Travel Reimbursements Related to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Upcoming NYU-sponsored international and domestic travel is eligible for reimbursement if it meets the following criteria:

• International travel must have been booked prior to March 3, 2020.

• Domestic travel must have been booked prior to March 9, 2020.

Steps for Reimbursement

1. Employees or students must contact the airline and/or travel provider to request a refund. If a full refund is not available, and cancellation fees are incurred, proof of charges should be submitted just as if the employee or student traveled (in most cases, the cancellation fee, or in cases where no cancellation is permitted, the cost of the ticket) for a reimbursement.

2. In certain circumstances, a travel voucher may be provided for future travel, in lieu of a refund. If a voucher is provided, the employee or student will be fully reimbursed with the expectation that the voucher will be used for University-related travel in the future.

3. Reimbursement requests should be submitted with appropriate documentation for the reason the trip was cancelled and either the (1) cancellation fee or (2) evidence that the ticket was non-cancellable/changeable.  Employees should ensure this additional information is submitted with their reimbursement requests in AP Workflow.  

4. If travel is non-refundable (per #1) and would have been charged to a sponsored program, it should now be charged to the department/center/PIs Fund 20 chartfield until we receive further guidance if the expense may still be charged to the grant. 

All non-refundable expenses must be recorded under the program code "VIRUS" + appropriate school / unit fund / org / account / project.

The University requested that all upcoming or already incurred expenses that cannot be recovered (e.g., expenses related to spring break programs that have been cancelled) must be recorded under the program code "VIRUS" + appropriate school / unit fund / org / account / project. This allows us to measure the full financial impact of COVID-19 on our results and support a potential insurance claim.

Journal entries recorded through JEMS to move expenses incurred to program code VIRUS must include the original transaction details (PO, voucher, journal ID, Pcard/CTA transaction, etc.) in the support. All expenses must be for valid business purposes and comply with NYU policies. The above also applies to travel originally charged to a sponsored program for which a refund is not available, until we receive further guidance if the expense may still be charged to the grant.

Please send all JEMS requests to steinhardt.finance@nyu.edu. 

Examples

1. Non-refundable expense: A faculty member contacts the hotel and airline to cancel an international trip and obtain a refund. Both the hotel and airline refuses to refund the faculty as the original bookings were non-refundable. NYU will reimburse the faculty for the hotel and airline with written proof of hotel and airlines refusal to refund the faculty. 

2. Partially refundable expense: A faculty member calls the airline to cancel a $1,000 flight and obtain a refund. The airline assessed a $250 cancellation fee and the faculty member was refunded $750. NYU will only reimburse the faculty for $250 with proof of cancellation fee charge. 

3. Fully refundable expense: A faculty member calls the airline to cancel a $1,000 flight and obtain a refund. The airline provides the faculty member a full refund of $1,000. NYU will not reimburse the faculty member because the full value of the flight was reimbursed.