Unpaid Training, Orientation, and Meetings: Almost Always Illegal in California

Onboarding sessions, mandatory meetings, e-learning at home, and required certifications on your own time are hours worked. Unpaid training is one of the most common wage thefts in retail and healthcare.

What California Law Says

Attendance at employer-required training and meetings is compensable time. Only genuinely voluntary training outside working hours, unrelated to the current job, escapes — a test almost no mandatory program meets.

How to Fight Back, Step by Step

1. List every required session: orientation, safety training, online modules, staff meetings, pre-shift huddles.
2. Estimate the minutes for each and gather completion records or certificates with timestamps.
3. Include at-home modules completed off the clock.
4. Calculate wages and any overtime the added hours create.
5. Demand payment and file if the employer refuses.

Common Questions

I was told orientation is unpaid because I was not yet on payroll. True?

No. If attendance was required to get or keep the job, the time is compensable at at least minimum wage.

My employer requires a certification but says the course is on me. Legal?

Where the training is mandated by the employer rather than by law for the occupation generally, both the time and often the cost belong on the employer.