Did You Know?

The U.S. Department of Labor has established law that applies to the time a child care staff member spends attending workshops/classes and whether/how they are paid for that time.


Workshop attendance that any state requires for staff, so that a facility can maintain child care licensing, must be counted as work time and compensated. In Missouri, the Section for Child Care Regulation requires that everyone counted in the child-to-staff ratio earns 12 hours of approved workshops or classes each year. The time that a staff member spends earning those required 12 clock hours is considered work time and she or he must be paid.

If the time of the workshop/class is included in a standard full-time work week as defined by the employer’s personnel policies, staff should be compensated at their usual salaries. If the time of the workshop/class is overtime beyond the standard work week, staff should be paid at the overtime rate consistent with the U.S. Department of Labor guidelines and established in the personnel policies.

Are there any exceptions?

There is only one exception to this requirement. If ALL four of the following items are true, then the training is not counted as work time:

The workshop/class occurs outside the normal scheduled hours of work AND

The individual’s attendance is completely voluntary AND

The workshop/class is not job-related AND

No other work is performed during the workshop/class period
For more information, contact the U.S. Department of Labor at 1-866-4-USWAGE or visit the Wage and Hour Division Website: http://www.wagehour.dol.gov.