To have claimed this as an expense?

[Wealthabd]

Something happened at work and I was very upset, manager told me to go home and would I like the company to book a taxi for me. It’s a long journey home and it could be anywhere from 1.5-2 hours drive and probably cost around £100.

I felt uncomfortable at the cost (even though the company were paying) and so I got the train, they know I’m struggling financially and the extra £20 I had to pay (my original ticket was for a set time) is actually a big cost to me. I’ve raised the ticket as an expense, fully open about what it was when raising it.

Now the company have acted like I’ve tried to steal from them. I really didn’t think I’d done anything wrong (ans it was 80% cheaper than the taxi) and I feel it could have been resolved with one conversation but they’ve now got senior management involved.

I think this is where it may have gone wrong- without your meaning it to.

The line manager can't overrule company rules though.

No because the 'what you would normally have to do anyway' doesn't seem correct. The price was different when leaving early.

Get your union or personnel involved

There is a significant difference between offering to pay a taxi for an employee possibly incapacitated (physically and/or emotionally) and unable otherwise travel/get home, and paying the difference in a train fare. One is duty of care the other isn’t really, ideally you should have asked before expensing.

Agree with this.

I suspect that they might think, if you are ill/upset enough to have to go home, you would need the taxi and, if you are well enough to make a train journey, you may not have needed to leave early

I wondered the same. Were they just offering to book you a taxi but not to pay for it. Just sounds like a mix up. Tell your manager about the problem and ask for clarification.

What do people think a union is going to do? This this a simple issue OP can address
herself as an employed adult.

If anyone was sick to the point they needed escorting home, in my workplace the most senior person would put it on their company card. They have the ability and the seniority to justify this expense. Me as an employee however, doesn’t have the authority to submit an expense for travel, unless I have a project code for work related travel. If I was to submit a random expense, I would also be formally questioned. Also to note, the finance team who approve these will not have the context (not that this would change the process and what’s permitted). If OP was well enough to take the train home, then she had left the workplace as any other type of sickness (ie I have the flu, I’m going home) and would not be eligible for transport.

I think they wanted you in a taxi due to duty of care and to ensure you got back ok. Whereas the train doesn’t guarantee that. I would just repeat the it was due to illness though and you’d felt the train was more efficient.

So you tried to save the company money and now have to pay for it yourself - no good turn goes unpunished springs to mind OP. Honestly quibbling over £20 when you were obviously in a bad way at the time - I'm embarrassed for them no matter what the company policy is. I'd have paid the poxy £20 myself if i was your manager and it was suddenly an issue with senior management.

It will all be down to who has the ability to authorise what expenses. Emergency travel home due to distress will more than likely be at the managers discretion and they can just put it on their taxi account. Other expenses probably need to go through a different system of approval.

Did you tell your manager than you would rather just get the train as it would be cheaper? Did you ask them if they would cover the difference in the fare? Did you then ask them how they wanted you to submit the expense?

I honestly think this will all be sorted out after a calm conversation with the manager who offered the taxi. It might be a case or removing the expenses claim and sorting it another way, for example via petty cash etc.

DH is middle management and works out of one office, if he has to go into London instead he claims for the train and it's a lot more than £20. There's no formal questioning or it only being able to be put through by one particular person, he just claims. Denying the OP's claim for 20 bloody quid when she was open about what it was for is petty and pathetic IMO.

Yeah this. ^ Surely the company would just refuse the payment? Why is 'senior management' involved?

@Wealthabd You still haven't answered the question asked by a few posters, how do you usually get home?

Also, do you really work TWO HOURS drive away from your workplace? What's that, like 90-100 miles?

We do not know that they will eventually deny the claim. It seems (although we don't have all the details) that OP submitted the expenses claim under the usual system and it has been denied, potentially because they don't currently have authorisation for it. It could be once OP has explained the situation to her manager it will all be resolved.

Would you normally get home on the train? If so yabu because why would you charge them for your normal transport.

That’s a work approved expense. Somewhere that’s been agreed - likely as it’s outside of his usual office.

It’s not about the value, or whether you think it’s petty or not, companies don’t work like that. OP has submitted a personal expense. Now this may come through as an NFA during the investigation or disciplinary should it come to that, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the right process.

Denying the OP's claim for 20 bloody quid when she was open about what it was for is petty and pathetic IMO.

The person denying the claim has probably got no idea of the background. They're just someone in the Finance team that has spotted something outside the normal procurement channels. It's quite literally their job to question it.

But how would you usually get home? Surely you would have to get home regardless?

She had a train ticket for a later time, it was £20 extra to get an earlier train.

What happened that meant it was your employers fault that you had to go home early?

I have a team I have to approve / reject expenses for and I probably approach this with ‘people will try to get away with anything’ (because they do!) and so maybe I’m being unfair - but if you turned down the cab, I think the train was on you. (Unless missing info!)

This is my thought. I think I'm with the company here in that they shouldn't pay.

Going against the grain but a taxi vs train is very different. A train is you having to travel on your own via public transport. A taxi is escorting you home which for me would come under duty of care.

You should have just taken the taxi, it sounds like it was a one off payment for that not a general allowable expense. Get the person who offered the taxi to sign off the expense?

I get that, but the policy incentivises pisstakers and penalises people like the OP, who for honest but misguided reasons thought they should try to save the company some money.

The OP should explain her reasoning to her manager, who should say, "I'll sort it out on this occasion, but in future, if you need to go home sick and I offer to put you in a taxi, take the damn taxi."