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October
24, 2007
CBCA
791-TRAV
In the Matter of MARGARET
M. LALLY
Margaret M. Lally, FPO Area
Europe, Claimant.
Mark A. Sullivan, Office of
the Director, Dependents Schools, Department of Defense, APO Area Europe,
appearing for Department of Defense.
DRUMMOND,
Board Judge.
Margaret Lally, claimant, is a teacher
at Naples Elementary School in Italy and an employee of the Department of
Defense Dependents Schools-Europe (DODDS-E).
On March 18, 2007, claimant received notice that her brother had passed
away. Claimant was approved for emergency
visitation travel (EVT) to attend the funeral in Dallas, Texas. Claimant self-arranged her roundtrip EVT,
which consisted of six separate flights.
Four of the flights were either business or first class, and only the
flights from Naples to Rome and back were coach class. Upon returning to Italy, claimant submitted a
claim for her EVT travel and received reimbursement of $1088 for airline
tickets.
Claimant challenges the agency=s decision not to reimburse her for the premium class
airline tickets that she purchased.
Claimant now seeks reimbursement of approximately $4200. She contends that she is entitled to full
reimbursement of her expenses because (1) premium class tickets were the only
seats available, (2) coach class tickets were only slightly less expensive, and
(3) there was not enough time to process her travel orders before she needed to
travel. The agency asserts that the
Board lacks jurisdiction over this claim because Ms. Lally is a member of a
collective bargaining unit covered by a negotiated grievance procedure (NGP),
which does not exclude this issue, and claimant has already filed a grievance
on this same issue. The agency has
submitted a copy of the collective bargaining agreement, which became effective
June 23, 1994, and continues to be effective.