professional development reimbursement upon termination

What is the name of your state? Virginia

I have been asked to sign a reimbursement notification to my company which includes salary. Is this okay?

I will be attending a professional development seminar out of town. The airfare, hotel, and training are not normal expenses for my company. They have asked me to commit 2 years of service to repay the cost or, upon termination, reimburse all expenses. The list of expenses includes my salary while I am on the trip. I do not believe the salary can be included as a reimbursable expense. My justification is the salary is a payment for services rendered (not perceived). The training seminar is directly related to the service I provide the company and will help me do my job.

I feel the 2 years is a little on the excessive side, but truly disagree with the salary in the mix.

Any suggestions?

State law will determine the final answer, but I agree it is unlikely that salary can be included.

Contact the VA DOL Wage and Hour division to see what can be included under state law. They can also offer an opinion as to whether two years is acceptable. (P.S. in my state it is)

cbg, I'm thinking that federal law procludes the employer from including miller_chip's salary in this agreement. An employer can't not pay an employee for work time which includes time for which the employer derives some benefit - clearly the training would be included in that or they wouldn't be sending him for training in the first place.

Beth, I agree...but since I haven't seen the actual wording of the agreement I still think checking with the DOL is worthwhile.

Your post says that the expenses would become reimbursable, "upon termination". You simply have no control over 'termination' by the employer and suggest you revise this reimbursement clause ONLY apply if you RESIGN (and not termination). Simply, the employer can terminate you at THEIR option and you would be obligated to reimburse the direct costs expended. I agree that salary would probably not be reimbursable (assuming that you are a direct employee) since those would have been actual hours 'worked'.

Good add, Halket. Yes, I completely agree the document should be reworded that the training monies are only repayable if miller_chip resigns voluntarily.

cbg, I wasn't suggesting that a call to the state DOL wasn't in order. It's possible the entire repayment deal is not permissible under VA reg's. It's just that I think federal law procludes the employer from requiring reimbursement of the wages no matter what else VA reg's may dictate in this situation.

thanks all for the comments. I have tried to search the dol and have come up empty on the issue of salary as a reimbursable expense for professional development. I will keep looking for actual legal verbage and statutes. The agreement is updated with the stipulation of employment termination not requiring payback, provided the employee did not provoke the firing. I have no intention of doing anything so stupid. I have been a consultant in the past and have taken this full time gig as a market protection measure. I will likely move back in to consulting when markets improve and want to be prepared for any liabilities involved with leaving the full time job.

thanks again... If any other comments are appropriate, please don't hesitate to leave them.

Just that you will probably save a lot of time by calling your State's DOL than poking around at their web site. You likely won't find language that specifically prohbits this - it's a matter of interpretation and understanding what the law requires, not what it disallows