Vivint Training Programs Investigated for Violating Calif. Law

Vivint, a home security company based in Provo, Utah is being investigated for allegedly failing to pay workers for time they spent training. The investigation raises the question of differences between state and federal employment laws, and the differences between unpaid interns and employee trainees.

Employers generally use the term “intern” to apply to any person in the company who is not being paid, or is being paid very little, and is still in school during their time at the company. People categorized as interns are generally exempt from overtime payment and standard minimum wage rules. Employee trainees are essentially defined the same in duties as an intern, but with company’s intent on permanently placing them.

Overview of California Training Compensation Law

According to California law, employers must compensate employee trainees for training hours, even if they do not get hired. However, most employee trainees are not eligible for overtime wages because they are not actively performing official job functions. California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) enforces this state’s wage and an hour law, which ensures that trainees are properly compensated for their time.

There are several exceptions that allow the employers to not pay employees for training:

• Attendance is outside regular working hours.
• Attendance is voluntary (attendance is not voluntary if the employee is led to believe that present working conditions or the continuation of employment would be adversely affected by failure to attend).
• The course, lecture, or meeting is not directly related to the employee’s job (training is directly related to an employee’s job if it is designed to make the employee handle his job more effectively as distinguished from training for another job or to a new or additional skill).
• The employee does not perform any productive work during such attendance.

Violating the law could lead to penalties, including:

• The companies must pay the difference between what a trainee was paid per hour that he or she worked (if anything), as well as the applicable minimum wage.
• The companies must pay time-and-a-half and/or double time for all hours to the trainee, if he or she worked eight hours or more in a single day, in excess of 40 hours in a single week, or on the seventh consecutive day of work.
• The company must pay from $100 to $250 to each trainee who was not paid proper minimum wages and/or overtime, per each pay period that the trainees were not paid.

Legal experts advise that employers should determine whether their companies are in compliance with state law before any trainees are hired or recruited. If advertisements are used to recruit trainees, employers should also make sure that the company sufficiently delivers on the implied compensation promises.

If employers are unsure whether their training programs are in compliance with California law, they are encouraged to contact the DLSE for review. Employers should also present a clear, written arrangement with trainee candidates to ensure complete understanding between the parties. All employees who were trained by Vivint, but were not compensated for the training, may be eligible for legal action.

Join a Free Vivint Training Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you underwent training with Vivint within the past four years and were not paid for your time, you can participate in a free class action lawsuit investigation. Learn more and obtain a free case evaluation at the Vivint Training Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.