Which labor law posters are needed in a shared workspace?
Remote work brings some up some sticky questions when it comes to labor law posters.
When employees report to a company’s physical worksite, it’s fairly easy to follow the rules. Labor law posters must be displayed in a visible location that’s easily accessible to workers.
But do the same requirements apply to a shared workspace that isn’t owned by your company?
Regulations don’t address the shared workplace directly. Each posting is required under a different law, and the laws typically don’t go into detail about how to comply with posting requirements in various working arrangements.
Who pays?
As far as who posts and maintains the required labor law posters, that might be addressed in the contract between the employer and the shared workspace provider.
If up-to-date posters are displayed in a visible and conspicuous location, that will satisfy posting requirements. Each employer using the workspace would not need to display its own set of posters.
Physical posters typically required
In general, however, labor law posters must be conspicuously displayed when employees report to a worksite. This makes employees aware of their rights under employment laws.
Using this logic, if the shared workspace is the employee’s worksite, then physical posters would need to be displayed there.
What about electronic posters?
Electronic posters are a great option when a remote employee works from home. When an employee reports to a worksite, however, physical posters are generally required.
The U.S. Department of Labor provides some guidance on this in Field Assistance Bulletin 2020-7. It notes that electronic posters typically supplement, but do not replace, the hard-copy postings.
The guidance states that electronic posters fulfill posting requirements when “there is no physical establishment where employees are employed.”
In most cases, electronic postings are only an acceptable substitute for the hard copy posting if:
- All employees exclusively work remotely,
- All employees usually receive information electronically, and
- All employees have readily available access to an electronic posting at all times.
When employees report to a worksite to do their jobs, displaying a physical poster is the easiest way to be assured that an employer is in compliance with posting requirements.