Section 126.32. Job interview and relocation expenses

(A) Any officer of any state agency may authorize reimbursement for travel, including the costs of transportation, for lodging, and for meals to any person who is interviewing for a position that is classified in pay range 13 or above in schedule E-1 or schedule E-1 for step eight only, or is classified in schedule E-2, of section 124.152 of the Revised Code.

(B) If a person is appointed to a position listed in section 121.03 of the Revised Code, to the position of chairperson of the industrial commission, adjutant general, chancellor of the Ohio board of regents, superintendent of public instruction, chairperson of the public utilities commission of Ohio, or director of the state lottery commission, to a position holding a fiduciary relationship to the governor, to a position of an appointing authority of the department of mental health and addiction services, developmental disabilities, or rehabilitation and correction, to a position of superintendent in the department of youth services, or to a position under section 122.05 of the Revised Code, and if that appointment requires a permanent change of residence, the appropriate state agency may reimburse the person for the person's actual and necessary expenses, including the cost of in-transit storage of household goods and personal effects, of moving the person and members of the person's immediate family residing in the person's household, and of moving their household goods and personal effects, to the person's new location.

Until that person moves the person's permanent residence to the new location, but not for a period that exceeds thirty consecutive days, the state agency may reimburse the person for the person's temporary living expenses at the new location that the person has incurred on behalf of the person and members of the person's immediate family residing in the person's household. In addition, the state agency may reimburse that person for the person's travel expenses between the new location and the person's former residence during this period for a maximum number of trips specified by rule of the director of budget and management, but the state agency shall not reimburse the person for travel expenses incurred for those trips by members of the person's immediate family. With the prior written approval of the director, the maximum thirty-day period for temporary living expenses may be extended for a person appointed to a position under section 122.05 of the Revised Code.

The director of development services may reimburse a person appointed to a position under section 122.05 of the Revised Code for the person's actual and necessary expenses of moving the person and members of the person's immediate family residing in the person's household back to the United States and may reimburse a person appointed to such a position for the cost of storage of household goods and personal effects of the person and the person's immediate family while the person is serving outside the United States, if the person's office outside the United States is the person's primary job location.

(C) All reimbursement under division (A) or (B) of this section shall be made in the manner, and at rates that do not exceed those, provided by rule of the director of budget and management in accordance with section 111.15 of the Revised Code. Reimbursements may be made under division (B) of this section directly to the persons who incurred the expenses or directly to the providers of goods or services the persons receive, as determined by the director of budget and management.

Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 64, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2015.

Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 25, HB 59, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2013.

Amended by 128th General Assemblych.39, SB 79, §1, eff. 10/6/2009.

Effective Date: 06-29-2004