Lunch reimbursement

Salty Dog

Salty Dog

Well-known member
I'm helping to formulate a clear policy about lunch reimbursement at my station. We currently have a general "verbal" policy that will reimburse most lunch expenses when a crew is sent out of town for an entire day. The question is how far should "out of town" be considered - and what special circumstances should lunch be reimbursed when "out of town" is within a 30 minute drive from the station.

Does your shop have this clearly defined? I'm interested in what other stations consider an appropriate reimbursement policy.

Thanks.
 
shootist

shootist

PRO user
Salty Dog said:
I'm helping to formulate a clear policy about lunch reimbursement at my station. We currently have a general "verbal" policy that will reimburse most lunch expenses when a crew is sent out of town for an entire day. The question is how far should "out of town" be considered - and what special circumstances should lunch be reimbursed when "out of town" is within a 30 minute drive from the station.

Does your shop have this clearly defined? I'm interested in what other stations consider an appropriate reimbursement policy.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Ours is a 50 mile radius. As the crow flies.
 
TexasDave

TexasDave

Well-known member
I would say even farther than 50 miles. But thats me. I also used to carry MRE"s in my car just for those occasions.
 
Silverado61

Silverado61

Active member
Ours is our viewing area, but most of the time when we get sent out of the viewing area we don't really have time to sit down and take a lunch, so I will just put down no lunch and get the half hour of OT which is usually more than what I would get if I try to get reimbursaed for lunch.
 
Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury

Well-known member
>50 miles is our standard, but we also take into consideration circumstances that keep us from being able to have our usual lunch. For example, if you are stuck at the airport all day because there is a breaking story of some sort, the station would pick up having to buy airport food. Even if we're within 50 miles, an overnight stay has the station picking up room and board. If the job prevents you from eating the lunch you brought or forces you to buy your lunch, the station usually covers it.

Sometimes this can be anticipated, like with elections or storm/flood coverage and the station will pick up box lunches for the crews to take out.

It is wise to make it an easily defined and understood policy to prevent abuse.
 
zac love

zac love

Well-known member
The only station I worked at that had a standing policy was 50miles as the crow flys.

In theory it made sense, but in practice...

I remember once trailing a story through the back roads all day along the edge of the 50miles. A short VO turned into the lead package. To me this would have been a good time to get a free lunch since I was alone, working long hours remotely and pulling more than my weight.

But most of the time when people got the free lunch, it was when we had a story that was 50min away on the freeway. Easy drive to & from, back in no time.

While this could have been "abuse," the company did everything so much by the book that there was no way to get anything w/o a TPS report. There were many times people took the lunch when they didn't need it, but it made up for all the times when we didn't get it when we probably should have.

The policy should be clear, but I think if you can trust your photogs there should be a large gray area for when the station can pick up lunch. I think $7 is a cheap price to pay for happy employees when they've done a good day's work.
 
M

MoPhoto

Member
At the stations I've worked for, basically any time we went outside the DMA or stayed overnight we were reimbursed for it. The other thing was one station had a policy that if you were called in on your day off, the station would have to reimburse your lunch no matter where you went, reasoning being that you wouldn't have had to buy your lunch had you not been at work.
 
CAMERABUDDY

CAMERABUDDY

Member
Fifty miles and fifteen hours, then we were paid a fourty one dollar fee for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If it was less than fifteen hours no payment was due even if you were 200 miles from the station and returned before the mandated time requirement.
 
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JoeyO38

JoeyO38

Well-known member
Ours is outside the DMA (which could be up to 1.5 hours away depending on the direction)

They also will give us a lunch a lot of times if you change your scheduled hours to work a crazy/long shift. Example, during election season when Obama and McCain would come to town. My schedule would usually have me come in at 10am, but for those events I would come in at 4am to help get set for a 11am presser. Sometimes staying through the 5, 6, and 7pm shows. That would get me a free breakfast and lunch.

Also, nights like New Years Eve and Local Elections, we usually pull 13 hour shifts. The station will buy pizza for everyone and leave it in the newsroom. If you are out at the scene and can't return for the pizza, they will reimburse your dinner.
 
iHD

iHD

Well-known member
I'd like to see stations add $5 per day to a photogs pay, in addition to his salary, to help cover meals everyday. Lord knows photogs are getting screwed on pay anyway so just add this meal supplement to your pay and don't reimburse for any meals. That's an extra $1200/yr per photographer. That more than covers the times throughout the year that the photog has to eat out because of a story. I know that's not going to happen but if I were in charge and had that power, I'd do it. Its the least a station can do for its photogs.
 
P

PhotoJones

Member
At our station the reimbursement policy is out of the DMA (which is 1-2 hours depending on direction) or if you have an overnight stay. Occasionally the ND will approve it if there are special circumstances.
 
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