Mandatory CPR training

Trish · December 2001

1. If an employee in a healthcare facility is required to be certified in CPR, does the employer HAVE to pay for the test as well as the employee's time?

2. Can an employer make CPR training mandatory even for a non-clinical employee?

3. Would the rule about paying for the mandatory test/training be different for an office worker vs. a clinical one?

4. What about TB testing?

Thanks for your help!

System · December 2001

Hi Trish. Tough one. Turn the table on yourself: If your boss said you must attend a mandatory training session, would you expect that you would have to foot the bill?

All of our mandatory training here at the plant is paid for by the company. If there are qualifications like a CPR training certificate in order to gain employment then that should be spelled out before someone is hired, which puts the onus on the applicant to have that training accomplished before hire. For current employees, it just doesn't seem the right thing to do to make them pay for something that is "mandatory" and enforced by the company. Good luck, hope your new program works well.

Gar · December 2001

Makes all the sense in the world to me. Why should the employee pay?

Down_the_Middle · December 2001

Aside from being the "right thing to do" as suggested by the others, remember what FLSA says about this type of training. It is compensable if: done within normal working hours; is related to the employees job; is required by the employer; and consists of productive work (CPR is included in this definition).

Certainly the employer can require all employees to be certified and if it benefits the employer, then the same rules above would apply to the non-clinical employee.

TB testing in my healthcare organization is viewed as hours worked. Not from the "training" standpoint, but from an employee health basis. We require annual TB's or questionnaire's and pay employees to achieve this requirement.

Trish · December 2001

thanks for your response. What if the employer tells the employee to go do it on their own time? (employee works @ 30 hours per week).

Down_the_Middle · December 2001

Seems to me that's a departure from your current policy if it only applies to this person; to which my question to you is: What if the employee raises the question of why........ might be penny wise and pound foolish to continue that practice.

HR in Okla · December 2001

We are also a health care facility. We require CPR/First Aide for all staff and paid a trainer to do it on-site monthly. We required employees to pay back $25 (the cost of the trainer per person) if they scheduled training, but didn't show up, unless excused by their supervisor for work-related reasons.

The most cost effective way to do CPR in a health related facility is to get one of your own staff certified as an instructor. We now have several qualified to teach the class and we have much more flexibility in scheduling and getting all staff into a class and don't require the pay-back now.

We also give TB tests to all staff on-site. During certain hours they can go to either nurse's station, get the injection and return to the same location in 3 days to have it read. If it is positive following a negative one, we call a mobile X-ray facility to come right then to do a chest X-ray. They do questionaires in following years. All records are sent to HR, we track due dates and notify supervisors when staff is due for training or TB tests.

Dottie · January 2002

You may also want to keep in mind that if you are requiring CPR training as part of the employment, then you will probably have to provide Bloodborne Pathogen protection training as well. This would include a written Exposure Control Plan and the offer of Hep B vaccine. If employees are expected to respond to emergencies and put themselves at risk of exposure, these rules would also apply.

Mandatory CPR training

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