Wife is being sent out of state for training, employer is not covering food, parking/taxi, or baggage [closed]

Question

My wife is a grade school teacher, and the principal is sending her and a few other teachers to a conference/training event out of state. This is not district sponsored, so the funding is coming directly from my wife's school. The principal bought the cheapest tickets from United, thereby leaving the teachers to foot the bill for luggage, and since it is apparently a new class of cheap tickets, carry on baggage is also an extra cost. So unless they can fit 4 days worth of professional clothing in a bag that fits under the seat, they have to pay. Also, meals are not provided beyond the ones that are at the training event (so just lunch).

Since this is training that the principal wants all of the teachers to receive, should she not be willing to foot the full bill? I tried to look at my states policy on Per diem, but I couldn't really find anything. I have taken work related trips before, and everything associated with the trip was payed for, so this seems way out of line to me. Is there anything my wife can do? I have thought about contacting the district administration to see if they were aware this was how the principal was doing things.

Edit: It's in Montana

Answer 1

If anyone contacts the District, it needs to be your wife, not you. It is her job, and thus her responsibility.

A lot of places do go very cheap, and schools are one where the teachers often provide some of the burden of business expenses. It doesn't seem right, but it doesn't sound surprising either.

Most teachers are part of a union (as Joe points out), and contacting the union would be another option - ask them what her rights and responsibilities are in a situation like this.

Answer 2

You need to look for the Travel Policy of the Organization she works for. This could be the School District or the City or County. It's different in many places.

This should specify all the responsibilities of both parties.

It probably won't matter that the 'school' is paying for it. The school is still part of the Organization the policy covers. Where exactly the money comes from is irrelevant.

Since is a Government Organization, it's highly likely the Policy will specify a per diem for non-included meals. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if baggage fees had a specific policy as well.

Of course, the traveler can agree to limit expenses and not claim what they may otherwise be entitled to.