What Activities Do You “Pay For”? (Perspectives)
Let’s say your company pays for employees to attend work-related training sessions. Every now and then, you pull employees out of their work stations for seminars and workshops. You might tap senior staff or bring in educators to conduct training on-site. Maybe you’ve even codified your commitment to employees’ continued professional development with a clause in your employee handbook.
But let’s also say that, among all these performance-improving activities, an employee goes the extra mile and attends job-related training outside of work hours—on their own time, and using their own money. It’s been a few months, and now this employee wants to get compensated for tuition.
Are you obligated to pay?
Well, it depends. There’s what the Fair Labor Standards Act says, and then there’s your company’s policy manual.
Our partners at Fisher Phillips explore this topic and offer some answers in a recent article on the Wage and Hour Laws Blog. To find out what training activities you have to pay for and why, click here or visit fisherphillips.com.
