safety training

afpgraves

A safety team at a plant is required to take a safety training course.  It is done during working hours, and they are paid for their time.  But have been told that if they fail the course they will have to pay for the course  ($900.00).  Can they require the employees to pay for that course?

IT HR

Different states have different laws on whether or not you can deduct things like this from an employee's pay.  Since this course is a requirement of the job and you are talking about a plant, I am assuming a requirement for OSHA regs, I would say this is a really bad idea and not do this.  If you know that someone failed the course on purpose, then maybe there is another way to discipline under a safety policy or code of conduct policy, but I would not deduct anything from the pay.

 

TXHRGuy

I don't think you can charge an employee for required training in any state.  You can discipline them for poor performance if they don't pass it, but you can't charge them money for it.  The discipline could be a temporary reduction in pay (to make up for the cost of the course).