Meeting and training time as working time

Scope

Payment for time spent in meetings and training applies to all employees who attend for the length of time attended.

Regulatory citations

• 29 CFR 785 — General

Key definitions

• None

Summary of requirements

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:

• (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.”

Meeting the criteria. 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. In such cases, the time would have to count as paid working time. This can include certain tests that are required for employment.

• Scenario. For example, orientation is generally not voluntary, and is related to the employee’s job, so time spent in orientation must be counted as working time, and must be paid. The fact that the training may occur before the employee’s official start date is not a factor, since employers can’t avoid paying for working time simply by claiming that the person has not yet started the new job.
• Orientation is still considered paid training time even if the employee never actually starts working (i.e., goes through orientation and then never shows up for the job). According to guidance from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), you must withhold taxes (assume that the individual claimed no exemptions) and you must forward the paycheck to the last known address (usually found on the application or resume).

Voluntary attendance. It’s also critical to note that attendance is not “voluntary” if the employee believes that failure to attend would adversely affect future working conditions or employment. In other words, an employer might claim that attendance is “voluntary,” but if the employee would suffer in employment by not attending, then the employees must still be paid if they show up.

Related to the employee’s job. The question of whether the 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.”

Of course, if employees, on their own initiative, 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 job.

Exemptions. There are some special situations where the time spent attending lectures or training sessions is not regarded as hours worked. For example, an employer may establish (for the benefit of employees) a program of instruction which corresponds to courses offered by independent bona fide institutions of learning. Voluntary attendance by an employee at such courses outside of working hours would not be hours worked even if they are directly related to the job.