Employees Should Get Paid for Training Time

A recent investigation by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has resulted in payment of $339,418 in unpaid wages and liquidated damages after a consent judgment.  The investigation determined that the restaurant paid certain of its non-tipped employees at a “training” rate of $3.75 per hour until the employees proved to be efficient on the job.  The investigation also found that the company did not pay its employees time and a half overtime wages for hours that the employees worked over forty in a workweek.  The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that employers pay employees at least minimum wages, even when the work performed is for “training.”  Additionally the FLSA mandates payment of time and a half overtime wages for hourly employees for their hours worked over forty in a workweek.  See Acosta v. Freddie’s Inc., No. 1:17-cv-04347 (N.D. Ill.).