Forced to Pay Out of Pocket for Sales Training
My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Washington
I work in a sales role at my company. We are paid a base salary plus commissions on sales.
My employer now is requiring the sales team to sign a document that enrolls us in a sales training course that costs about $2000 for the year. The cost will be billed monthly to our bank/credits cards, and the form we must sign says we must pay the full $2000 regardless of our attendance to the course or our employment status(if we quit or are fired).
When I initially got hired, there was no mention of this training or the cost and my contract for employment does not include anything about this training.
My manager and the ceo has made it clear that this training is mandatory. They have not explicitly said "you will get fired if you don't do this", however they are requiring us to sign these forms and turn them in with only a few days of notice. If they do terminate anyone due to not signing up for this course, they will most likely use another excuse such as not meeting sales quotas, ect.
Also rumor has it that a cut of the the $2000 actually goes to our company. Our company bills us, takes their cut and then pays the sales training fee with the remainder. Again its a rumor so I'm not 100% sure on this bit, but I thought I'd add it on just in case.
Any advise on this would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks
Edit: Training is during work hours.
Re: Forced to Pay Out of Pocket for Sales Training
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Raster
Legal debate aside ...time to vote with your feet ?
Yea maybe. Its all a bit sketchy...
I forgot to mention, the training will be during work hours.
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whatupwhatup
Yea maybe. Its all a bit sketchy...
I forgot to mention, the training will be during work hours.
Making you pay for training that happens during your working hours and that you would still be responsible to pay even if you quit or get fired, is seriously taking advantage. I would certainly refuse to sign the document and claim unemployment if I got fired.
Re: Forced to Pay Out of Pocket for Sales Training
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Raster
I simply don't know about a nice clean legal answer ...I could fully expect that my service techs bought some of the tools needed to do thier job and I could fully expect that my techs who needed professional certifications got or maintained same on thier own dime . And it appears your training time is compensated .
In that example, it makes more sense. The techs voluntarily choose to pay for the tools and certs. However in my case we were told you need to take this course, its not an option.
And it's something that is billed through the company's internal billing system. Its the same way we pay for our parking in our parking garage at work.
Most of the sales team does not want to do it, however they were all told its mandatory and ended up signing the form.
I should add, I took this course last year and payed for it. They want us to take the level 2 course this year and pay for it the same way. I did not find it too useful, hence the reason I'm hesitant about paying again. Not to mention the seedy way they force you into it.
I guess there is no clean, cut and dry legal answer to if this is illegal or not?
Re: Forced to Pay Out of Pocket for Sales Training
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Raster
I simply don't know about a nice clean legal answer ...I could fully expect that my service techs bought some of the tools needed to do thier job and I could fully expect that my techs who needed professional certifications got or maintained same on thier own dime . And it appears your training time is compensated .
Making you pay even if fired or quit is a big red flag...missed that first time !
Raster, this isn't a tech job that might require certification, its SALES. Read thoroughly or do not answer.
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whatupwhatup
In that example, it makes more sense. The techs voluntarily choose to pay for the tools and certs. However in my case we were told you need to take this course, its not an option.
And it's something that is billed through the company's internal billing system. Its the same way we pay for our parking in our parking garage at work.
Most of the sales team does not want to do it, however they were all told its mandatory and ended up signing the form.
I should add, I took this course last year and payed for it. They want us to take the level 2 course this year and pay for it the same way. I did not find it too useful, hence the reason I'm hesitant about paying again. Not to mention the seedy way they force you into it.
I guess there is no clean, cut and dry legal answer to if this is illegal or not?
They also make you pay THEM, for PARKING? Why are you still there???
Re: Forced to Pay Out of Pocket for Sales Training
Well the parking fee makes sense. We are located in the heart of downtown and the parking garage is not owned the company and our payment goes to the parking garage company. They actually give us a subsidized rate for parking.
Re: Forced to Pay Out of Pocket for Sales Training
The office jobs I had all gave me a parking pass for the garage. What a bunch of cheapos you work for.
On the other hand, making you pay for training even if you quit or are fired isn't all that unusual. I work for the Federal government and if you request a training course, and leave before a certain amount of time has elapsed, they can send you a bill.
They do pay for the course up front, though, which is the big difference here.
I'd start looking around for another job. Did you ask them directly what would happen if you didn't take the class?