount will be considered as income and taxed accordingly.

STEP 1:

Download a copy of the form you need.
Use the Job Aid to help complete the form.

STEP 2:

SUBMIT YOUR TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION & EXPENSE FORM HERE

Reimbursement Workflow

Procurement

Catering, Food, and Meals & Refreshments

Spend Category	Use For	Examples
Meals and Refreshments (SC1997) Taxable Sale	A meal/light refreshment tied to an official UW meeting, formal training, or qualifying recognition event; beverages.	Boxed lunches for a training, coffee/pastries at a workshop, light refreshments at an employee recognition event
Catering (SC1152) Taxable Sale	A vendor’s food-service arrangement — delivery, setup, staffing, serving, buffet — not just the food itself	Buffet with delivery/setup, a staffed reception, plated meals for a conference
Food (SC1078) Non-Taxable Sale	Food/grocery items bought as products or supplies, not as a prepared meal or catered event	Groceries/ingredients for a program, food for research subjects or patients, packaged food for resale