Travel Policy
The University's travel policy applies to both staff and students and outlines the conditions under which staff and students travel on University business. This policy ensures staff members and students travelling on official duty have appropriate levels of accommodation, travel and financial assistance.
Where are you going?
Booking travel
For all online domestic and point to point international travel bookings, please use the Corporate Travel Management (CTM) portal, accessed via the Griffith travel portal to book flights, accommodation and transport.
For all offline international travel bookings please us the Griffith University Travel Booking Request Form.
Travelling with Spouse of Family
Spouse or family travel can be booked through CTM ’s leisure department Alure or direct with the airline. CTM can add a note to link the bookings, which informs the airline that the travellers are travelling together. Please refer to the attached flyer for a Schedule of Fees for Allure.
For a simple overview refer to the infographic above. The information below provides more detailed information.
You must complete a travel diary if you travel:
- International for more than five consecutive nights (required in all instances regardless of business and private dual purpose); or
- Domestic for more than five nights (only required if there are business and private dual purposes, ie not required if business purpose only).
All forms must be signed by the traveller and submitted after the travel has been completed to: traveldiaries@griffith.edu.au
International - complete the International travel approval form which includes information required for the travel diary.
Domestic – complete the domestic travel diary form.
International travel approval form Domestic travel diary form
Responsibility: employee travelling and the tax team
In some instances, an employee’s travel will comprise a dual purpose: business and private. This section covers the Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) implications of dual purpose travel (‘DPT’).
The University’s Travel Policy states the traveller must personally pay for any private travel, including airfares, to eliminate any FBT liability to the University. Therefore, if the DPT calculator determines a portion of the airfares are subject to FBT , the employee will need to pay this portion.
Where the University has paid for the private portion of an employee’s travel expenses, FBT will be charged to the relevant speedtype, unless the private travel component is reimbursed by the employee. Where the reimbursement occurs, the tax team needs to be notified . The following table summarises which expenses would be charged FBT if funded by the University.
Expense type | FBT applies | FBT does not apply |
|---|---|---|
Accommodation – the night of a business day | ✔ | |
Meals – consumed during a business day | ✔ | |
Transits – car rentals, taxis where the destination is for work purposes | ✔ | |
Airfares – entire trip is business related | ✔ | |
Accommodation – the night of a private day | ✔ | |
Meals – consumed during a private day | ✔ | |
Transits – car rentals, taxis where the destination is for a private purpose | ✔ | |
Airfares – entire trip is private (e.g. conference is in London and employee flies to Paris for leisure) The London-Paris return flights will be entirely private | ✔ | |
Airfares – dual purpose travel (business & private) | Partially – see DPT calculator | |
The definition of a ‘business day’ is provided under the Definitions tab.
Should the traveller choose to use other travel modes, the University’s Travel Policy provides that the University reserves the right to only reimburse expenditure based on the lowest cost alternative. For example, a traveller chooses the use of a motor vehicle rather than air travel when travelling interstate from one conference to another. In this case, any stopovers for private purposes would not be paid by the University.
The DPT calculator is used when the airfares cannot be distinctly separated between private and business. This involves a two-step process:
- What is the overall purpose of the trip – business or private?
- Business travel percentage (BTP) = total business days ÷ total travel days
- BTP > 50% = business
- BTP <= 50% = private
- What is the portion subject to FBT ?
- If deemed business purpose = 0% of airfares subject to FBT
- If deemed private purpose = 50% of airfares subject to FBT (if paid for by the University and not reimbursed by the employee)
When situation 2b arises and the employee pays for 50% of the airfares, this will reduce the taxable value of the fringe benefit to nil. This means that the University has not paid for any private component of the airfares, thereby eliminating any FBT implications.
After working through the DPT calculator, if the employee is still unsure as to what portion of their airfares are subject to FBT, please consult the tax team.
Example using the DPT calculator
Professor Plum departs Brisbane on Sunday, 5 November and arrives back in Brisbane on Monday night, 13 November.
The Professor attends a 4-day conference in Berlin from Monday, 6 November until Thursday, 9 November. After the conference, the Professor visits family in Berlin for three days (i.e. Friday 10 November to Sunday 12 November).
The Professor stays with family during the three days of private travel.
Total travel days:
= Arrival date in Brisbane - Departure date in Brisbane + 1 day
= 13 Nov – 5 Nov + 1 day = 9 days
Total business days = 4 days (conference) + 1 day travelling to the conference = 5 days
Total private days = total travel days – total business days = 9 – 5 = 4 days (i.e. 3 days visiting family + 1 day travelling home to Brisbane).
Business travel % (BTP) = total business days ÷ total travel days
= 5 days ÷ 9 days = 56%
Because the BTP of 56% is more than 50%, the entire cost of the airfares to and from Berlin will be 100% for business purpose. Therefore, FBT, will not apply and the University would be able to pay the airfares in full. The Professor is still required to substantiate this with a travel diary.
For completeness, the accommodation across the 5-day conference will not be subject to FBT, as there is no private portion.
Administrative: employee payment for the private components
When making a booking for dual purpose travel on the travel management booking tool, the employee must advise the travel booking consultant of the exact portion which will be paid by the University (i.e. the business portion) and the remaining private portion will be paid out of personal funds .
When acquitting funds or claiming a reimbursement for travel expenses via Concur, the traveller must tick the ‘Personal’ box if the expenses are in relation to private use. The traveller will be contacted and provided with details on how to repay the University for any private travel costs.
Total travel days:
- Total travel days = the total number of days between the date of departure from the place of origin to the date of arrival in the place of origin (inclusive of both start and end days). This is calculated as the date of arrival in the place of origin minus (-) the date of departure from the place of origin plus (+) 1 day.
A private day:
- Any day that is not a business day
A business day:
- A day on which official University business is conducted (includes a weekend or a public holiday)
- A day on which an employee travels to or from a location for official University business purpose (includes a weekend or a public holiday)
- A weekend during the trip, where the preceding Friday and the following Monday are official University business days (ie. University business is conducted on the Friday and Monday)
- A public holiday during the trip, where the preceding day and the following day are official University business days and the University business is conducted on those days
- A recovery day which is the day following where the employee has completed a flight of 9 or more hours and the day after the recovery day is used for official University business
- A recovery day will not apply if:
- the day after the recovery day is not used for official University business; or
- the traveller was approved to fly business class; or
- the recovery day is taken at a different location on the way to the business location.
- NB: to be a business day, the dominant purpose of the day must be used to conduct University business (i.e. more the 3.5 hours in a day). Checking emails for an hour or two will not qualify as a business day.
Dual purpose travel:
- Occurs when a trip includes both a University business purpose and a private purpose.
Travel Support
The University aims to support and assist its staff and students by ensuring their safety and wellbeing before, during and after travel.
Protect yourself
Eduroam
Eduroam is an agreement between educational institutions to share access to Wi-Fi networks.
Being part of eduroam federation allows all Griffith staff and students to connect to the eduroam network at these locations.
For a list of participating institutions, visit the eduroam website.
Video Guides:
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Travel and modern slavery
Human rights are the fundamental rights and freedoms to which all people are entitled. The travel and tourism industry (including hospitality) supports 330 million workers worldwide, (mainly migrant men and women) and we the travellers can play an essential role in keeping employers accountable for respecting the human rights of their workers.
The hospitality industry can be at risk of potential human rights issues, including modern slavery, meaning the severe exploitation of other people for personal or commercial gain, including human trafficking, servitude, forced labour, debt bondage and child labour.
There is a lack of precise data about the prevalence of slavery in the sector, however it is estimated that in Europe alone, there are more than 1.1 million victims of modern slavery in the hospitality sector – over 4,500 are in forced labour in hotels and 93,000 sex slaves.
How can it happen?
No matter the geographical location, there is a high risk of exploitation within the hospitality sector as workers from room cleaners and caregivers to security guards, kitchen porters and gardeners, are often unseen, away from guests' eyes. The complex business model of hotels makes exploitation easy to happen.
Here are some examples of how exploitation can happen in this industry:
- Hotels frequently rely on labour providers to employ outsourced housekeeping and cleaning staff. The layered structure of hotels combined with multi-tier recruitment systems can mean that unscrupulous practices are challenging to detect.
- Hotels can become unwitting hosts to sexual exploitation because of the privacy they offer.
- Goods and services purchased by hotels can represent hidden risks because of complex and multi-tiered supply chains.
What is the sector doing?
The good news is that some companies in the hospitality sector have started to work together to gain visibility and advance human rights in their operations and supply chains. A good example is the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, which brings together hospitality companies and uses the collective power of the industry to deliver impact locally and on a global scale.
What can I do?
So, what can we do as travellers to support the efforts of protecting workers from falling victim to all forms of exploitation, including modern slavery?
- First of all, when booking your accommodation, check whether you can choose one of the hotel chains members of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance.
- You can also check whether the hotel you want to book is involved in any human rights allegations by checking out the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre website.
- Educate yourself by watching this short video.
- If you suspect that someone is in slavery while you are travelling, DO NOT confront them or cause a scene, as this will likely lead to increased harm for them. Instead, inform relevant authorities or organisations working in the field. Check your option on this list.
If you would like to know more about the issue or get more involved in addressing Modern Slavery risks within Griffith’s operations and supply chains, please reach out to Procurement for further information.
