Effective Date: October 15, 2026 Version: 1.0 Applies to: All Company employees.
Article 1: Introduction and Scope
1.1 This document states what training an Employee is required to complete, what certifications an Employee is required to hold, how requirements and refreshers are set, what record is kept, and what happens when a requirement is not met. The employee portal shows the Employee's training record against the requirements; this document sets the requirements the record is measured against.
1.2 This document governs training and certification required by the Company for a role, and certification required by applicable law or by a governing document of the library for work an Employee performs, including the handling and safety requirements stated in the Pet Safety and Handling for Employees who work with animals. Training a franchised business provides to its own staff under the Franchise Training Policy is a separate obligation of that relationship and is not governed by this document.
1.3 If a provision of this document conflicts with the Terms of Use, this document controls for the subject it governs. If a provision conflicts with the terms of a program in which the Employee participates, the program terms control for that program. Help pages explain this document; they do not amend it.
Article 2: Definitions
2.1 The definitions in the Employee Code of Conduct are incorporated into this document by reference. This article defines only the additional terms used in this document, in alphabetical order.
2.2 Certification: a credential, certificate, license, or documented qualification that an Employee is required to hold for the Employee's role, whether issued by the Company on completion of its training or by an external body.
2.3 Required Training: a course, session, assessment, or supervised practice that the Company designates as required for a role, including initial training, refresher training, and retraining directed after an incident or a measure.
2.4 Training Record: the record of an Employee's Required Training and Certifications held in the Employee's employment record, showing the requirement, its completion, and its expiry where one applies.
Article 3: Requirements
3.1 The Company shall state, for each role, the Required Training and the Certifications the role requires, and shall record the requirements in the Employee's Training Record. A requirement applies to an Employee when it is recorded for the Employee's role and communicated to the Employee; no Employee is measured against a requirement the Company has not stated.
3.2 Required Training includes: (a) induction training on commencement and on a change of role, covering the duties of the role and the policies of the internal employee-policy set that govern it; (b) safety and animal-handling training for every Employee whose duties involve an animal or a hazard of the workplace; (c) training on the Company Systems and Modules the Employee is granted, before or promptly after the Grant is made under the Data Access and Least Privilege Policy; and (d) refresher training at the intervals Article 5 states.
3.3 Where a role requires a Certification issued by an external body, the Employee shall hold the Certification before performing the work it covers and shall keep it in force. Where the work also requires a license under applicable law, the license requirement governs in addition to this document, and this document does not authorize work a license does not permit.
3.4 The Company shall provide Required Training in paid work time or shall state, before the training is assigned, the terms on which time spent in the training is treated. The Company shall provide the materials, facilities, and supervision the training requires. A fee for a Certification the role requires is borne as the Employee's offer letter or the Company's written direction for the role states; no fee is charged to the Employee for the Company's own Required Training.
Article 4: Duties of the Employee and the Manager
4.1 The Employee shall complete Required Training by the date the Training Record states, shall attend and participate in training as scheduled, shall complete an assessment honestly and without assistance the assessment does not permit, and shall not record completion of training the Employee did not complete. A false training record is a falsified record for the purposes of the Record Keeping and Audit Policy.
4.2 The Employee shall watch the expiries in the Employee's Training Record and shall notify the Manager, in reasonable time before expiry, of a Certification or a document that is due to expire. An expired Certification is the Employee's responsibility to anticipate; a Manager's failure to remind the Employee does not extend the Certification.
4.3 Where the Employee completes training or renews a Certification outside a Company System, the Employee shall deliver the evidence of completion or renewal to the Manager in the same week, so that the Training Record states the fact. Attendance without a record does not establish completion where the record is later questioned; the Employee shall verify that the Training Record shows the completion.
4.4 The Manager shall schedule Required Training so that the Employee can complete it by the date required, shall record completions and renewals promptly, shall review the Training Records of the Manager's reports for approaching expiries, and shall not assign work a lapsed Certification covers to an Employee whose Certification has lapsed.
Article 5: Refreshers and Expiry
5.1 Refresher training is required at the interval stated for the requirement in the Training Record. The interval for a requirement is set by the Company when the requirement is adopted, is recorded with the requirement, and is the same for every Employee to whom the requirement applies. Where a Certification carries an expiry set by its issuer, renewal shall be completed before that expiry.
5.2 On the expiry of a Certification or of a required refresher, the Employee shall not perform the work the Certification or training covers until the requirement is met again. The Manager shall remove the Employee from such work and from a schedule that depends on it, and shall record the restriction in the Training Record. A restriction under this clause is a qualification measure, not a disciplinary measure, and pay consequences follow the Employee's terms of employment and applicable law.
5.3 Retraining may be directed as a remedy in an incident response under the Incident Response Policy and as a measure under Article 8. Directed retraining is recorded in the Training Record with the reason, and completion of it is a condition of resuming the work it concerns where the direction so states.
Article 6: Records
6.1 The Training Record is a Business Record, kept under the Record Keeping and Audit Policy and retained for the periods the Regulatory Record Retention states. The Employee may view the Employee's own Training Record in the employee portal. A correction to a Training Record is made as that policy provides, so that the original entry and the correction both remain visible.
6.2 Certificates and supporting documents are held in the Employee's employment record. The Employee shall keep personal copies of externally issued Certifications; the Company's record is the record of the requirement, and the issuer's record is the record of the Certification itself.
Article 7: Liability
7.1 The Employee is responsible for the Employee's own conduct and shall bear the loss that the Employee's violation of this document causes, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Nothing in this document makes the Company responsible for a loss caused by an act taken in violation of this document or outside the scope of employment, including work performed without a Certification this document requires.
7.2 To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither party is liable to the other for indirect, incidental, special, punitive, or consequential damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or relating to this document, even if the party has been advised of the possibility of those damages.
7.3 To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Company's total liability arising out of or relating to this document shall not exceed one hundred dollars ($100). This clause does not limit (a) wages, commissions, benefits, or other compensation owed under applicable law or a written agreement, including pay for time spent in Required Training as Article 3 states; (b) indemnification obligations under this document; (c) liability for fraud or willful misconduct; or (d) liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.
7.4 The parties agree that this article allocates risk between them, that it is an essential part of the basis of their bargain, and that it applies even if a limited remedy fails of its essential purpose.
Article 8: Indemnification
8.1 The Company shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Employee from and against a claim, loss, liability, judgment, settlement, cost, and expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) brought by a third party and arising out of an act the Employee took within the scope of employment and in compliance with this document and applicable law.
8.2 The Company does not indemnify an Employee for the Employee's own unlawful acts. No indemnification is owed under this article for a claim arising out of (a) the Employee's willful misconduct or fraud; (b) an act outside the scope of employment; or (c) an act taken in violation of this document, including work performed while a required Certification had lapsed.
8.3 The Employee shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Company and its members, managers, employees, and agents from and against every claim, loss, liability, judgment, settlement, cost, and expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of (a) the Employee's breach of this document; (b) the Employee's violation of any law or of the rights of any person; and (c) an act outside the scope of employment.
8.4 The party seeking indemnification shall give prompt written notice of a claim under this article. The indemnifying party shall control the defense with counsel reasonably acceptable to the other party; the indemnified party may participate at its own expense. The indemnifying party shall not settle a claim in a manner that imposes an obligation on the other party, or that does not release the other party fully, without the other party's prior written consent. This article survives the end of employment.
Article 9: Enforcement and Appeals
9.1 The Company may investigate any suspected violation of this document. The Employee shall cooperate with an investigation and shall produce the records this document requires the Employee to keep.
9.2 If the Company determines that the Employee has violated this document, the Company shall give written notice stating the provision violated and the facts relied on, except where notice would compromise an investigation of fraud, a safety risk, or a legal obligation. The Employee may submit a written response within ten (10) business days, and the person deciding the matter shall consider the response before a measure is imposed. Where a violation is capable of cure, the Employee has ten (10) business days from notice to cure it and to confirm the cure in writing; no cure period applies to a falsified training record, to work performed without a required Certification, or to a violation that cannot be cured.
9.3 If a violation is established, the Company may, proportionate to the violation: (a) issue a written warning; (b) require the training or retraining outstanding; (c) restrict the Employee from work the unmet requirement covers until the requirement is met; (d) place the Employee on a written improvement plan; (e) suspend the Employee's employment; (f) terminate the Employee's employment; and (g) exercise any other right or remedy available at law. A failure by the Company to state, schedule, or record a requirement as Article 3 and Article 4 provide is a mitigating fact, and no measure is imposed for a failure that the Company's own omission caused.
9.4 The Employee may appeal a measure under this article by written notice to the Employee's Manager within thirty (30) days of the measure, stating the grounds and attaching the records relied on. Where the Manager made the decision appealed from, the appeal is made to the Manager's manager. The appeal is decided by a person who did not make the original decision, and the Company's decision on appeal is final. A measure remains in effect during an appeal unless the Company directs otherwise in writing.
9.5 No measure under this article may be imposed in retaliation for a report made in good faith under the Whistleblower and Internal Reporting Policy or for the exercise of a right protected by applicable law. The Company's delay in acting on a violation is not a waiver of the violation or of any later violation of the same kind.
Article 10: Term and Termination
10.1 This document applies from the commencement of employment until the employment ends for any reason. A Training Record is retained after separation as Article 6 states, and a Certification issued by an external body remains the issuer's record.
10.2 On the end of employment, Articles 7, 8, 9 (for measures taken before the employment ended), 11, and 12 survive. The end of employment and of access is governed by the Termination and Offboarding Policy.
Article 11: Dispute Resolution
11.1 Any dispute arising out of or relating to this document, or to the relationship it governs, is governed by the Dispute Resolution Policy, which is incorporated into this document by reference.
11.2 Nothing in this document limits an Employee's right to file a charge or complaint with a government agency, to participate in an agency proceeding, or to engage in concerted activity protected by applicable law, and no provision of this document requires the Employee to give notice of, or to obtain consent to, the exercise of such a right.
Article 12: General Provisions
12.1 The Company may amend this document by posting the amended document in the Document Center and giving notice to the Employee at the email address in the Employee's employment record. An amendment that materially increases the Employee's obligations takes effect thirty (30) days after notice; other amendments take effect on posting.
12.2 Legal notices under this document shall be sent to legal@aapawz.com; operational notices and all other communications shall be sent to support@aapawz.com. A notice to the Company is effective when the Company acknowledges receipt or, for email, one business day after sending, whichever is earlier. Notices to the Employee are effective when sent to the email address in the Employee's employment record or posted in the employee portal, whichever occurs first. The Employee shall keep that email address current. Notices under the DMCA and Copyright Policy are given as provided in that policy, to the designated agent at legal@aapawz.com.
12.3 This document is governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Subject to the Dispute Resolution Policy, any proceeding arising out of this document shall be brought in the state or federal courts located in Shelby County, Tennessee, and the parties consent to personal jurisdiction there.
12.4 If any provision of this document is held unenforceable, the provision shall be enforced to the fullest extent permitted, and the remaining provisions continue in full effect.
12.5 This document, together with the documents it incorporates by reference, is the entire agreement between the Company and the Employee for the subject it governs and supersedes every prior statement or agreement on that subject. This clause does not supersede an offer letter or a written employment agreement signed by the Company.
12.6 The Employee shall not assign this document or any right or obligation under it, and an assignment without the Company's prior written consent is void. The Company may assign this document to an affiliate or in connection with a sale of all or part of its business, on notice to the Employee. A waiver of any provision of this document is effective only in writing and only for the instance stated; no waiver is a waiver of any other provision or instance.
12.7 Headings are for convenience only. "Including" means "including without limitation." This document shall not be construed against a party on the ground that the party prepared this document. The English-language text controls over any translation.
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