Is training paid time? What the Fair Work Ombudsman says

The principle

Training is part of the job

The Fair Work Ombudsman explains that an employer can require an employee to train, so that the employee has the skills and knowledge to do the job. It gives on-the-job training, online courses, formal training courses and team training as examples, and says that hours spent training as part of the job must be paid.

Its page on paying wages makes the same point from the other side. Employees must be paid for all the time they spend working, and the Ombudsman’s examples include time in meetings, training (online or at home included) and opening or closing a store. Time an employee is required by the employer to spend at work has to be paid.

The timesheet, line by line

Is this time paid? The Fair Work Ombudsman’s answers, in our words
On the timesheet	Paid?	What the Ombudsman says
Training an employee does as part of the job	Yes	Time spent in training is time worked, and those hours must be paid.
Training online or at home	Yes	Listed among the time employees must be paid for.
Meetings	Yes, when required	Time in meetings is on the list of paid time; compulsory meetings can count as time worked.
Arriving early because the employer requires it	Yes	Time an employee is required to be at work must be paid.
An apprentice at trade school	Yes	Paid time, counted within the apprentice’s ordinary hours of work.
A school-based apprentice’s off-the-job training	Yes, as a set share	For a full-time school student, paid as 25% of the hours worked for the employer each week, counted as hours worked.
A vocational placement that a course requires	Need not be	Can be unpaid when it meets the Fair Work Act’s definition of a vocational placement.
An unpaid trial for a job	Only within limits	Can be unlawful; work beyond what is reasonably needed to show the skills must be paid.

Where unpaid is allowed

Placements and trials

The Ombudsman says unpaid work is lawful if the person doing it is not an employee; an employee is entitled to pay and conditions under the Fair Work Act. Some forms of training are unpaid, such as student placements and work experience.

Vocational placements

Under the Fair Work Act, the Ombudsman says, a vocational placement may be unpaid if all three of these hold, in its order:

the student has no entitlement to be paid for their work;
the course of education or training requires the placement;
the placement is lawful, such as an approved course run by a training body, college, university or school.

If any one is missing, it is not a vocational placement, and the student and the host should check whether there is an employment relationship.

Unpaid trials

A trial can be used to check that an applicant has the skills for a job. The Ombudsman lists when a trial can be unlawful: when it is not needed to show the skills, runs longer than needed to check them, goes beyond a demonstration of the relevant skills, or is not directly supervised. Anyone who works longer than reasonably needed to show their skills must be paid the right minimum rate.

A new employee doing training during probation is not an apprentice or trainee, the Ombudsman notes, and it points to the rule above on paying for training time.

The course itself

Who pays the fees?

For apprentices, the Ombudsman says many awards deal with training costs, fees and textbooks, and that an apprentice should be reimbursed for all fees the registered training organisation charges for their training and for their prescribed textbooks. It lists when an employer does not have to reimburse: if the apprentice’s progress is unsatisfactory, if the employer pays the training organisation directly, or if the apprentice is no longer working for the employer when the costs fall due. Where the government reimburses the apprentice for any part of the training, the employer does not have to reimburse those expenses.

For trainees, some awards set rules on training fees, and some require employers to pay the training organisation’s course fees, required textbooks and assessment materials. Where the award is silent, it depends on what the employer and trainee agreed in the training contract.

For other employees, the pages cited here do not deal with course fees, so the award, agreement or contract that applies is the place to look.

Checking your own award

Awards and registered agreements can carry rules for apprentices and trainees that differ from the general position, and the Ombudsman points to its Find my award tool and its Pay and Conditions Tool for the specifics. It also offers a free Record My Hours app for employees to log their hours and the time they spend at training.

For a question about your own job or obligations, the Ombudsman’s pages point to its Contact us page.