Sam Cooke admittedly didn’t know much about history, didn’t know much about biology, didn’t know much about a science book, and didn’t know much about the French he took.

That’s probably because he didn’t study.

Studying can have its rewards, but can those rewards include being paid to study? Yes, says a federal court in Arizona—at least under one set of facts.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), time spent working must be compensated. In Julian v. Swift Transportation, the court had to decide whether study time was working time.

As part of the new hire trainee process, potential new drivers for a transportation company were provided a three-day period of orientation, then were sent for six weeks of paid training with a mentor. During the paid training period, the newbies were required to study in preparation for company-specific new driver tests. Some of the study time was spent on the clock during the 8-hour training day, but some of the required study time was performed while off-the-clock in “sleeper berth” time.

The court ruled that, because the company actively stressed the importance of studying, even during sleeper berth time, this time was compensable “employment.” In this case, the study time had to be paid.

This ruling is limited to the facts of this case and certainly does not mean that all study time for new hires is compensable. Sorry, Sam Cooke. But here, where workers were on the road with a mentor for a six-week training program and were expected to study frequently, the study time was determined to be working time.

Now, I don’t claim to be an A student, but I’m trying to be. For maybe by being an A student, baby, I can win your love for me. (And an extra paycheck?)

© 2019 Todd Lebowitz, posted on WhoIsMyEmployee.com, Exploring Issues of Independent Contractor Misclassification and Joint Employment. All rights reserved.