Paying for Employee Training Hours?

[outforfun]

Help!!!!
Do we as a childcare have to pay for our employees training hours? Some of our employees are doing the free online classes offered by the state on their computers at home. Do we have to pay them an hourly rate for this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Annalee]

Help!!!!
Do we as a childcare have to pay for our employees training hours? Some of our employees are doing the free online classes offered by the state on their computers at home. Do we have to pay them an hourly rate for this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I would not pay for the online classes the state is paying for. However, I do pay registration fees for conferences if a sub attends with me.

[MCC]

I do not pay my assistants for training they are required to do. We have to have 16 hours here, I tell them to use nap time, and slower times during the day to do it, and if they can't complete it then, they need to do it on their own time. I make this very clear during the interview. I do however pay for their CPR cert, but not the time for the class. If they leave within 6 months, I take the cost of the CPR, background check, CPS search out of their last check.

[craftymissbeth]

I'm not sure legally what's required, but I would never expect an employee to complete training that I'm requiring while off the clock. IMO, if you're requiring it then they should be paid for their time. Even if the state paid for the actual class they should be paid for their time.

[craftymissbeth]

I do not pay my assistants for training they are required to do. We have to have 16 hours here, I tell them to use nap time, and slower times during the day to do it, and if they can't complete it then, they need to do it on their own time. I make this very clear during the interview. I do however pay for their CPR cert, but not the time for the class. If they leave within 6 months, I take the cost of the CPR, background check, CPS search out of their last check.

I would contact a lawyer and make sure that's legal. If those classes and background checks were a requirement of their employment they are not responsible for ever paying you back. That's the risk and price that comes with having an employee.

ETA: I know virtually nothing about employee contracts, but I would def look into the legality.

[craftymissbeth]

I know this is just a blog, but #6 on the list makes it clear that completing online training without pay is a violation of federal and state wage laws.

http://blog.ogletreedeakins.com/applying-wage-and-hour-laws-to-the-21st-century-workforce-examples-of-off-the-clock-work-violations-involving-use-of-technology/

[craftymissbeth]

This is the last one, promise

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs46.htm

Lectures, Meetings and Training Programs: Attendance at lectures, meetings, training programs, and similar activities must be counted as working time unless all four of the following criteria are met: (1) it occurs outside normal scheduled hours of work; (2) it is completely voluntary; (3) it is not job-related (unless the employee attends an independent school or college on his/her own initiative outside work hours); and, (4) no other work is performed during the period. The time spent attending training that is required by the state for day care center licensing is working time for which employees must be compensated.

[KidGrind]

I'm not sure legally what's required, but I would never expect an employee to complete training that I'm requiring while off the clock. IMO, if you're requiring it then they should be paid for their time. Even if the state paid for the actual class they should be paid for their time.

like this When I have worked in childcare as an employee, I’ve been paid for all hours of training that was a requirement of the job.

[MCC]

My attorney wrote my employee handbook, and he was confident that I do not need to pay for their CPR certs, background checks or anything else they have to have before starting. It is a requirement to be eligible to work in a daycare to have these things and I am doing them the favor of taking care of it.

As a lifeguard I always had to pay for my CPR cert before starting, and was not reimbursed, as a flight attendant, same deal, AND I wasn't aloud to take that card with me when I left.

I pay for my employees cert b/c I know they can not afford it, but I need them to have it. I want to avoid paying for a cert just to have someone leave a month later, so I have the 6 month deal written in. I will double check with my attorney and make sure he checked all legalities. He is an employment lawyer.

[KidGrind]

My statement isn’t in regards to various certifications in order to be hired. I agree it’s the responsibility of employee.

I am talking about training required once hired. I don’t know if it legal or not. The only legal experience I have is watching Law & Order SVU. I just know that I’ve been paid for all training hours required by my employers after being hired.

Your lawyer would definitely know best!

[MCC]

My statement isn’t in regards to various certifications in order to be hired. I agree it’s the responsibility of employee.

I am talking about training required once hired. I don’t know if it legal or not. The only legal experience I have is watching Law & Order SVU. I just know that I’ve been paid for all training hours required by my employers after being hired.

Your lawyer would definitely know best!

Okay, that makes sense, I just emailed him. I will update with what he says.

[craftymissbeth]

My attorney wrote my employee handbook, and he was confident that I do not need to pay for their CPR certs, background checks or anything else they have to have before starting. It is a requirement to be eligible to work in a daycare to have these things and I am doing them the favor of taking care of it.

As a lifeguard I always had to pay for my CPR cert before starting, and was not reimbursed, as a flight attendant, same deal, AND I wasn't aloud to take that card with me when I left.

I pay for my employees cert b/c I know they can not afford it, but I need them to have it. I want to avoid paying for a cert just to have someone leave a month later, so I have the 6 month deal written in. I will double check with my attorney and make sure he checked all legalities. He is an employment lawyer.

Ok I have no idea about the costs of classes and training, but I do know from the second link I posted that in order to avoid paying for the actual time they spend completing it it has to fall under all four of the above requirements.

[BrooklynM]

I was in Human Resources prior and if it is a requirement of the job, then yes, you pay them for their time and their cert. However, if the requirement of the job is they must have CPR cert, this or that training class, then you do not need to pay for it before hiring as it is a requirement of the job. You do however have to pay for that training if it expires. You must always pay for training time as well and if it is beyond 8 hours in a day or 40 hours a week (in California anyway), then they would be paid overtime.

[craftymissbeth]

I was in Human Resources prior and if it is a requirement of the job, then yes, you pay them for their time and their cert. However, if the requirement of the job is they must have CPR cert, this or that training class, then you do not need to pay for it before hiring as it is a requirement of the job. You do however have to pay for that training if it expires. You must always pay for training time as well and if it is beyond 8 hours in a day or 40 hours a week (in California anyway), then they would be paid overtime.

So if I'm reading this right... if this is already an employee you must pay but if you want to avoid paying then you can hire someone who already has the training?

For example, a job advertisement can read "certification in pediatric CPR and First Aid required"? And then only hire those who are already certified?

I was in HR for many years, also, but it was in the restaurant business. We never really had the opportunity to hire anyone who already possessed the required training, so this is good information to have.

[BrooklynM]

Yes. I worked in the fitness industry, so this is a good example. We only started hiring trainers that already had their certifications versus paying for their certs after they were hired. So the ad would be- hiring personal trainers, must be certified and have current CPR/AED training. Now, with the personal training certs, they required continuing education credits, we offered those, but if they wanted say a specialized kettlebell training cert, they were on their own for that, we only paid for what was necessary to keep their certification and we paid for their CPR/AED when it was expiring.

I worked for a very large company and we had our fair share of class action lawsuits, so some of it was learned along the way. We had clubs all across the country and the rules were different for different states, however, we basicially had to follow the same rules across the board so everything was the same.

Another example is if your center requires a uniform. If you have shirts with logos on them, then you would be required to issue those, but if say, you said for your pants, you can wear yoga/workout pants you wouldn't need to pay for those because they could wear them outside of work.