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Original poster

Conferences - who pays?

18 replies

admylin · 15/09/2010 07:16

If you go to a conference/symposium etc to represent your work and the people you work for - who pays for travel and accomodation?

Dh is off to Athens next week to a conference. He works for a big hospital as a researcher and his boss is a surgeon.

His boss isn't paying for any of them (several assistant doctors, researchers and a lecturer) so he's had to book it all himself, hotel, flight and registration all well over a thousand euro.

He didn't even want to go but the boss said he had to present his work. Now his boss says those who earn under a certain level will not get any money from him as they can get it back at the end of the year on their tax returns. Still, sounds strange to me to expect someone to pay out of their own pocket and they won't get it back until February next year if lucky.

OP posts:

Tortington · 15/09/2010 07:28

my employer pays, i think its unreasonable to ask an employee to pay for a conference. if it were a qualification or training in his field i could maybe see their argument.

however his boss sounds like a twat so, good luck on fighting it

Original poster

admylin · 15/09/2010 07:31

Yes, that sort of describes him!

Dh isn't going for training and all he has 4 posters and a lecture to present results of research on how to improve treatment. He says if he had a plan b he wouldn't go but he needs to keep his job.

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Original poster

admylin · 15/09/2010 07:32

That's why he and most of the lesser earning assistant doctors daren't fight it by the way.

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BeenBeta · 15/09/2010 07:33

Yes they should pay. I have attended many conferences over the years and someone else always paid if I was representing them and I got the money up front. How will he get it back on his tax return?

I have never heard of HMRC giving people a rebate of conference expenses.

Does your DHs boss mean they will all get the money rebated by the hospital but they just have to wait until year end until it is processed?

Original poster

admylin · 15/09/2010 07:38

He's at a German hospital and you can get business trips paid back when you hand in your tax declaration (so the tale) but I have a feeling dh hasn't understood it as I keep saying it can't be true.

A few of the assistants are foreign too so maybe they haven't understood. When dh worked at the Charite in Berlin he got the money from there but not from his boss directly.

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DrNortherner · 15/09/2010 07:40

Well I used to work for an event management company who took Doctors/researchers to medical congress and it was always the hospital/PCT that paid these fees up front.

hairytriangle · 15/09/2010 08:31

Always paid fir by the company including meals etc

DancingHippoOnAcid · 15/09/2010 08:59

His boss may mean that he can claim the expenses as a deduction from taxable income - that is the way it would work in the UK. I don't know how thw tax system works in Germany, but I imagine it would be similar. Though that would only gain him back the tax on the money he has paid out, he would not get a rebate of the whole amount paid out.

Sounds really dodgy - I have never heard of employees being required to fund business trips out of their own pocket

flowerybeanbag · 15/09/2010 09:15

What everyone else says. If he is required to attend, then his employer should pay. You say his boss isn't paying, but is your DH not employed by the hospital, rather than his boss? In which case the hospital should pay.

Of course having said that, I don't know about Germany but certainly in this country there's nothing legal to say employers must pay when requiring employees to incur expenses in the course of their job, but of course it is fairly unheard of not to at least allow them to claim it straight back.

Original poster

admylin · 15/09/2010 09:19

Thanks everyone, this has confirmed that it can't be right. I'm going to send him your comments at work!

I wish he could cancel it but the registration and hotel are non-refundable.

OP posts:

BeenBeta · 15/09/2010 09:44

Discuss it at hme. Work email is usually monitored.

Original poster

admylin · 15/09/2010 09:52

He's OK there, I've used his yahoo mail and he has his laptop. I'm wondering if flowerybeanbag is right and he could get the money from the hospital rather than from his boss.

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flowerybeanbag · 15/09/2010 10:15

It wouldn't be usual for someone's individual boss (who is presumably essentially another employee of the hospital?) to pay. Why should he, after all? The employer should pay.

Original poster

admylin · 15/09/2010 10:18

Yes, that's why I'm not sure. Because dh is employed by his boss to do research in his department of the hospital (neurology) but his pay comes from the hospital. There must be an office where he can fill in a form for expenses.

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Littlefish · 15/09/2010 10:20

If they pay comes from the hospital, then surely he is employed by the hospital.

Littlefish · 15/09/2010 10:20

the, not they

flowerybeanbag · 15/09/2010 10:22

Does he not have a contract or anything? It should say who his employer is, but it's unlikely to be his boss as a personal individual.

Original poster

admylin · 15/09/2010 10:28

Just had a look at the contract and it does say he is employed by the state of lower saxony represented by the director of the hospital (sorry translation as best as I can) so now I'm going to try and find out what the office or department would be called to apply for expenses in German. Thanks for all the tips.

Dh should really know all this but he just blindly does his science and abit of philosophy here and there, real world - what's that?

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