Should My Employer Pay for my First Aid Course?

Whether an employer should pay for workers to take a first aid course depends upon the circumstances.

While all work environments can benefit from having employees certified in first aid, CPR and AED, not all employers require it. And if they do, it may only be mandated for a few  designated staff members operating in certain roles.

According to Health and Safety Handbook.com, direction and requirement is the key to whether compensation for the time involved in taking the first aid course should be expected. There are a number of variables that dictate whether training should be paid for by the employer or employee, AugmentHR says “the essential rule of thumb to follow here is that if the program is not voluntary—that is, if employees are obligated to go—then the employer should pick up the tab.”

Don’t All Employers Have to Provide A Safe Working Environment?

All employers must provide a safe working environment, but what constitutes a safe work environment differs from one location to the next, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Employers are expected to have trained personnel, equipment and supplies in equal measure with the hazards presented by the workplace.

Simply put, a workplace where there is lots of heavy equipment in use such as forklifts, conveyor belts, and other factory elements, is more likely to have a higher number of trained people, or entire medical and safety departments than office-based environments. The same could be said of places where chemicals, welding supplies, and high voltage electrical items are needed.

Can My Employer Require Me to Take a First Aid Course or Other After-Hours Training?

Whether it’s First Aid and CPR or any other training course, an employer can ask you to take a training course outside your regular working hours. If the training is mandatory to keep your job, however, this time must be compensated under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

If the hours to complete the safety course exceed 40 hours in a given seven day workweek, then that time is to be compensated at one and one-half times that of the standard hourly rate.

If it is said to be voluntary, but the employer leads the worker to believe that non-attendance would adversely affect their job security or work conditions, then the company is standing on shaky legal ground.

What If My Employer Says the Training Isn’t Directly Related to My Job?

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, an employer doesn’t have to pay for training that meets each of four criteria, some of which were mentioned above. The first is if the training  is scheduled outside regular working hours. The second is if participation is voluntary in the truest sense of the word. The third is whether the material in the course, lecture or meeting is connected directly to the employee’s current job. The fourth is whether the worker is productive in any way while engaging with the training.

Join a Free Unpaid Training Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were required to attend any job training and were not compensated for the time, you may qualify to join this unpaid wages class action lawsuit investigation.

Learn More

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.