I have an employee who is salaried and is attending school to get his
masters in business that the company has agreed to pay for. He has
been employed by us for about two years. He is a dispatcher in the
intermodal transportation business overseeing  the trasportation of
containers. He works about 50 hours a week, takes calls at night and
on the weekends. He is
currently making $27,300.00 annually. We are aware that his salary is
below the market but think some of his schooling expense should be
included as part of his salary. The student employee contends he
should be paid fair market value for the job he does and the fact that
the company pays for his schooling should be looked upon as a way for
the company to retain his services after graduation and to allow the
company and the individual to capitalize from his additional
schooling. The company pays about $110.00 per week for his schooling.
My question is: Should the money the company spends on his education
be considered part of his salary and what is the trend amongst small
businesses these days in this area?

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Request for Question Clarification by darrel-ga on 25 Jan 2004 12:39 PST

How are other employees treated in this regard? Are there other
current or former employees whose education was funded by the company?
Does the company have a policy?
darrel-ga

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Clarification of Question by bli092001-ga on 25 Jan 2004 15:31 PST

There has not been any certain way this has been handled in the past,
I have seen education handled from employer paying for everything to
employee totally footing the bill. Four different situations I am
aware of that have occurred since I have been at the company in the
last 5 years. One situation the company picked up the entire tab (a
book keeper) another situation where the company paid nothing, a third
where the company picked up the tab and then this situation where the
company agreed to pay for the schooling. The situation I am writing
about and the most recent involves more credit hours and more money
spent on behalf of the student/employee, this is a masters program
whereas all the other instances reflected a 3 hr course or something
part time. The company has no policy on this either.

It sounds like you are approaching it from a legal standpoint which is
an approach I had not considered. I was thinking along the lines of
fair compensation and should his "employer funded schooling"  be
considered part of his salary. Again, the young man spends approx, 50
hrs a wk at work, takes calls at nite and on the weekends.

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Request for Question Clarification by darrel-ga on 25 Jan 2004 15:40 PST

Bli--

Thanks for your additional information. This is a question that is
very much open for individual opinion. It is up to each individual
company to determine whether it will fund ongoing education of its
employees. I would suggest that the company create a policy as to how
it will handle these situations across the board.

In the meantime, how would you like a researcher to answer this
question? Are you looking for examples as to how other companies
handle these situations? Are you looking for any laws governing this?
Or are you looking for opinions?

Thanks,

darrel-ga