‘Voluntary’ training time: To pay or not?
Do you offer extra off-duty training for employees that, while technically voluntary, is strongly recommended?
If training participants are hourly employees, chances are you will have to pay them for this time.
Simply calling the training “voluntary” isn’t good enough if employees believe they would suffer adverse consequences for skipping the sessions.
Recent case: Several dealers at an Illinois casino sued, saying they had not been paid for time spent in training sessions learning new games of chance. The training sessions were held outside normal working hours.
The casino argued that the Fair Labor Standards Act required hourly workers to be paid for training time only if it was mandatory. It also claimed that it didn’t have to pay for training that taught employees new skills, even if the training was mandatory.
The casino claimed these training sessions were recommended, but not required. Plus, learning new games was acquiring a new skill, not improving on an old one.
The employees argued that the company essentially required the training because it criticized anyone who dropped a course and figured those training absences into the employee’s performance reviews.
The court sided with the employees, saying the case could go forward as a class action. Now the employees will get a chance to prove that training was mandatory and related to their jobs. (Nehmelman, et al., v. Penn National Gaming, No. 11-C-23, ND IL, 2011)
Final note: On-site college classes are an example of training that typically does not have to be paid because it prepares employees for different jobs. That’s true even if the classes benefit the employer.
How to tell if training is compensable
Here are some conditions that indicate that so-called “voluntary” training is really mandatory and, thus, compensable:
1. Job postings indicate employees must be willing to learn things covered in training sessions. In this case, dealer job postings said applicants must be “willing to learn all games offered in the casino.” The training sessions taught those games.
2. Employee performance reviews are affected. In this case, employees were often encouraged in reviews to learn new games so they could work more stations on the casino floor. To learn new games, they had to attend the training.
3. Employees are led to believe that skipping the training will have adverse effects like poor performance reviews, assignments to less desirable shifts, termination or demotion. The dealers in this case said they feared they wouldn’t be considered valuable employees unless they took the courses and learned new games.
4. The training is designed to make the employee more effective at a current job, rather than preparing for a new position or promotion.
