Thanks for the response Mr. KnowItAll. I apologize for the formatting of my post. I wrote the post in another application as I was trying not leave anything out. I will try to "fix" the formatting.
If the company, on every previous occasion paid per diem to all of its employees, and this process is outlined in a Travel Policy, can the company reneg on the written policy? And apply it to only one person, while adhering to it for two other employees on the same job in the same location?

My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: Colorado? Virginia? Arizona?
I worked for government contractor October of '05 until August of '08 when I resigned. In October of last year, the Business Development rep for the company called me and told me he was buying with company with another investor and asked me to come back. I was living in Colorado where my participation as the Project Manager for three projects began. This included engineering support, architectural design, procurement, hardware tracking, contracts, etc. The integration portion of the contract would take place in Virginia and one, so it was known that travel would be involved. So, my residence is Colorado, corporate office is in Arizona and the integration work was being performed in Virginia.
Two other employees were working the same project and went to Virginia also, one from Colorado, the other from Illinois. I brought my family as I anticipated being out there for about three months. The company paid for the travel expenses to Virginia from Colorado.
At first, the company had everyone in a hotel. They were paying everyone per diem at the government rate. I was there for about a week, and the hotel room was too small so I got a corporate apartment at my own expense. One of the other guys moved to an extended stay hotel at company expense.
A bit later, the company rented a corporate house and let whatever employees stay there for free if they wanted, but the VP said no expenses would be paid for housing outside of the corporate house. That mostly applied to me and I agreed. I paid for all my own housing and related expenses.
Per diem was still being paid to all the employees. After three months the VP told me I was not supposed to be getting per diem because I had my family there and "moved" to Virgina. I disagreed and said nobody discussed Virginia being a permanent move and it was only a temporary project. There were no discussions about permanent positions in VA, there was no discussions about cost of living differences, there was no discussions about paying any moving expenses. The VP pulled it out of nowhere. They had already paid me $5500 in per diem and mileage up to that point without saying a word. When the VP made this declaration, the company owed me about $3500 that he refused to pay, but he also said I did not have to pay back what was already given to me. If it was never authorized, I'm not
sure why he wouldn't recoup it. As a note, all expense reports are reviewed and approved by the accountant and the president of the company. The president also signs all of the checks.
When I was denied the per diem, the other employees contributing to the same project in the same location were still authorized to collect it. I was the only one told I would not get per diem.
As a result of this disagreement, I was subsequently laid off. They called it a "RIF" and said the budget wouldn't allow all of the labor and they had to let somebody go. The RIF coincidentally, and suddenly occurred about a week and half after the per diem confrontation.
When I returned to Colorado, the company also refused to pay the expenses to return...roughly $1700. Again, the company did pay expense to go out to Virginia. As a result of my departure I filed and was approved for unemployment benefits in Colorado, although I never collected any benefits.
My question is: are there any fair labor laws that says a company can refuse one person travel expenses while approving it for other employees that are working the same project in the same location? Another question is: If a company pays expense to travel to a job site, are they obligated to pay for the return trip, even if the employee is laid off? That was the the "official" reason, so the separation wasn't due to anything derogatory.
I never received any negative remarks or counselings or anything similar. As a matter of fact, I was given a $10k annual raise to come back to the company. At the end, it appeared that I simply disagreed with the corporate office and they concocted the "Reduction in Force" as a way to have me removed without creating an appearance that they were firing me for the disagreement.
Please let me know if you need other details to assist. If there's a legitimate complaint, could it be pursued through small claims court, and if so, which state would it be in? The company's corporate office is in Phoenix, but they are geographically dispersed. If they conduct business, or participate on government contracts in Colorado, could the suit be filed in Colorado, or would it have to be pursued in Arizona?[/QUOTE]