Continuous training is necessary so that everyone know what is expected and ways to do his or her job better. There have been questions about paying for training time. This is a non-issue because the law is very clear on paying for training.
The reason that I learned about this is because of an employee who felt that he was fired wrongly after being at the company for over 7 years. (He wasn’t; the policy was being followed.)
This former employee set out to see how much grief he could give the owners and went to the Department of Labor. He found out that you had to pay for training time. This company had, and still has, a meeting every Monday morning. Everyone is required to come. However, they were not paid for the meeting. To make a long story short, the employee reported the company.
The Department of Labor investigated and found that the company was not paying for training time and fined the company. The former employee wanted 7 years of back pay for 52 hours. The statute of limitations at that time was three years. So, the company had to pay the former employee and everyone else 52 hours for three years plus interest and fines. This was a costly lesson to learn.
Here is the law on paying for training and meetings…which I quote out of the federal regulations:
Lectures, Meetings, and Training programs:
Attendance at lectures, meetings, training programs and similar activities need not be counted as working time if the following four criteria are met:
(a)Attendance is outside of the employee’s regular working hours
(b)Attendance is in fact voluntary
(c)The course, lecture, or meeting is not directly related to the employee’s job and
(d)The employee does not perform any productive work during
I don’t have a problem complying with a, b, and d. I can’t find a legal way around c. If you are having a meeting or a training session, that session is always related to the employee’s job.
If anyone has found a legal way around the third criterion, please let me know and I will pass it along. As far as I can tell, you have to pay for training and meeting time.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Forewarned is forearmed!
Comments