USA Operations Centers Meetings, Training, and Development – Pay for Attending May 2017

State/Area Exceptions

As this policy is reviewed, please note the following State/Area for which exceptions exist:

Not Applicable

Specific details on each exception may be found within the General Information section of this text.

Overview

At times employees may have the opportunity to attend a lecture, meeting, training program, conference or other similar activity. Determination of whether time spent attending lectures, meetings, training programs, conferences or other similar activity is considered time worked depends greatly on the nature of the activity.

General Information

Definitions

Exempt employees are employees who, because of their positional duties and responsibilities, are "exempt" from the overtime provisions of federal and state (as applicable) wage and hour laws and as such are not paid overtime.

Non-exempt employees are subject to overtime requirements as a result of federal and state (as applicable) wage and hour laws. Therefore, non-exempt employees must be paid for any overtime hours worked. These employees are referred to as "non-exempt/overtime eligible."

Eligibility

Exempt employees are NOT paid additionally for time spent attending lectures, meetings, training programs, conferences or other similar activities, even if attendance at such events has been determined to be compensable for non-exempt/overtime eligible employees.

Non-exempt/overtime eligible employees who attend one of these activities may need to be compensated for the time spent attending the activity, and accordingly may need to record these hours as time worked.

Time spent by non-exempt/overtime eligible employees at lectures, meetings, conferences, or training courses at the Company’s request counts as time worked and is paid. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Joyner University courses taken as part of a Role Specific Training Plan

Joyner University courses outside of Role Specific Training Plans, taken at the request of management

Attendance at meetings/activities or course completion mandated by management for employee performance related issues

Compliance courses such as Code of Conduct, Information Security Awareness, Pay Policy, etc.

Department specific training programs

Succession Plan Development such as participation in Preparing to Lead or Leadership Development & Dialogue Forums (LD&DF) with management approval

However, if the meeting/activity meets ALL of the following criteria, then attendance is NOT considered time worked and is not paid.

Attendance is outside of the employee's regular work hours;

Attendance is in fact voluntary;

The course, lecture, conference, or meeting is not directly related to the employee's job; AND

The employee does not perform any productive work during such attendance

Note: Attendance is not “voluntary” when it is required by Joyner. It is also not “voluntary” if the employee is advised that their performance reviews would be adversely affected by non-attendance.

Training Directly Related to the Employee’s Current Job Training is directly related to the employee’s job if it is designed to help the employee handle their job more effectively as distinguished from training for another job, or to develop a new skill unrelated to the employee’s current position.

Note: When a training course is taken to prepare for future opportunities, and is not taken to make the employee more efficient in their current job, the training is not considered directly related to the employee’s job.

Independent Training If an employee, on their own initiative, takes courses on-line or attends an independent school, college or independent trade school after hours, the time does not count as time worked, even if the courses are related to their job.

Note: There may be situations when a full time non-exempt/overtime eligible employee, who normally works 8 hours each work day, receives approval from their manager to attend an off-site “all-day” job related business conference and the business conference is scheduled to last 7 hours (not including the meal period). If it is not practical for the employee to perform their regular job duties for the remaining thirty minutes on this particular day, then the employee’s manager for example, may decide to grant the employee pay for the remaining thirty minutes without requiring the employee to take thirty minutes of Paid Time Off (PTO).

Employee Development There may be situations where an employee wishes to participate in a personal development activity during the employee’s regular working hours. For such an activity, the employee may request management approval to use his or her “Personal Development Time” bank to attend. If the use of Personal Development Time is approved, the time spent participating will be compensated and reported on the employee’s timesheet as such. Otherwise, personal development activities should be conducted outside of the employee’s regular work hours.

Examples of personal development activities that must be undertaken outside of an employee’s regular work hours or as Personal Development Time approved by management include but are not limited to:

Joyner University courses taken on a voluntary basis by the employee outside of Role Specific Training Plans

Participation in Intensive Review Courses for Education

Lunch & Learns

Employee-Initiated Mentoring to include the Formal Mentoring Program (individual and group) and any informal mentoring relationships.

Job Shadows

Interview Prep

Personal Development Bank

For qualifying development activities, eligible employees may use the following amount of time from their the Personal Development bank:

Full time employees may use up to eight hours.

Part time benefit eligible employees may use up to four hours.

If additional time is needed, the employee should use Paid Time Off (PTO).

Personal Development time may be taken all at once or in increments of not less than fifteen minutes. The benefit period for the Personal Development Bank is a calendar year. You may not carry over time from one calendar year to the next, nor will you be paid for unused Personal Development time.

Newly hired eligible employees will not be subject to prorated Personal Development time. Any changes during the benefit period from full time to part time status, or vice versa, will not result in an adjustment of available Personal Development hours.

NOTE: Time spent by non-exempt/overtime eligible employees on the meetings/activities listed above that occurs during a lunch period or outside of the employee’s regular work hours is not paid and use of the Personal Development Time bank would not be appropriate.

NOTE: At any time, management has discretion to require an employee to attend or participate in an activity that would otherwise be considered a personal development activity. In the event management requires such participation, the time is considered time worked and is compensable regardless of when the activity occurs. The employee must report the time on the timesheet as Worked and use of the Development code is not appropriate. Also, when attendance or participation at an activity that is otherwise considered a personal development activity is strongly encouraged by the department, management in that department has discretion to exclude that activity from the Personal Development Bank and allow the use of time worked for time spent during regular work hours.

Employee Actions

Employees should obtain their manager's prior approval to attend outside lectures, meetings, training programs, or conferences.

Non-exempt/overtime eligible employees should work with their manager to ensure that all time is recorded accurately.

Questions should be discussed with the employee’s management and/or Human Resources.

Managerial Actions

The manager must approve time spent during regular work hours at lectures, meetings, conferences, mentoring, job shadows, etc., for non-exempt/overtime eligible employees. The manager should also explain the policy and review their direct reports’ timesheets for accuracy and timely submission.

Human Resource Role

As needed, Human Resources should provide assistance to managers and employees in understanding and applying the policy.