diff --git a/nemo_rl/models/policy/dtensor_policy_worker.py b/nemo_rl/models/policy/dtensor_policy_worker.py
index 39e0dd4974..27dfb4ac77 100644
--- a/nemo_rl/models/policy/dtensor_policy_worker.py
+++ b/nemo_rl/models/policy/dtensor_policy_worker.py
@@ -142,6 +142,8 @@ def __init__(
             device_map="cpu",  # load weights onto CPU initially
             torch_dtype=torch.float32,  # use full precision in sft until https://github.com/NVIDIA/nemo-rl/issues/13 is fixed
         )
+        # caching since this property is not always preserved after FSDP
+        self.num_tied_weights = len(find_tied_parameters(self.model))
 
         self.tokenizer = tokenizer
         # ------------------------------------------------
@@ -256,15 +258,14 @@ def train(
         mbs: Optional[int] = None,
     ) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         """Train the policy on a batch of data with a given loss function."""
-        num_tied_weights = len(find_tied_parameters(self.model))
         skip_tie_check = os.environ.get("NRL_SKIP_TIED_WEIGHT_CHECK")
         if (
-            num_tied_weights != 0
+            self.num_tied_weights != 0
             and self.cfg["dtensor_cfg"]["tensor_parallel_size"] > 1
             and not skip_tie_check
         ):
             raise ValueError(
-                f"Using dtensor policy with tp size {self.cfg['dtensor_cfg']['tensor_parallel_size']} for model ({self.cfg['model_name']}) that has tied weights (num_tied_weights={num_tied_weights}) is not supported (https://github.com/NVIDIA/nemo-rl/issues/227). Please use dtensor policy with tensor parallel == 1 instead."
+                f"Using dtensor policy with tp size {self.cfg['dtensor_cfg']['tensor_parallel_size']} for model ({self.cfg['model_name']}) that has tied weights (num_tied_weights={self.num_tied_weights}) is not supported (https://github.com/NVIDIA/nemo-rl/issues/227). Please use dtensor policy with tensor parallel == 1 instead."
             )
 
         if gbs is None:
diff --git a/nemo_rl/models/policy/fsdp1_policy_worker.py b/nemo_rl/models/policy/fsdp1_policy_worker.py
index b49c2748cf..b25e930b6f 100644
--- a/nemo_rl/models/policy/fsdp1_policy_worker.py
+++ b/nemo_rl/models/policy/fsdp1_policy_worker.py
@@ -94,6 +94,8 @@ def __init__(
             device_map="cpu",  # load weights onto CPU initially
             torch_dtype=torch.float32,  # use full precision in sft until https://github.com/NVIDIA/nemo-rl/issues/13 is fixed
         )
+        # caching since this property is not always preserved after FSDP
+        self.num_tied_weights = len(find_tied_parameters(self.model))
 
         if init_reference_model:
             self.reference_model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained(
@@ -229,11 +231,10 @@ def train(
     ) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         """Train the policy on a batch of data with a given loss function."""
         # Check if the model has tied weights
-        num_tied_weights = len(find_tied_parameters(self.model))
         skip_tie_check = os.environ.get("NRL_SKIP_TIED_WEIGHT_CHECK")
-        if num_tied_weights != 0 and not skip_tie_check:
+        if self.num_tied_weights != 0 and not skip_tie_check:
             raise ValueError(
-                f"Using FSP1 with a model ({self.cfg['model_name']}) that has tied weights (num_tied_weights={num_tied_weights}) is not supported (https://github.com/NVIDIA/nemo-rl/issues/227). Please use dtensor policy with tensor parallel == 1 instead."
+                f"Using FSP1 with a model ({self.cfg['model_name']}) that has tied weights (num_tied_weights={self.num_tied_weights}) is not supported (https://github.com/NVIDIA/nemo-rl/issues/227). Please use dtensor policy with tensor parallel == 1 instead."
             )
 
         if gbs is None: