Any help would be greatly appreciated

Here is the test for whether you are entitled to pay for taking classes

Attendance at after hours classes does not have to be counted as time worked, and therefore is not paid at either regular or straight time, if:

(1) attendance is outside of the employee's regular working hours;
(2) attendance is voluntary;
(3) the course, lecture, or meeting is not directly related to the employee's job; and
(4) the employee does not perform any productive work during the attendance.

Based on your question, your attendance is not voluntary and the course is job related. Therefore, it would appear that the hours spent in class would be "hours worked" under the overtime laws.

Note: your question assumes that you are not exempt from overtime. If you are a salaried supervisor, for example, your are not entitled to any overtime, and therefore would not be entitled to time and a half for time spent attending classes.

If you are entitled to overtime, you are only entitled to time and a half for hours worked over 40 in a week; not 8 in a day. If you are working a 36 hour week, therefore, you are not entitled to overtime until after the first four hours of class.

I do not know the answer on whether your employer must pay for materials.

Finally, if your employer must pay you but wants to pay you as little as possible, he could probably get away with paying you minimum wage for hours spent in attending class, since an employer is free to pay its employees different rates for different types of work.

Best regards,

Neil.

posted by Neil Klingshirn  |  Feb 5, 2002 3:20 PM [EST]