• Four criteria determine whether attendance at meetings or training sessions can be regarded as working time.
• A federal regulation provides examples of when training is related to an employee’s job.

In most cases, time spent in training or meetings is considered hours worked that must be paid. The federal regulation at 785.27 reads as follows:

Attendance at lectures, meetings, training programs, and similar activities need not be counted as working time if the following four criteria are met:

1. Attendance is outside of the employee’s regular working hours;
2. Attendance is voluntary;
3. The course, lecture, or meeting is not directly related to the employee’s job; and
4. The employee does not perform any productive work during such attendance.

Note that all four of these criteria must be met. If not, the time is paid working time. In most cases, training and meetings are required by the employer, and on that basis alone will not meet all four criteria. This can include certain tests required for employment, although it would not include applicant screening tests.

The question of whether the meeting or training program occurs outside of normal working hours is usually simple to answer. Most employees have regularly scheduled hours.

The question of whether productive work was performed is also usually simple to answer (although many employees might feel that time spent in meetings is not productive). Employees do not have to be engaged in creating a product or selling a service, however. If the meeting discusses business strategy, or if the training is necessary for the job, this would be considered “productive” work.

The other two issues of voluntary attendance and whether the meeting is directly related to the job, however, require some explanation.

Voluntary attendance

Attendance is not voluntary if employees believe that failure to attend would adversely affect their working conditions or employment. In other words, an employer might claim that attendance is voluntary, but if employees would suffer in employment by not attending, then they must still be paid if they show up.

Also, training is not voluntary because employees could complete it on their own time. For example, if an employer requires that everyone complete an online training class, but an employee chooses to complete the class from a home computer, the time must be paid. Taking the online class at home does not excuse the employer from the obligation to pay for mandatory training.

Time spent participating in fire or other disaster drills, whether voluntary or involuntary or during or after regular working hours, is considered substantially to the benefit of the employer and is compensable hours of work. Such time may be compensated at the minimum wage rather than the employees’ regular rates, however.

Related to the employee’s job

The question of whether training is related to the employee’s job is best answered by looking at the regulation, which is fairly straightforward and includes examples. Section 785.29 says:

“The training is directly related to the employee’s job if it is designed to make the employee handle his job more effectively as distinguished from training him for another job, or to a new or additional skill. For example, a stenographer who is given a course in stenography is engaged in an activity to make her a better stenographer. Time spent in such a course given by the employer or under his auspices is hours worked. However, if the stenographer takes a course in bookkeeping, it may not be directly related to her job. Thus, the time she spends voluntarily in taking such a bookkeeping course, outside of regular working hours, need not be counted as working time. Where a training course is instituted for the bona fide purpose of preparing for advancement through upgrading the employee to a higher skill, and is not intended to make the employee more efficient in his present job, the training is not considered directly related to the employee’s job even though the course incidentally improves his skill in doing his regular work.”

If an employee freely decides to attend an independent school, college, or independent trade school after hours, the time is not hours worked even if the courses are related to the worker’s job. For example, a manager might choose to take courses in business management for skills and knowledge improvement. Since this training is undertaken on the employee’s own initiative, and the company does not require attendance, the employee does not have to be paid wages for time spent in classes, even if training is related to the current job.

Many employers conduct training during a “lunch and learn” session where employees may bring a lunch (or food may even be provided) and employees are learning information related to the job. The fact that such training occurs during a meal period does not allow the employer to refuse payment for the time (and since employees are not relieved of duty, the lunch session cannot be counted as an unpaid meal period). Also, providing food to employees does not excuse the employer from paying wages during that time.