non-exempt training, paid?

kseitz

Hi!
I work in Idaho and have a question on when to pay non-exempt child care workers to attend a mandatory training outside their normal work hours. I consulted the DOL and it appears that they have to meet four requirements in order to NOT have to pay the employee. In my situation, the employee meets ALL four requirements, so it would appear that the orgnaization would have to pay for the employee to attend the Saturday training.

Can anyone help me figure this out?

Your help is greatly appreciated!
Kimberley Seitz

NeedCoffee

Since the training is mandatory, it has failed one of the 4 tests, and thus, you must pay them for this time. Is that what you are asking?

HRQ

Hi Kimberley!

We own and operate childcare centers in AZ. We do not pay for time spent at Saturday trainings, and here are the details;
- State licensing regulations require the staff member to maintain at least 12 hours of job-related training per year.
- We provide the training on Saturday mornings during non-operating hours to help staff maintain their hours. (And to make sure they receive quality training that we control, and it's made a pretty big impact on our staff turnover...)
- Attendance is voluntary. If the staff member chooses not to attend, they must find appropriate training elsewhere, on their own time, at their own expense.
- We do not take disciplinary action if the staff member chooses not to attend our trainings, however we do take disciplinary action if the staff member fails to maintain their state required training hours on their own. Failure to maintain training hours means they are no longer qualified to work in a licensed center, and the center receives a citation if the licensing inspector discovers the violation.

The first important part here is that the training hours requirement is that of the state, not of the employer.

The second important part is that we do not take disciplinary action of the staff member chooses not to attend our training.

We do occasionally require a staff member to attend a specific saturday training, if they violated a child discipline policy for example and needed additional training. Just in those cases, we do pay for their time. We pay them because we would take further disciplinary action if they failed to attend that specific training.

I don't know if you have any unique laws in your state, but in AZ this is acceptable. AZ pretty much mirrors federal law in these areas.

NaeNae55

Kansas is the same as AZ, though I am not sure about how many hours the state requires in continuing education. Both of my daughters have worked for daycare facilities and both had to go to training after hours just as Q described. They receive no pay for the training, but it saved them out of pocket expenses of having to get the training elsewhere.

Good luck!

Nae