When Is Unpaid Training Legal in New York State?

In New York, your employer can require you to attend training without paying you only when four conditions are all true at once: the training happens outside your normal work hours, your attendance is genuinely voluntary, the content is not related to your current job, and you do no productive work during the session. If any one of those fails, the time counts as hours worked and must be paid at least at the applicable minimum wage, which in 2026 runs from $16.00 to $17.00 per hour depending on where in the state you work.¹ That is the core of unpaid training laws in New York, and most employer-run training programs fail at least one of the four tests.

The Four Conditions in Plain Terms

New York applies the federal Fair Labor Standards Act framework for deciding whether training time is compensable.² Under that framework, training is unpaid only if every one of the following is true:³

The session takes place before or after your regular shift, not during the workday.
You freely choose to attend. If skipping could cost you shifts, standing, or a promotion, it is not voluntary.
The material is not directly connected to the job you currently perform. Orientation for a new role, learning a required software system, or shadowing a coworker all count as job-related.
You do nothing during the session that benefits the employer’s operations, such as answering phones, stocking shelves, or handling customers.

Fail one, and the whole session has to be paid. There is no partial credit.

Where Employers Most Often Get It Wrong

The two conditions that trip up most training programs are “voluntary” and “not job-related.” A session is not voluntary just because the employer uses the word “optional.” If workers who skip it get fewer hours, slower advancement, or a sense that management is watching, the voluntary element collapses. And a training that teaches skills you actually use on the job — a point-of-sale system, a safety procedure, a new client intake process — is job-related even if it happens on a Saturday morning on your own time. Scheduling the session off the clock does not change what it is.

Continuing Education and License Courses

There is a narrower exception for training that looks more like school than like on-the-job instruction. If an employer sponsors a program that mirrors coursework offered by an accredited school, college, or trade program, that program can be unpaid even when the content relates to your current work, provided your attendance is voluntary and happens outside your regular hours.⁴

The same logic covers continuing education you pursue on your own to keep a professional license current. Time you spend on a course you chose, at a provider you chose, is generally not compensable even if your employer benefits from your keeping the license. The line moves once the employer takes control. If your boss requires a specific certification course and dictates when and where you complete it, the arrangement has shifted back into paid territory.

Travel Time on Training Days

Once training itself is compensable, the travel to get there often is too. The rules depend on the type of trip:³

Travel from one work location to a training site during your shift counts as hours worked.
If you normally work at a fixed location and your employer sends you to a training in another city for the day, the travel time is compensable. Your employer can subtract what you would normally spend on your usual commute.
When training requires an overnight stay, travel that falls within your normal working hours counts as hours worked, even on days you would not otherwise be scheduled.
Your ordinary commute from home to your usual workplace is not compensable, even on a training day.

What You’re Owed If the Training Should Have Been Paid

If a session you attended should have been paid and was not, you are owed the wages themselves at no less than the applicable minimum wage. On top of that, New York law adds liquidated damages equal to 100% of the unpaid wages, unless the employer can prove it acted in good faith belief that it was following the law.⁵ In practical terms, that doubles the payout. If you take the claim to court and win, you can also recover reasonable attorney’s fees and prejudgment interest.

Separately, the state can impose civil penalties on the employer, which escalate for repeat violations.⁶ Those penalties go to the state rather than to you, but they give employers a strong reason to resolve claims rather than drag them out.

How Long You Have to File

New York gives you six years from the violation to file a wage claim, one of the longest windows in the country.⁵ A federal FLSA claim covers only the last two years, or three if the violation was willful.⁷ Filing under state law usually recovers more.

Even with six years available, filing sooner is better. Witnesses move on, payroll systems change, and older records get harder to pull. Federal rules require employers to keep payroll records for only three years, so evidence from the far end of the window may no longer exist.⁸

Filing a Wage Complaint With the New York Department of Labor

The claim starts with the Labor Standards Complaint Form, LS223, the standard form for unpaid wages, minimum wage violations, and overtime claims.⁹ Before you fill it out, gather what you can:

The exact legal name of the business and contact details for its owners or senior managers.
A log of every training session: dates, start and end times, locations, and the supervisors present.
Any emails, texts, or handbook pages describing the training as required.
Pay stubs from the same period showing what you were, and were not, paid.
Copies of training materials or certificates of completion.

Make sure the hours on the form match your personal log.¹⁰ You can submit the LS223 by mail to the Division of Labor Standards in Albany or electronically through the Department of Labor’s online portal.⁹ There is no filing fee. The state assigns a claim number, reviews the employer’s payroll records, and may interview other staff. The employer can request a formal hearing to dispute the findings. If the Department concludes you are owed back wages and the employer refuses to pay, the Commissioner of Labor can issue an Order to Comply, which carries the force of a legal order.

If Your Employer Retaliates for Raising It

New York law makes it illegal for your employer to punish you for raising a wage complaint, whether you report internally, file with the Department of Labor, contact the Attorney General, or simply tell a coworker you think you are being underpaid.¹¹ You do not need to cite a specific statute for the protection to apply. Prohibited retaliation includes firing, cutting hours, demoting you, assigning undesirable shifts, writing you up, or threatening to report your immigration status.

Federal law adds another layer. The FLSA bars discrimination for filing a wage complaint, testifying in a wage proceeding, or being about to do either. The protection covers oral complaints as well as written ones and extends to former employees.¹²

If your employer retaliates, you can file a separate retaliation complaint with the Department of Labor or bring a private lawsuit. Remedies under New York law include reinstatement, lost wages, and liquidated damages. Federal remedies include reinstatement, lost wages, and an equal amount in liquidated damages on top. The consequences of retaliating are often heavier than the underlying wage violation itself.

A Note on Internships

Unpaid internships are governed by a different test — the Second Circuit’s “primary beneficiary” analysis — rather than the four training conditions above. If your question is really about an internship rather than training for an existing job, the rules in this article are not the ones that decide your case.

1
Department of Labor. Your New York State Minimum Wage
2
Department of Labor. Wages and Hours Frequently Asked Questions
3
United States Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 22 Hours Worked Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
4
U.S. Department of Labor. WHD Opinion Letter FLSA2020-15
5
New York State Senate. New York Labor Law 198 – Costs, Remedies
6
New York State Senate. New York Labor Law 218
7
eCFR. 5 CFR 551.702 Time Limits
8
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 516 Records to Be Kept by Employers
9
Department of Labor. The Labor Standards Complaint Process
10
New York State Department of Labor. Labor Standards Complaint Form LS223
11
New York State Senate. New York Labor Law 215 – Penalties and Civil Action, Prohibited Retaliation
12
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 77A Prohibiting Retaliation Under the Fair Labor Standards Act