Corporate Policy While Travelling For Business

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - How far can or should an employer's policy go in regulating the off-duty time of employees travelling for business?

Apparently, what happens in Cartegena doesn't stay in Cartegena. So when several secret service officers became engaged in conduct unbecoming of, anyone actually, they were told that they could resign or would be fired.

But now some of the implicated agents are seeking to overturn their dismissals, arguing that when they took women back to their rooms, they were unaware that the trysts were expected to be for money. And the problem for the Secret Service is that unstated rules of the road have long been of the don't-ask-don't-tell variety. So, with no real policy and no official charges filed, there may not be a tidy resolution of this debacle.

In your company, if people travel on business, remember that your company is well within its rights to regulate not just meals and entertainment expenses but the conduct of employees while entertaining.

Make it clear that any conduct that reflects on the company is fair game for punishment and oh remember that no behavior is secret in your company's service.