Are Unpaid Mandatory Meetings Legal

2. Department Meetings: Each department head schedules meetings as needed for all department employees. These usually take place once a week. You must attend scheduled meetings on the days you wish to work. Warning: Remember that if you need non-service employees to attend meetings. You have to pay them for this time. Under the Fair Labour Standards Act, employers must pay employees to attend meetings: 3. Be sure to mention where meetings typically take place, when they take place, and what kind of topics are discussed. 5.

Employee Safety Meetings: On the first Monday of the month, safety meetings are held for all employees in the plant. Employees must register for safety meetings one hour before the start of their scheduled shift. Participation in security meetings is mandatory. According to an April 5 press release from the Ministry of Labor, investigators found that Keystone paid employees for the time they spent at staff meetings and only needed training if those meetings and trainings were held during their scheduled shifts. A study conducted by the Department of Labor`s Wages and Hours Division found that Keystone Adolescent Center Inc. owed workers $44,858 in injuries for time spent in meetings, while Maggiano`s Little Italy restaurant in Philadelphia owed 82 employees $116,308 in minimum wage arrears and overtime violations resulting from pre-shift meetings. Employee meetings are typically used to discuss policies, strengthen training, and create organizational transparency. Under the federal Fair Labour Standards Act (RSA), you must compensate your employees for «hours of work,» which include mandatory meetings. Non-employees must be paid for all the time they spend on mandatory meetings. In addition, you will have to pay overtime to your non-employees if attending a mandatory meeting results in the non-employee performing more than 40 hours in a given work week. Here are a few phrases to consider in a meeting policy: «The company holds monthly employee meetings.

These meetings are usually held at 4 p.m. in the staff lounge. All employees are required to participate. Staff who are not on duty must withdraw at the beginning of the meeting and at the end of the meeting. You will receive your regular rate of pay for your participation in these meetings. Employees are generally not entitled to compensation for attending mandatory meetings – and this may also be the case if the sessions take place outside of business hours or days off. If you`re not sure if this applies to you, you should contact an employment attorney in Los Angeles for assistance. 1. Factory meetings: Each plant manager schedules a plant-wide meeting each month.

You must attend at least six of these meetings over a 12-month period. Ultimately, the RSA requires employers to pay employees if their attendance is mandatory and that the meeting benefits the employer. For example, if you need to attend a Zoom meeting at 6 p.m. to discuss a work-related project, that`s a compensable amount of time – it`s time for your employer to pay you. On the other side of the coin, if your employer is hosting an online awards ceremony and your participation is voluntary, your employer doesn`t have to pay you to attend. Under the Fair Labour Standards Act, non-exempt workers who are «authorized to suffer or work for the benefit of their employer» must be compensated for this period. This includes participation in meetings and training programs that benefit the employer. Read these frequently asked questions about mandatory meetings. If you don`t see an answer to your question here, feel free to call us at 818-230-8380. 1. How often do you have staff meetings? For example: Once a year, once a month, every two months. You may refuse to attend a mandatory meeting, but you may face employment consequences as a result.

You could get a negative performance review, you might not get paid for that time, and you might even be fired for not attending a mandatory meeting. Your employees, as well as non-employees, are required to attend mandatory meetings during their days off. The difference is that employees are not entitled to attendance pay. For your employees, participation in mandatory meetings, including scheduled days off, will be offset by their regular salary. While attending a mandatory meeting would cause an employee to work overtime, you are not required to pay overtime to an employee. «Employers must pay workers all the wages they legally earn, including paying all the hours they work outside of their scheduled shifts,» said John DuMont, district director of the Payroll and Hours Department in Pittsburgh. Related: Is Working Off the Clock Illegal in California? 2. Is the presence of employees requested or mandatory? This is especially important when meetings are held when not all employees are on duty, but need to commute to work to attend the meeting.