Posters

Every employer with one or more employees has some posting obligations.

What needs to be posted?

Employers need to display the federal, state, and local postings that apply to their workplace. This often includes minimum wage, family and medical leave, job safety, and unemployment insurance postings.

The specific postings that are required will depend on will depend on where the employer is located, how many employees the employer has, and which industry the employer is in.

There is no single, overarching posting regulation or law. Rather, more than 350 federal, state, and local laws nationwide include a section requiring an employer to display a poster. An employer needs to display a posting when a law with a posting requirement applies to the workplace. These laws are enforced by federal agencies, such as the Department of Labor and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as state and local agencies.

Failure to properly display required workplace posters can bring a fine or an increased risk of litigation if employees feel worker rights have been violated.

Display up-to-date information

It’s important to pay attention to posters to avoid displaying outdated information. In addition to understanding which postings must be displayed, employers should make sure the most recent mandatory version is posted. Federal, state, and local agencies make many mandatory changes to labor law posters each year, and employers should be ready to display a revised poster when an update occurs.

Updates may be due to regulatory changes such as:

• A minimum wage increase,
• Additional anti-discrimination protections,
• New accommodation provisions,
• Changes to unemployment regulations, and
• Workers’ compensation law updates.

Federal posting requirements

• Some federal laws require employers to display posters in the workplace.

Some federal laws enforced by the Department of Labor and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission include the requirement to display workplace postings. Employers with a federal contract have additional posting obligations.

Commonly required federal labor law posters

Most employers need these six federal postings:

• Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) — Required by employers with one or more employees.
• Employee Rights Under the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) — Required by employers with one or more employees.
• Job Safety and Health: It’s the Law! (Occupational Safety and Health Act, OSHA) — Required by employers with one or more employees.
• Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal — Required by employers with 15 or more employees.
• Employee Rights Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) — Required by employers with 50 or more employees.
• Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) — Required by employers with one or more employees. This could be emailed to employees rather than posted.

In addition, employers with more than 10 employees in the previous year must post the OSHA form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) from February 1 through April 30 of the year following the year covered by the form.

E-Verify posting requirements

Employers participating in E-Verify must obtain an official copy of the E-Verify poster from the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify website. To get the poster, the employer must log in to the website and then download and print the poster.

The poster is bilingual, and includes English and Spanish text.

In addition, employers enrolled in E-Verify must post the Right to Work poster in English and Spanish. These posters are available on the E-Verify website.

State posting requirements

• Employers must display posters required under state law.
• State laws on employment labor law postings vary.

In addition to displaying federal posters, employers also must display posters required under state laws. These might relate to:

• Minimum wage,
• Paid leave,
• Unemployment insurance,
• Workers’ compensation, or
• Anti-discrimination laws.

Many state labor law posters are required for all employers, but some, such as posters relating to paid leave or discrimination laws, may only be required if an employer has a minimum number of employees. For example, in Massachusetts, the Fair Employment Law poster needs to be posted by employers with six or more employees, while the Wage and Hour Laws poster needs to be posted by all employers. In general, an employer needs to display the poster if the employer is large enough to be covered by the state law.

The state department of labor website is a good place to begin when looking for these required postings. A company can also check the website of its state human rights commission.

Which state poster applies?

An employer needs to display the state posters that relate to the state where a building or plant is located, or where employees are working. There is no need to display a state poster from one state at a location in another state, even if both locations are owned by the same company. If a company has its headquarters in Texas and a satellite location in Missouri, for example, the Texas poster would be displayed at the Texas headquarters and the Missouri poster would be displayed at the satellite location.

Annual updates

Some state poster changes happen on a regular schedule. A minimum wage posting may have an annual update that takes effect on January 1 or in the middle of the year. When the effective date arrives, employers need to make sure to post the current rate. States with annual minimum wage posting updates include:

• Alaska
• Arizona
• Colorado
• Florida
• Maine
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Montana
• New York
• Ohio
• Oregon
• South Dakota
• Vermont
• Washington

Local posting requirements

• Local laws on employment labor law posting requirements vary.

Cities and counties may have local posting requirements relating to local minimum wage, paid sick leave, discrimination, and other laws. These include cities in:

• New York
• California
• Minnesota
• New Mexico
• Illinois

Check your city or county website for more information about local posting requirements.

Annual updates

Many local minimum wage posters are updated annually, usually in January or July, to show the new rate. When the annual update takes effect, the revised poster needs to be displayed.

How to properly display labor law posters

• Employers must display labor law posters in a common area employees use.
• Posters may need to be displayed in more than one location or more than one building.

Employment law posters need to be displayed in a company location or locations where the posters can be readily seen by all employees. This could be any location employees are likely to frequent daily such as a lunchroom, breakroom, conference room, employee lounge, kitchen, or near a time clock.

If a company has more than one building, the location posters are displayed will depend on where employees work. Employers may need to display posters in each facility or office location. Displaying the posters only in a main building may not make the information readily accessible to employees who work in other buildings, especially if workers never have occasion to enter the main building for work. The requirements for notices typically say that notices should be posted where employees can readily observe the postings.

If employers have multiple breakrooms, the location posters are displayed will depend on where employees congregate. If all employees regularly visit the lunchroom, then a company may post the required posters there. If not, then post the posters in each breakroom or in another location where the posters can readily be seen by all employees.

Additional requirements

Posting requirements generally call for posters to be readable — the type cannot be so small a person cannot read it. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) posting requirement notes that the poster cannot be defaced.

In some cases, posters need to be a specific size. For example, the OSHA posting needs to be 8 ½” x 14”. Some state posters have size requirements as well.

Language requirements for labor law posters

• Certain employers are required to post labor law posters in a language other than English.

A law may call for a poster to be displayed in a language other than English. Whether or not posters need to be displayed in another language will depend on how many employees speak that language and whether or not workers are literate in English.

On the federal side, these posting requirements mention posting in a language other than English.

• The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) poster must be posted in a language other than English if a “significant” portion of workers are not literate in English. If a significant portion of workers are not literate in English, employers must post the notice in a language in which the employees are literate. The federal government does not define “significant.” This posting is required for employers with 50 or more workers.
• The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act poster must be posted in Spanish or another language common to migrant or seasonal workers who are not literate in English. It is required for agricultural employers with migrant and seasonal workers.
• The Immigration and Nationality Act (Employee Rights Under the H-2A poster) must be provided in any language common to a significant number of workers not fluent in English. It is required only for employers with employees who are using an H-2A visa.
• Federal contractors must post the Employee Rights under the National Labor Relations Act notice in a language that employees speak when a significant portion of a contractor’s workforce is not proficient in English.

Postings in other languages may also be required under state and local laws. Some posting laws in the following locations include the requirement to post in a language other than English:

• Washington, D.C.
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• Virginia
• Connecticut
• California
• Texas
• Massachusetts
• Arizona
• Colorado
• California
• Cities in California, including Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, and San Francisco
• Minneapolis, Minnesota

Labor law posting noncompliance

• A company may be penalized for not displaying employment law postings according to federal, state, or local law.
• Failure to properly display labor law posters can also increase the risk of a lawsuit.

Government agencies take posting compliance seriously, Employers who do not properly display employment law postings may be fined by a state, federal, or local agency. In addition, noncompliance with posting regulations increases the risk for an employee lawsuit.

Audits are another reason to keep posters up-to-date and make sure they are properly displayed. Postings are a proven way to keep workers aware of their rights and show that an employer is making a good-faith effort to comply with government regulations. A federal contractor that does not display the posters required under the contract risks losing the contract.

It takes some effort to make sure posters are properly displayed and up to date, but the role posters play in regulatory compliance makes the effort worth it.

Posters for federal contractors

• Specific posters must be displayed by federal contractors.
• The posters a contractor needs will be listed in the contract.

Federal contractors have special posting obligations. They must display the posters required in their federal contract. This may include:

• Employee Rights on Government Contracts (Service Contract Act, Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act) — Required for every contractor or subcontractor engaged in a contract with the United States or the District of Columbia in excess of $2,500 the principal purpose of which is to furnish services in the U.S. through the use of service employees.
• Employee Rights Under the Davis-Bacon Act — Required for any contractor/subcontractor engaged in contracts in excess of $2,000 for the actual construction, alteration/repair of a public building or public work or one financed in whole or part from federal funds, guarantee, or pledge subject to labor standards provisions of any of the acts listed in 29 CFR 5.1.
• Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act (Notice of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws) — Any contractor/subcontractor engaged in contracts in excess of $2,000 for the actual construction, alteration/repair of a public building or public work or one financed in whole or part from federal funds, guarantee, or pledge subject to labor standards provisions of any of the acts listed in 29 CFR 5.1.
• "Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal" — Entities holding federal contracts or subcontracts or federally assisted construction contracts of $10,000 or more; financial institutions which are issuing and paying agents for U.S. savings bonds and savings notes; depositories of federal funds or entities having government bills of lading.
• Pay Transparency statement — Federal contractors and subcontractors with contracts of at least $10,000 entered into or modified after 01/11/2016. This posting may be distributed to employees rather than posted.
• Federal contractor minimum wage — Either the Executive Order 13658 minimum wage or Executive Order 14026 minimum will apply to covered contracts. Covered contracts include procurement contracts for construction covered by the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA); service contracts covered by the Service Contract Act (SCA); concessions contracts, including any concessions contract excluded from the SCA by the Department of Labor’s regulations at 29 CFR 4.133(b); and contracts in connection with Federal property or lands and related to offering services for Federal employees, the employee’s dependents, or the general public.
• Paid Sick Leave for federal contractors — Federal contractors and subcontractors with contracts covered by the Davis-Bacon Act, Service Contract Act, concessions contracts, contracts in connection with federal property or lands offering services for federal employees, the employee’s dependents, or the general public.

Federal labor law posters required in special situations

• In certain situations, federal law requires employers to post additional labor law posters.

Some federal posters only apply in certain situations. For example:

• E-Verify. Employers participating in the E-Verify program need to download and display the E-Verify and Right-to-Work posters
• Employee rights under the H-2A program. This needs to be posted by agricultural employers with workers who have H-2A visas.
• Workers with disabilities paid at special minimum wages. This is required for employers with workers employed under special minimum wage certificates

Posters that must be visible to applicants

• Some federal labor law posters must be visible to applicants as well as employees.
• Employers may link to federal employment law posters on the company website for applicants who are not interviewed in person.

Some labor law postings required under federal law must be visible to applicants as well as employees. They include these three federal posters:

1. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) For employers with 50 or more employees,
2. Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal For employers with 15 or more employees, and
3. Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) Poster — For employers with one or more employees.

If applicants who are interviewed on-site are not interviewed in an area where workplace posters are visible, be sure to display these three federal posters in the area where interviews are conducted.

For applicants who are not interviewed in person, employers may place a prominent notice on the job posting website, stating that “Applicants have rights under federal employment laws,” and linking employees to the three posters detailed above.

Labor law posters for remote workers

• Employers are encouraged and sometimes required to post labor law posters for remote workers electronically.

Employers with employees who work from home may use electronic labor law posters to inform workers of labor rights.

Most posting laws do not mention electronic posters or remote workers, but the Department of Labor (DOL) provides some guidance on how to fulfill labor law posting requirements when employees are not on-site. The DOL oversees federal postings relating to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA), and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

• If all employees work remotely, the DOL says a business can use electronic postings to satisfy posting requirements.
• If a company has some employees on-site, physical posters need to be posted in the workplace, and it is a best practice to use electronic postings for remote workers.
• If all employees are on-site, physical posters are needed and electronic posters can be used as an additional way to make employees aware of their rights.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also provides some guidance on how to fulfill posting requirements for remote workers. The EEOC is the federal agency that enforces laws dealing with discrimination. This includes Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). Those laws are summarized on the Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal poster.

The EEOC website states that for employees who telework and do not visit the employer’s workplace on a regular basis, electronic posting may be required in addition to physical posting.

In summary:

• If all employees are on-site, the employer needs to display physical posters. Electronic posters can be placed on the intranet and used to supplement the physical posters, but employers still need to place physical posters on the wall in the workplace.
• If a company has some remote workers, and some employees who work in an office, employers are encouraged to use electronic postings for remote workers. The EEOC notes that this may be required in addition to the physical posters displayed in the workplace.
• Hard-copy posters must be still be displayed in physical offices or other workplaces, even when electronic postings are available.

If the entire workforce is remote, electronic posting alone can be enough to meet posting requirements. Employers do need to meet a few additional requirements however:

• Employees must usually get information from the employer electronically; and
• Employees need to have readily available access to electronic postings at all times.

Electronic posters are a great option for remote workers who are not reporting to an office or work site. If an employee goes to work at a work site, then physical posters need to be displayed there.

State labor law posters for remote employees

Employees who work remotely also need access to the state posters that relate to where people are working. The employee working from home falls under the laws of the state where the employee is living and working.

When an employee is working remotely, electronic postings can be used to show that an employer is making a good faith effort to make employees aware of their rights under labor laws.

Fines

• Employers must comply with labor law posting requirements, or risk fines.

Failure to post required state and federal employment law notices can result in fines. Willfully refusing to display these federal posters could bring a fine from the Department of Labor or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Fines can be levied for failing to post the:

• Job Safety and Health: It’s the Law! posting from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
• Employee Rights Under the Employee Polygraph Protection Act posting from the Department of Labor,
• Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal posting from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and
• Employee Rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act from the Department of Labor.

Federal agencies increase posting fines annually, and fines for failure to display a poster could also be levied under state or local laws.

Lawsuits

• Employers should display labor law posters to reduce the risk of a lawsuit.

Properly displayed posters at work make employees aware of individual rights under the law. Failure to properly display posters deprives employees of vital information, and may give people additional time to file a lawsuit if workers believe rights have been denied. Courts have held that if posters are not displayed, the deadline to sue an employer may be extended.

For example, in one case, an employer failed to display a notice informing an employee of the person’s rights under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. This information is on the Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law poster from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Employees normally have 180 days from the day discrimination took place to file a lawsuit. Because the poster was not displayed, the employee was not aware of this time limit. The court noted that Congress included a posting requirement in the law to make sure employees would be informed of the rights.

The employer’s failure to post the notice prevented the employee from learning about the person’s rights when discharged. As a result, the court granted the employee additional time to file a lawsuit.

Audits

• A company should ensure its labor law posters are current and compliant in the event of an audit.

It’s important for employers to stay on top of changes and new requirements for labor law posting. If an employee has questions about an employment right, the posters need to include the most recent required information. In the event of an audit, a company’s posters need to be current and compliant. When a poster is required, it will be on an auditor’s checklist.

Properly displaying labor law posters is a step employers can take to document the fact that good-faith efforts are being made to be in compliance with government regulations.

The fact that the posters are hanging on the wall in conspicuous locations for all employees to see clearly demonstrates a company’s efforts to make employees aware of individual rights.