My girlfriend went to a three hour meeting required by her company and was told by her supervisor that she'd be paid. After the fact, she found out she wouldn't be paid. A fellow employee reached out to the main office to ask why they weren't being paid and was told since it was a "mandatory training" they didn't have to pay them. Are there any legal guidelines to protect employees from this sort of thing?
This is in the US, Louisiana to be specific. Edit: she's paid by the hour and is treated as a contractor. I didn't think about that originally, sorry not to have included it sooner. Also this is a smallish (spanning maybe 10 cities) company, there isn't an HR dept that she's aware of. They get state funding if that matters at all, just wanted to make sure I included everything.