Board of Contract Appeals General Services Administration Washington, D.C. 20405 _______________________________________________ November 23, 1999 _____________________________________________ GSBCA 15106-RELO In the Matter of GARY L. WHITED Gary L. Whited, Columbiana, OH, Claimant. William D. Montague, VA Medical Center, Brecksville, OH, and Bonnie Britten, Chief, Travel Policy Division, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC, appearing for Department of Veterans Affairs. GOODMAN, Board Judge. Claimant, Gary L. Whited, is an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In April 1999, claimant was reassigned from the Youngstown VA Outpatient Clinic in Youngstown, Ohio, to the Brecksville VA Medical Center in Brecksville, Ohio. As a result of this reassignment, claimant s daily commute from his residence in Columbiana, Ohio, to his duty station increased. He has requested that his agency issue travel orders for a permanent change of station (PCS). The agency has refused claimant s request. Claimant has requested review by this Board of the agency s decision not to issue travel orders for a PCS. Claimant states: My residence is located due South of the city of Youngstown, OH, just off State Route 7. The [Youngstown VA] Outpatient Clinic is located in the Northwest sector of the city. The most direct route is through the city using Market Street (SR 7). The distance is 18.2 miles with a travel time of thirty-one minutes. The route I usually used during my time at the Clinic was up the Interstate to the east (I-680). This route was 20.5 miles but took only twenty-nine minutes. Another option was going west of the city up Route 11. This route comes into the city from the Northwest. It only took twenty-six and a half minutes, however, it jumped the distance up to 25.0 miles. Distance Time Route A (most direct) 18.2 mi. 31 min. Route B (most used) 20.5 mi. 29 min. Route C 25.0 mi. 26.5 min. My commute to Brecksville [VA Medical Center] follows Route 11 to the Ohio Turnpike then to Route 21 at Brecksville. The distance is 73.1 miles and takes approximately one hour and twenty-one minutes. The toll on the Turnpike is $1.70 each way. An alternate route is Route 7 to the Turnpike, however the time is about the same. The distance is a couple of miles shorter, but the toll is $.50 more. Claimant attached a map indicating the locations of his residence in Columbiana and his previous work location in Youngstown and current work location in Brecksville. The agency s position is that a permanent change of station has not occurred. It has stated: The Department of Veterans Affairs is organizationally structured in several locations with several VA offices composing one official station. The Cleveland Medical Center has offices in Brecksville, Wade Park, Canton, and Youngstown, Ohio. Each VA office, whether it is one site or several is assigned a three-digit station number. In this case, the Cleveland Medical Center is assigned station #541 for all four divisions. When Mr. Whited was reassigned to the Brecksville location from the Youngstown location his official duty station number remained the same (#541). The Federal Travel Regulation (41 CFR 300-3.1) also states that the geographic limits of the official station are the established area where the employee is stationed. 41 CFR 301-11.1 states that travel may not be reimbursed unless it is away from the official station or other area defined by the agency. Therefore, the official station area is the guiding principle in determining whether or not a change of official station has occurred. VA travel policy allows official station Directors to designate the official station area. Management at the Cleveland Medical Center has designated that the Cleveland Medical Center official station area is within one radius encompassing all four divisions of the Cleveland Medical Center. . . . The official number for all four Cleveland Medical Center facilities is the same. When Mr. Whited was transferred from the Youngstown Outpatient Clinic to the Brecksville Division, there was no change of official station number involved. The Cleveland Director has established the official station area as being comprised of all four divisions. Even though Mr. Whited s physical location of employment changed, his official station area did not. The agency s position is that a permanent change of station has not occurred, even though the employee s commute has increased from approximately 20 miles to almost 75 miles and from approximately one-half hour to one hour and twenty minutes one way, because the employee s commute remains within the official station area comprising geographically diverse medical centers. Discussion Claimant asserts that he has accomplished a PCS, while the agency responds that no PCS has occurred. The FTR contains two definitions of official station : Official station or post of duty. The building or other place where the officer or employee regularly reports for duty. (For eligibility for change of station allowances, see 302-1.3 and 302-1.7.) 41 CFR 302-1.4 (k) (1998). *** Official station--The official station of an employee or invitational traveler (see 301-1.2) is the location of the employee's or invitational traveler's permanent work assignment. The geographic limits of the official station are: (a) For an employee: (1) The corporate limits of the city or town where stationed or if not in an incorporated city or town; (2) The reservation, station, or other established area (including established subdivisions of large reservations) having definite boundaries where the employee is stationed. Id. 300-3.1. Additional relevant portions of the FTR are as follows: (a) Travel covered-- (1) Mandatory coverage. When change of official station or other action described in this paragraph is authorized or approved by such official or officials as the head of the agency may designate, travel and transportation expenses and applicable allowances as provided in this chapter (see applicability and exclusions in pertinent parts) shall be paid in the case of: (i) An employee transferring from one official duty station to another for permanent duty, provided the transfer is in the interest of the Government and is not primarily for the convenience or benefit of the employee or at his/her request; the transfer is to a new official station which is at least 10 miles distant from the old official station; and, in the case of a relatively short distance relocation, a determination of eligibility is made under 302-1.7(a) of this part. Id. 302-1.3. *** Transfers. When the change of official station involves a short distance (at least 10 miles between stations as provided in 302-1.3(a)(1)) within the same general local or metropolitan area, the travel and transportation expenses and applicable allowances in connection with the employee's relocation of his/her residence shall be authorized only when the agency determines that the relocation was incident to the change of official station. Such determination shall take into consideration such factors as commuting time and distance between the employee's residence at the time of notification of transfer and his/her old and new posts of duty as well as the commuting time and distance between a proposed new residence and the new post of duty. Ordinarily, a relocation of residence shall not be considered as incident to a change of official station unless the one-way commuting distance from the old residence to the new official station is at least 10 miles greater than from the old residence to the old official station. Even then, circumstances surrounding a particular case (e.g., relative commuting time) may suggest that the move of residence was not incident to the change of official station. Id. 302-1.7 (a). We must determine if claimant s official duty station has changed based upon the definitions and other considerations in the FTR. The authors of the FTR have not explained why they have included two separate definitions of the same term, "official station," in the regulation. The first definition which appears above is in the section concerning relocation allowances, while the second definition, upon which the agency relies, is in the general definitions. Initial confusion is caused by the existence of the two definitions.[foot #] 1 If we apply the first definition from 41 CFR 302-1.4(k), located in the section concerning relocation allowances, there has clearly been a change of official station, as the claimant is commuting to a different building located in a different city, which is a substantial difference from his previous place of employment. Similarly, if we apply the second definition, upon which the agency relies, the same result is achieved. Both Youngstown, Ohio, and Brecksville, Ohio, are incorporated towns. Accordingly, claimant is now commuting outside the geographic limits of his previous duty station in Youngstown to another duty station in Brecksville. The FTR's definition of the term "official station" upon which the agency relies is not clearly drafted. Where two or more options for a limitation are listed, as in subparagraph (a) of this definition, the options should be separated by a conjunction -- "or," if only one of the choices must be met for the limitation to have effect, or "and," if all the alternatives must be met. As written, the two options in subparagraph (a) are not separated by any conjunction at all. The subparagraph makes sense only if it is read to include some conjunction. Option (1) already contains such a part of speech. Without altering any of the words of the subparagraph, we can make sense of it by punctuating option (1) to read: "The corporate limits of the city or town where stationed; or, if not in an incorporated city or town,". With this understanding, we can see that because both Youngstown and Brecksville are incorporated towns, option (2) cannot be used to define Mr. Whited's official station. The agency asserts that the Youngstown VA Outpatient Clinic in Youngstown, Ohio, and the Brecksville VA Medical Center, Brecksville, Ohio, are in the same official station area because of the agency s numerical system which includes them within the same area. The agency is not free to apply option (2) to designate the employee's official station with reference to any "reservation, station, or other established area . . . having definite boundaries." ----------- FOOTNOTE BEGINS --------- [foot #] 1 We have pointed out before that a single set of definitions of terms, and an explanation of why definitions are being changed, would be helpful to both agencies and employees in resolving travel and relocation benefit claims. Pamela Johnson, ______________ GSBCA 14674-RELO, 98-2 BCA 30,095. ----------- FOOTNOTE ENDS ----------- Further, even if option (2) did have applicability, the agency's attempt to define the employee's official station as a very large "established area" which includes a good deal of northeastern Ohio is at odds with the intention of the FTR. As the last two provisions of the regulation quoted above show, an agency has some flexibility in limiting relocation benefits for changes of official station which involve short distance moves. The "short distances" involved are at least ten miles between stations and within the same general local or metropolitan area. An increase in commuting distance of at least ten miles is generally a factor in determining whether an employee's relocation of residence is incident to a change of official station. Here, the distance between Mr. Whited's official stations was much greater than ten miles,[foot #] 2 and the two stations are in two separate metropolitan areas (Youngstown and Cleveland, the closest large city to Brecksville). The employee's commuting distance increased by more than fifty miles. The fact that those centers are administered by a single authority is not a justification for considering the two medical centers as the same "official station" for purposes of relocation benefits. Accordingly, we find that claimant has been ordered to perform a PCS, despite his lack of travel orders. Decision The employee has accomplished a PCS. Accordingly, the agency should issue travel orders with entitlements to costs incident to a PCS in accordance with statute and regulation. ________________________ ALLAN H. GOODMAN Board Judge ----------- FOOTNOTE BEGINS --------- [foot #] 2 Indeed, this distance is so great that it exceeds the forty-mile threshold for a transferred employee's eligibility for temporary quarters subsistence expenses. 41 CFR 302-5.4(b).