Human Resource Blog

Unpaid Training Time

An employee required to do training for 2 hours a week is not paid for the time spend in training. Training place is at and on work site. In building where they work. Location of business is in the Dallas Ft Worth area. Is this legal?

This is not legal if the employee is truly required by the employer to attend this specific training class. Under the federal FLSA, when training is company-specific, it must be paid. An employee must be paid even for training that is not company-specific, when the employee is required to attend a specific class — that is, when the employer dictates when and where the training will take place. However, the employer is not required to pay employees for optional training, even if that training is conducted on company property.

Some examples:

Trina must be trained on her employers computer software, and she must be certified in CPR to qualify for her job as a taxi dispatcher. Time spent training on the company software must be paid, because it is specific to that employer. Even if Trina did some of the training online from home, this is work time and she must be paid for it.

In addition, the employer requires that Trina be certified in CPR to hold her job. Trina has the option to obtain this CPR certification wherever and whenever she likes, but she must obtain it within the first 90 days of employment or lose her job. The employer is not required to pay Trina for this training, because it is general training that applies to many jobs and Trina is free to obtain it wherever she wants. When the employee has flexibility in when and where training is obtained, the employer is not required to pay workers for the training.

Even if the employer scheduled a CPR class to be held on their premises, and suggested that Trina attend it, they would not be required to pay her for the training.

However, if the employer told Trina, “You are required to attend our CPR class held on Saturday at 10 am. We will not accept any CPR certification from any other class” then the employer is making that training session mandatory, and must pay Trina for that time.

Many employers offer enrichment classes or optional training on their premises, including computer classes and English as a Second Language or ESL classes. If the employee is required to attend, the employer must pay the worker for their time. However, many companies offer optional classes. Attendance may benefit the employees career, but is not mandatory. In that case, the employer is not required to pay employees for the class, even if it is conducted on company property.