Studying For Certification Exams On Company Time?

An anonymous reader writes "Companies sometimes require employees to hold or obtain certifications — for example in order to achieve Cisco certified partner status. Some companies pay for employees' exams and encourage employees to study on company time. Others expect employees to obtain mandated certifications on their personal time and dime. Should companies be able to require employees to obtain a certification, but refuse to pay for it, under threat of losing their job to a certified individual? Should it be or is it even legal to demand this of employees, especially if such a certification was not required at the time of hire?"

Comments

Re:Where in the world?

[Zironic]

You know, before you rip into a continents policies, maybe you should atleast spell the countries name right? And if you knew anything about the greek financial crisis at all, you'd know that it has squat to do with labour laws and everything to do with a government that racked up a huge deficit, swept it under the matress and lied about it until it exploded in their face.

Re:Where in the world?

[ultranova]

Many think that in Europe all those extra rules and regulation makes it very difficult to run a business in that area of the world, so companies will move to other areas where they have more flexibility in their policies.

Yes, it's very convenient to be able to abuse workers till they've burned out or dead, at which point you can always get more from the masses of the unemployed. It's what capitalists did during Industrial Revolution, and led to the birth of Communism. It's also what's going on in the current Offshoring Revolution; I wonder what'll we get this time?

Re:Where in the world?

[crossconnects]

Communism in Europe did not flourish in western Europe, where the trend had gone to more limited government, but in Russia, where the Czar was still supreme. Capitalism with a limited government is still the best.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything away. -- T. Jefferson (quoted from memory so may not be exact)
As far as employers paying for training, I think they should, but require a declining restitution rate.