Are employers required to pay employees for the time they spend in a termination meeting?

Yes. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employees must be paid for all hours worked.

The law includes specific rules regarding compensating nonexempt employees for time spent in lectures, meetings and trainings. An employer is not obligated to pay for the time spent in a meeting if all of the following criteria apply:

• The meeting takes place outside of normal work hours.
• The meeting is voluntary.
• The meeting is not job-related.
• No work is performed during the meeting.

Because a termination meeting is job-related, mandatory and likely to take place during normal work hours, an employer would have to pay a nonexempt employee for the time spent in a termination meeting.

Exempt employees are typically paid on a salary basis; however, an employer is not required to pay the full salary in the initial or terminal week of employment. Rather, an employer may pay an exempt employee for only the time actually worked in the first and last week of employment. Employees are not paid on a salary basis within the meaning of the regulations, however, if they are employed occasionally for a few days and the employer pays them a proportionate part of the weekly salary when so employed.