Remote Employee Travel to Campus

Employee travel to campus is considered commuting, and on-site or hybrid employees will not be reimbursed for it unless it is required by applicable law.

These procedures only apply to regular, fully remote employees traveling to their home campus (i.e., where the position would be based if they worked on-site, such as Ithaca, Geneva, New York City, etc.) from their permanent remote work location. These rules do not apply to temporary remote locations, such as those often required for research or flexible, temporary work arrangements.

If you are a regular, fully remote employee traveling to campus either to perform the required responsibilities of your position (e.g., you must be onsite to address a periodic audit) or if you choose to travel to campus for any reason, you will not be reimbursed regardless of circumstances.

When Reimbursement Is Allowed

If you are a regular, fully remote employee and your college or unit requires you to travel to campus for purposes other than performing responsibilities of your position (e.g., team building, new hire orientation, unit all-staff gathering, attending leadership training), you will be reimbursed under certain conditions as outlined below.

Single-Day Travel to Campus

You will be reimbursed for your mode of travel (e.g., mileage, rental car, airfare) if you meet both of these conditions:

• You live more than 100 miles from the home campus (i.e., Ithaca, Geneva, NYC, etc.).
• You do not exceed 4 visits and 35 days total time on campus per calendar year. The 4-visit cap does not include a new hire orientation visit to campus. However, the days spent on campus for a new hire orientation visit count towards the 35 days per calendar year.

Multiple-Day Travel to Campus

In addition to the above, you may be reimbursed for travel expenses if both of these conditions are met:

• You are required to travel to campus over multiple contiguous days for purposes other than performing responsibilities of your position, and you live 50 miles or more from campus.
• Your unit has the financial resources to cover the expense of overnight stays over multiple contiguous days.

Taxability of Reimbursements

While Cornell may pay for or reimburse an employee’s expenses incurred to travel to campus from a remote work location, the costs paid for or reimbursed may be taxable to the employee in certain instances. Any reimbursement to a remote employee not complying with the above rules will be considered taxable income.

Also see Taxability of Employee Travel to Campus and Taxability of Expenses.