Beyond any doubt, understanding the legal requirements for training employees is a key element of compliance, employee safety, and legal protection for any organization or company.
When you adhere to the laws while providing training to your employees, you ensure the safety and skill of the employees and reduce unwanted or unintended harmful movements. Plus you minimize the chances of fines and liabilities. You know, if you fail to do so, you will be personally liable for fines and $250,000 damages claims.
So, what are the employee training requirements legally? Let’s learn about the key aspects here.
1. Legal Requirement For Training Employees By Regulatory Organization
While there is no federal training regulation that applies to all employees, laws, and regulations of some regulatory organizations can be used for specific organizations and employees.Â
For instance, OSHA safety-sensitive requirements are considered for the employees of the public sector. Moreover, HIPAA has training requirements for Healthcare Regulations, DOT for Transportation Authority, and FAR for Government Contracts. Below let’s check out some of the legal requirements for training the employees.
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1.1 OSHA Requirements for Training Employees
OSHA or Occupational Safety and Health Administration is a federal agency that protects the health and safety of workers in the workplace. For instance, they have laws for Emergency action plans, First aid, or Personal protective equipment (PPE).Â
Now let’s check out the OSHA requirements for training employees under the standard number of 1910.30
[39 FR 23502, June 27, 1974, as amended at 49 FR 5322, Feb. 10, 1984; 61 FR 9227, March 7, 1996; 81 FR 82998, Nov. 18, 2016]
Moreover, OSHA has annual training requirements for the health and safety of the employee at the workplace.Â
1.2 HIPAA Requirements for Training Employee
Following the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or the HIPAA training requirements is crucial for the health and privacy protection of the patient. Here are some key insights about the HIPAA compliance training of the employee.
- Every entity must provide training to its employees on all the policies and procedures that are related to the protection of the patient’s privacy. The training should also include when to use and when to disclose the PHI or protected health information.Â
- The employer should also train its employees about electronic PHI. The employee should be trained in access controls, encryption, or security procedures.
- Physical security of the patient’s personal information should also be included in the training program for example facility access controls and use of the data in the workplace.
- The training program for employees should cover the use of technology to protect the personal information of the patient. They should get training in integrity controls, audit controls, and access controls.
1.3 DOT Training Requirements
Next, let’s check out the training requirements by DOT or the Department of Transportation for training employees in the transportation sector.Â
Training Topic | Specific Training Required |
Alcohol & Drug Testing | Drivers who will operate commercial motor vehicles must require a commercial driver’s license and must be provided with all the educational materials that explain drug and alcohol policies and procedures. |
In-Depth Hazmat Security Awareness | Hazmat employers must also be provided in depth security training including security objectives, specific security procedures and the organizational security structure. Employers should give refresher training for every 3 years. |
Hazmat | Each employee who works for Hazardous Materials Regulations must receive training. It includes General Awareness, Function Specific, Safety, Security, In-Depth Security (if required). |
Entry-Level Drivers | Drivers have to establish minimum training standards like applying for their initial CDL or Upgrading their current CDL. |
Supervisor Reasonable Suspicion Testing | All CDL driver must obtain the 60 minutes of controlled substances (drug) abuse training and 60 minutes of alcohol abuse training |
2. State And Company Mandated Employee Training
Apart from that, the laws of some states require employee training on the general topic. Like some states have laws on sexual harassment training whereas some require employee training for certain occasions.Â
Moreover, there may also be an employer or individual obligation to ensure the training. Although it is difficult to uncover these laws and requires consulting legal counsel for compliance, Below is an example of some of them. Â
2.1 Sexual Harassment Training
2.2 Anti-retaliation and Non-discrimination Training
training requirements of some Jurisdictions also go beyond sexual harassment. For example, California requires employee training that also includes discrimination retaliation, and abuse.
The employer must have to provide bystander training to the employee in Chicago. That’s why as an employer you need to check your state and local laws to cover the specific training requirements for your employees.
2.3 Compliance and Ethics Training
Ethics and compliance training at the workplace means the training of the employees on the law and policy of the company or the organization that applies to that specific workplace. For instance, Texas has a law that licensed childcare facilities must provide various clock hours of training.
Companies or organizations must provide training to their employees about compliance and ethics to promote best business practices.
Moreover, there are also specialized courses and training which help the employee to learn compliance and ethics of a specific job sector.
3. FAQs
At this point of the discussion, let’s check out some queries that are mostly asked by cautious employers about employee training requirements legally.Â
3.1 What should mandatory training of staff include?Â
Some examples of mandatory training of staff that should be included are health and safety, security, first aid, customer care, or complaints handling. The employer can also add conflict resolution or record keeping as a mandatory part of staff training.Â
3.2 What is the employee training policy?
The employee training policy is a set of procedures and guidelines that are for employee training and development in an organization. It includes goals and plans for the organization’s development and the roles and responsibilities of the employers.Â
3.3 What is OSHA’s responsibility for training programs?
OSHA offers training to employees on the recognition, avoidance, abatement, and prevention of the hazards that arise in the workplace. And it is the major responsibility of the training programs of the OSHA.Â
3.4 How often must employees be trained?
The experts state that the employee should be trained at least once a year. But it will be better if that happens more than often. However, the frequency of the employee training program can vary depending on the job or industry complexity.Â
4. Final Words
When you want to protect the rights of your employees and avoid the financial and legal consequences in your specific work setting, you must get to know the legal requirements.Â
If you offer a training program to your employees that is legally approved, it not only secures the employee’s rights but also provides most information about their responsibilities.
Many of the regulations are only specific to your organization but there are also laws that can also apply to every farm. Inform yourself of these laws, include them in your training program, and have a positive respectful work environment.