# Plain Language Summary: Improving Training for School Food Service Workers Act of 2025

This bill makes changes to how schools train their food service workers—the people who prepare and serve meals in school cafeterias. Right now, there aren't clear rules about when and how this training happens. This bill sets specific standards to make sure training is actually accessible and fair to the workers who have to do it.

The main requirement is that training programs must happen during workers' regular paid working hours whenever possible, be offered in person when appropriate, include hands-on learning, and be completely free for workers to attend. The idea is simple: if schools need their cafeteria staff to get trained, they shouldn't have to do it on their own time or pay out of pocket. However, if a school genuinely needs to schedule training outside normal work hours, they have to give workers advance notice, ask them what times work best, pay them their regular hourly rate (including overtime if applicable), and can't punish anyone for not being able to attend.

This protects school food service workers, who are often paid modest wages and might struggle to attend unpaid training sessions. It ensures they're compensated for their time and have a say in scheduling. The bill also makes clear that it doesn't override any existing employment laws or agreements between workers and schools—it just sets a floor for how training should be handled going forward.

Improving Training for School Food Service Workers Act of 2025

Pocan, Mark

Improving Training for School Food Service Workers Act of 2025&nbsp;This bill adds requirements regarding the availability of training that the Department of Agriculture provides under current law for local food service personnel in schools. &nbsp;The training must be scheduled during regular, paid working hours; provided at no cost to food service personnel; offered in-person whenever appropriate; and incorporate experiential learning.If the training is scheduled outside of working hours, food service personnel must be informed about the necessity of scheduling the program, consulted to schedule the program, and compensated for attending the program. Personnel may not be penalized for failing to attend a program outside of working hours.