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No Room and Board on Mandatory Training

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outofstater

Junior Member
I work in Alaska at a remote site, on a rotating type of schedule of a 2 week on/2 week off. Because of this schedule, we are allowed to live anywhere we want, and we do have this stipulation in writing. While we are at work, the company provides us with room and board.

Recently our company has initiated an intensive list of mandatory training. They have said that the room and board for classes held in Anchorage and Fairbanks will be paid for people whose home is more than 35 miles from the training site, as long as the employee lives in Alaska. If one lives out of state, the room and board and transportation must come out of their own pocket.

Is this legal? If not, what recourse do we have? Thank you for any advice on this situation.
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Unless you have a bona fide, enforceable CONTRACT (not an offer letter, not an employee handbook, a CONTRACT) that specifies that your employer must ALWAYS provide room and board for training, yes, it is legal.
 

outofstater

Junior Member
Re: Room and Board in Training question

What about the federal law that one is not supposed to discriminate against people from other states when hiring? That law does not apply to this case?

By the way, we don't have a binding employee contract, per se. Historically, our room and board has been paid for when we are in training if one lives more than 35 miles from the training site, regardless of where one lived, as per an HR guideline. The stipulation against people who live outside the state of Alaska has been set only for training mandated this year.

Thank you for your advice.
 

pattytx

Senior Member
What about the federal law that one is not supposed to discriminate against people from other states when hiring?
What federal law would that be? Can you post a link to it?

In any case, you're already hired. It may not be fair, but it's not illegal. As a matter of fact, there is no legal requirement for an employer to reimburse an
employer for business-related expenses at all, although most do. If you can't afford to pay this on your own, tell your employer that you would really like to attend the training, and you understand that the company considers it
mandatory, but that you just do not have the funds to cover this yourself. See what they say.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
There is no Federal law that you can't discriminate against people from other states when hiring, or at any other time. People in other states are not a protected group.
 

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