Before a new hire actually begins working on the floor, there’s a ramp-up period. Staying up to date on licensure means re-upping training with continuing education (CE). You know this, your employees know this, but you probably don’t know how or when you need to pay for training. We hear this question all the time — almost as often as we see practice owners getting it wrong.
Spotting the Difference Between Paid and Unpaid Training
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) created a simple four-part test to help you determine the difference between work that needs to be paid, and work that doesn’t. If you can say yes to all four of these questions, then you don’t have to pay for training:
- Attendance is outside of regular working hours
- Attendance is truly voluntary
- Training is not job-related (they aren’t learning skills they must have for their current job)
- The employee doesn’t do any productive work during this training
This is especially important to understand for non-exempt hourly employees like hygienists, dental assistants, front desk employees, technicians, etc. They clock in for training and you compensate them for that time. And yes, it is legal to have a lower training rate. As long as you clearly define what that rate is, when it applies, and it’s at or above your local minimum wage, you can use a different pay rate for training.
Exempt salaried employees are a little bit different, but not by much. They don’t have to clock in or out, and you generally can’t switch to a lower training rate. You can’t ask employees to do much “pre-work” before you start paying them.
When You Need to Pay for Training
In our experience, these types of training always fall under the category of paid. When in doubt, assume you need to pay for it.
- CE that you asked them to complete
- Hands-on training that gets the job done (not just learning, but physically doing the work under supervision)
- Catch-up training for specific skills you require them to know. For example, if you hired a new dental hygienist who has never used an x-ray machine, you’d need them to learn ASAP.
- New payroll or HR software training
- Training to prepare for a promotion, done during working hours
- Working interviews
- Offsite conferences that you require them to attend
- Mandatory office trainings like HIPAA, OSHA, or sexual harassment prevention
- So-called “optional” events that employees feel pressured to attend
In addition to training, you do need to pay for all those little work extras. Even if it’s just one tiny thing that only takes five minutes. Even if you’re not saying it’s mandatory, but you’re strongly encouraging it. Even if it takes them off their usual job. Simply put, you have to pay for any work you ask employees to do.
- Morning huddles before the practice opens
- Cleaning up, dropping things off at the post office, or answering the phone after hours
- Training new hires
- After-work activities that you expect employees to attend
- Holiday parties that are part-meeting (yes, really!)
When You Don’t Need to Pay for Training
It matters who initiates the training and what you expect out of it. If it was the employee’s idea and you don’t have any expectations, you’re probably off the hook.
- State-mandated CE required for license renewal. We know, it seems like this one counts as paid, but it’s actually the state requiring the training, not you. As long as you don’t require a certain course, decide when employees can do their CE, or track their attendance, this is not coming out of your pocket. Now, if you ask them to do it, let them study during work hours, or strongly suggest a certain type, then it becomes your responsibility. Might be worth it, though.
- Personal development, education, or career growth courses (that you didn’t ask them to do). Maybe you have some workers who are ready to go back to school. That’s amazing, and we hope you’d encourage it, but you aren’t under any obligation to pay for it. These are voluntary steps they can take to better themselves and advance their careers.
- Shadowing another employee out of their own initiative. Let’s say your hygienist wants to shadow an orthodontist to learn more about the workflow. As long as it was the employee’s idea and it happens outside of their normal working hours, it’s truly voluntary. Not paid.
- Taking a class that “could come in handy” but isn’t required. For example, if your front desk staff doesn’t speak Spanish, but it would sure be great if they did, they might want to take night classes. If you didn’t ask them to do it, it’s not a requirement to have the job, and they don’t study during work hours, then this is one of those personal development things. Their learnings could be relevant to their job, but not directly. You would probably not need to pay for training this time.
- Unpaid internships. There are specific rules about hiring unpaid interns, so make sure all those documents are in order before you assume your intern doesn’t require a paycheck.
The Trick is Documentation
The best way to stay on the right side of the law is through careful and thorough documentation. Write down every training you require, every request employees make, and all the CE you expect. And of course, track your employees’ time with an accurate, compliant, and automatically synced time tracker. Ours was made specifically for practices like yours.
When in doubt, pay for training. Your employees won’t complain, and besides, it costs a lot less to pay for a few hours of training than it does to cover violations, fines, litigation, or deal with noncompliance.
Speaking of which, how much risk do you think your practice is exposed to? Try as you might, we bet you’re making HR compliance mistakes. Take our five-minute quiz to find out.
