Do you have to pay workers at the overtime rate when you conduct before — or after-hours safety training? Learn the rules and the exceptions.
According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), training programs conducted during regular work hours constitute work time and must be compensated as such.
Mandatory safety training conducted outside of regular work hours (for example, on employees’ days off or before or after normal work hours) must be considered hours worked under FLSA and included when determining whether an employee has worked more than 40 hours in a workweek and is therefore entitled to overtime.
On the other hand, after-hours training need not be compensated if:
- Attendance is entirely outside normal working hours and is voluntary;
- The training is not directly related to an employee’s current job; and
- The employee doesn’t do any productive work during the training program.
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Exceptions
- Attendance will not be found voluntary if employees are led to believe that attending is critical to their job.
- A training program is considered directly related to an employee’s job only if the training is designed to help the employee handle the present job more effectively. Time spent in training for a new job or in the development of new skills (for promotion, for example) is less likely to be classified as compensable time.
- Attendance at an independent school, college, or trade school after hours on the employee’s own initiative is not counted as work hours even if the courses are related to the current job.
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Information You Need 24/7
Need workplace safety and health information ASAP? You’ll find it, 24/7, at Safety.BLR.com. You’ll get all the latest news and views, plus a whole lot more to help you keep your workplace safe, all reported and interpreted for you by our safety experts.
What’s more, this one-stop safety website is a fantastic resource for safety training materials on just about any topic you can imagine.
Training responsibilities become a snap with the website’s thousands of audio presentations, PowerPoints, prewritten safety meetings, toolbox talks, trainer’s guides, and much, much more. You’ll find training tools on more than 120 safety topics along with plain-English compliance analysis and other resources.
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If you like what you see, you’re invited to try the site at no cost and with no obligation. We’ll even give you a complimentary special report for doing so. Go here to take a 5-minute tour of Safety.BLR.com. It may be just what you’re looking for.