Forums
Life Coach
Legal Forum
Life Coach
Discuss employment-law issues such as family leave, overtime, disabilities law, harassment, immigration and termination.
An former employee has started her own company as a Life Coach. She has taken the necessary courses and is qualified. As a favor to her the owners contracted her to have some life coaching session wit
0
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId54
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId54Discussion:DiscussionId36263
Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Life Coach
|
Life Coach
posted at 11/16/2009 12:50 PM EST
|
Posts: 2
First: 11/16/2009 Last: 1/5/2010 |
An former employee has started her own company as a Life Coach. She has taken the necessary courses and is qualified. As a favor to her the owners contracted her to have some life coaching session with 5 of our employees. This was on a volunteer basis for these employees, the company only paying for the course, and the course work being done on the employees' own time. Are there any legal liability issues for the employer? |
|
|
Life Coach
posted at 11/16/2009 2:30 PM EST
|
|
Posts: 155
First: 8/24/2009 Last: 2/9/2010 |
It is possible that the time in attendance, including "course work" may in fact be paid time. I invite your attention to This:
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an employee must be compensated for all "hours worked." But what about time spent in training? Generally, training time for current employees is considered within the "hours worked" definition and is therefore compensable. Pre-employment training, however, is generally not covered by the FLSA. But in each case, exceptions may apply, and you should individually evaluate each of your training situations for FLSA compliance. This article will help you analyze the issue in your workplace. Current employee training Attendance at lectures, meetings, training programs, and other similar activities is considered "hours worked" if it is intended to increase the employees'' efficiency or is otherwise required by you. On the other hand, if an employee voluntarily attends school or other training outside her regular working hours and the training is not directly related to her job, you do not need to pay her. DOL''s safe harbor rule For some help, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) created a "safe harbor" list of criteria. You can review this list to determine whether your current employees'' training time is compensable. In general, the regulation says that you do not have to count training programs as working time for current employees if all four of the following criteria apply: Attendance is outside the employee''s regular working hours; The employee did not conduct productive work during the training program; Attendance was voluntary; and The training program was not directly related to the employee''s job. |
|
|
Life Coach
posted at 11/17/2009 4:48 AM EST
|
|
Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I agree with HRPro and would add that if the company specified the 5 employees that it crossed the line into being paid time. If the company instead had said that there were 5 spots and anyone interested could use them on a first-come/first-served basis, that would truly be voluntary. But it sounds like the company chose 5 who they thought needed this training/help. And most companies would make that choice and pay for it because the end goal is a more productive employee.
I hate when good will gestures bite the hand that feeds them, but in this case I think that happened and that they could make a case that this training isn't truly voluntary since it has been "suggested" by the employer. Most employees take that as a "do this or your job is in jeopardy", especially something as personal as life coaching. |
Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Life Coach
