Episode 13: Do You Have to Pay for Training Time?

Hear how a decades-old landmark law guides today’s employers on some of the most pressing issues facing companies. Bill Martucci, who leads Shook, Hardy & Bacon’s national Employment Litigation and Policy Practice, shares insight in these bite-sized podcasts focusing on the Fair Labor Standards Act. Whether you’re a seasoned general counsel or just finding your way through the myriad of state and federal wage and hour laws, listening to Bill’s soothing discourse is time well spent.

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TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to “A Window into Wage and Hour,” a podcast series that shines the light on time and money laws impacting your business today.

Welcome to our clients and friends as we continue with our wage and hour podcast and continue into an area that from a managerial perspective is truly fascinating. This one certainly impacts associates, as do all our topics. The topic is about training. What about compensation for training and for educational programs?

Attendance at lectures and meetings and training programs, and similar activities—are they in fact work, are they compensable, or are they not? The focus here is on four established points by the United States Department of Labor regulations. That is if, in fact, these four criteria are established, then it is not considered work and it is not considered a compensable training session.

One is attendance outside the employee’s regular working hours. Two is attendance actually voluntary. Three, does the course, the lecture, or the meeting, such as to not be directly related to the employee’s job. And fourth, is it such that the employee does not perform any productive work during such attendance. All four aspects must be met to be considered non-compensable and to be considered non-work time.

So, if, in fact, there is a training program that is required by the employer and it is held during normal working hours, then it is compensable and it is work. But what about this concept of voluntary or involuntary, because let’s suggest that the program is not during normal working hours. Voluntary or non-voluntary is defined in such a way that is the employee led to believe or to understand that the present working conditions or continuation of her employment would be adversely affected if, in fact, she did not attend the program. That would be considered involuntary. That would be compensable.

Now, what about the question regarding training directly related to the employee’s job. Here, as a key point, we are informed by the Department of Labor that if a training session is instituted for the bona fide purpose of preparing for advancement through upgrading the employee to a higher skill and if it is not intended to make the employee more efficient, then that course, even though it may have an incidental improvement upon the skill of the associate, would be considered non-compensable.

In the same respect, independent training, if an employee on his or her own, initiates attending a program of an independent school or college, then, in fact, that program will not be considered compensable, even if the courses are related to the job itself.

So, to wrap up, this question of training is often a question that comes up with a great deal of focus on if, in fact, it is voluntarily undertaken, it is not directly related to the employee’s job, and is outside the employee’s regular working hours, then it is non-compensable. But otherwise, and in a vast majority of circumstances, it will be compensable.

Thank you so much.