Does an employer have to compensate an employee who does online mandatory training?

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Does an employer have to compensate an employee who does online mandatory training?

An employer sets up online training that used to be done during work hours and
tells the employee that from now on they have to do this at home on their own
time. Can they do this? If not where can I find something I can print out?

Asked on October 8, 2018 under Employment Labor Law, Ohio

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 5 years ago | Contributor

I wrote "meetings," but as you can see from the DOL FAQ sheet, the same principal applies to mandatory training as well. Anything required by your employer is work; only if you do it of your own free will (e.g. choosing to upgrade your qualifications to hopefully get a promotion or better job) is it not work.

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 5 years ago | Contributor

Yes, they have to compensate you. Anything required by the employer must be treated as work time and paid, even if it is offsite and outside normal work hours. At the bottom of this answer is a link to a U.S. Dept. of Labor FAQ sheet addressing the issue; look at the 2nd page, near the top:
 



"Attendance at lectures, meetings, training programs and similar activities need not be counted as working time only if four criteria are met, namely: it is outside normal hours, it is voluntary, not job related, and no other work is concurrently performed"
If it is involuntary--mandatory or required--it does not meet the criteria to not be considered work time; therefore, mandatory meetings are work time and must be paid.



https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.pdf


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