I was recently certified for NY state but do not know who did the ceritification my current job payed for the certification and said that the certification stays with my job I want to apply for work in other places and need the certification for my application but my employer will not tell me who did it because they don't want me to leave. Has anyone ever had this problem and who would I contact to find out who did the certification, Doesn't the certification belong to me, not to the employer?
This is touchy.
If it was a company cert all the way, you may be out of luck. Our company always provides evidence of certification to any welder (regardless of the reason they are asking for it).
To my knowledge there is no hard and fast rule. To me the issue is a straight up ethics issue. Any employer who holds back on an employee's certs for selfish reasons is not worth working for, and they are out of line; but I don't think they are in violation of anything official.
As an aside - in NY, in order to maintain continuity, you have to have either an MDOT Resident, or an involved NY State PE sign your continuity log at the required intervals. It's tough to maintain the record if you don't stay right ontop of it.
I'm kind of young and new to all this so I'm in the dark. The certification is to weld for bridges. My employer had someone come in to get us ready for the testing but I was out that day. The next day we all took the test I was the only one to pass. The boss and the rest of the guys all failed so I'm the only one in the shop that is certified. They are underpaying me and I have an chance at a better job but need the certification to apply.
I have certified plenty of welders both as a 3rd party inspector and now in my role in the QA/QC Department here. I have always held the belief that the owner of the cert is the one who pays for it. I have always refered the welder requesting a copy to go to the person who paid for it. Most are happy to give the copy, but that decision is theirs to make, not mine. Welders don't often understand that for the most part, that certification just tells the next potential employer that they are capable of passing a test and that they almost certainly will have to re-certify at the new job. It shows capability but is not usually transferable from employer to employer. I guess different codes, state DOTs or juristictions may hold a different view, but where ever I have worked, that was the way it was.
Hello tylervo, as the other posters have stated, certifications can have many different types of ownership. Many are company specific, so even though they pertain to codes that might be considered universal they may only be in effect while you are employed by a specific employer. On the other hand there are certifications that are owned by the individual who tested for them, in most cases these certifications are carried by an individual and maintained by that individual by continuing to weld according to the code that it is covered by it and verified by a sign-off by a given employer while the individual is employed by them. In this case the renewal process is also the responsibility of the card carrier. Individuals who carry this type of certification will generally still be required to pass certification tests by each employer and then the employer will use the card number of the card carrier to back their records for job requirements and auditor purposes. Hope this may shed a bit of additional light on your question. Regards, aevald
tylervo
There are two tupes of NYS DOT welder certifications. One is a shop certification, the other is the 3-G / 4-G Field Welder Certification. If you took the Field Welder Test, you would have taken it in front of a NYS DOT Civil Engineer. The card and the work record would have been mailed to you directly.
Shop Certifications are issued to the fabricator. The tests are given by a third party inspection agency who have a contract with NYSDOT . The test plates are sent to an approved Testing Lab for Radiography, then the film is sent to the Metals Engineering Department for evaluation. Dot then issues a letter to the fabricator telling them who passed and failed. That certification is only good at that fabricator's facility and maybe only for one project. There is one way you can get a copy of that qualification paper. You can file a Freedon of Information Act Request. You would need to know the "D" contract number and the date you took the test. If you know who the Metals Engineering Department project Engineer was, you couild also call him and ask for a copy. He may give it to you.
Sent me a private E-Mail, with the bridge you were working on, and the "D" number from the contract drawings, and I may be able to help you.
That shop certification may only be good enough to get your foot in the door at another employer. It cannot transfer certification to the other fabricator. If you are as good as you allude, you can contact Modern Welding School in Scenectady NY. They give the NYSDOT field welder certification test for a very reasonable price. Then you will have a truly portable certification. You will also prove that you are very good, because this is a tough test! Be advised the test is in the 3-G and 4-G position, and is on one inch plate, using 5/32 diameter E-7018 electrode only, from root to cap. The root gap is 1/4 inch exactly with a 3/8 inch x 3 inch backing bar, with a 45 degree included angle. No power tools are allowed to be used.
Joe Kane
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