Wednesday, March 01, 2023
Earlier this month, AMAPCEO informed the Ontario Public Service (OPS) Employer that the union would be advising its OPS members against using their personal vehicles for work travel, due to stagnated kilometric reimbursement rates.
Now, AMAPCEO and five other public sector unions have written a joint letter to the OPS Employer advocating for a review of and immediate increase to both meal expense and kilometric reimbursement rates.
In this letter, the unions note that the reimbursement rates provided in the OPS Travel, Meal and Hospitality Expenses Directive are years out of date and lower than what is provided in many other Canadian jurisdictions.
Since the meal expense and kilometric reimbursement rates were last updated—in 2017 and 2006, respectively—inflation has significantly eroded the value of these reimbursements. Members who travel as part of their work duties are often required to pay the difference between the reimbursement rates and actual costs of meals and travel out of their own pocket.
The unions demanded a review of and increase to both the meal expense and kilometric reimbursement rates in the Travel, Meal and Hospitality Expenses Directive, and a commitment to establish an automatic review and adjustment process for these rates going forward.