U.S. DOL Further Defines What Constitutes Compensable Training Time
In three opinion letters issued during the final weeks of the Bush administration, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) provided further guidance as to what does and does not constitute compensable training time under 29 C.F.R. § 785.27.
Pursuant to section 785.27, participation in training programs need not be counted as working time if four criteria are met: (a) attendance is outside of the employee’s regular working hours; (b) attendance is in fact voluntary; (c) the course, lecture, or meeting is not directly related to the employee’s job; and (d) the employee does not perform any productive work during such attendance. 29 C.F.R. §785.27.
In FLSA 2009-13 and FLSA 2009-15, the DOL confirmed that required study for required training classes – even when the studying occurs outside of the normal work day – is nonetheless compensable time. In 2009-13, employees were required to take four 10-hour web-based prerequisite classes for a job-related training course that would be completed during normal work time. While participation in the job-related training course was entirely voluntary, completion of the course would result in the employees being able to better and more efficiently perform the functions of their jobs. Accordingly, because their web-based requisite classes were a mandatory part of the job-related training course, the DOL concluded that time spent completing those web-based prerequisite classes was directly related to the employee’s job and, therefore, failed the third criterion of section 785.27.
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