$40 fee for hotel due to illness

[Penny Harris]

PI couldn't travel to meeting in Brainerd due to sickness and hotel package wasn't cancelled in enough time.  The hotel refunded all but $40 of the fee (they provide meals and rooms as a package).

Can the $40 fee stay on the award or should we move it to a non sponsored?  

[Mary Kosowski]

Sometimes things happen that are nobody's fault, so I would argue for leaving the charge on the project. Example: if a grad student working on a project accidentally breaks a $40 flask in the lab, would you subtract the cost from the project? Or, if someone is paid on a project and gets sick for a week, we can't reimburse the project because their cost includes all U benefits, so the sponsor is effectively paying for a week of no work.

[Penny Harris]

That makes sense!  I have a habit of being too conservative, so I thought I'd see what others thought.

Thanks for providing your insights Mary!

[mattke...@gmail.com]

I agree that I would leave this on the award with supervisor approval.  When I am in doubt for if an expense should stay on a project I like to ask the question "If not for the project would this expense occur?".  In this case if the PI didn't work on the project they likely wouldn't have booked this travel so the expense wouldn't have been incurred by the University.