Did you know? There are 2,000 different labor law posters in the U.S. and Canada.
If you’re a new business owner trying to understand everything as it relates to compliance for your company, you might be wondering right off the bat: What is a labor law poster?
Basically, it’s a poster that explains employees’ rights and employers’ responsibilities. It can cover any workplace issue such as wage, benefits, safety, discrimination and time off.
Factors that influence what businesses have to display certain types of posters are number of employees, industry and if your company is doing government contract work.
Each posting is unique – even on a federal level. Generally should be in good light and of type size every employee can see. They should be posted in a conspicuous location and that may require posting in multiple locations.
Who needs to display labor law posters?
Generally speaking, any business with employees. So, probably you. Of course states, cities and even counties have different requirements so you’ll want to ensure you have all the appropriate ones for where your business operates.
How often do postings change?
It really depends on the agency. Typically the reasoning for a poster to change is that either the law behind the posting has changed or it could be something as simple as a phone number update or the format of the poster.
A couple of reasons to stay up-to-date:
1. Risk Management. Not posting the federal OSHA could cause a $7,000 fine.
2. Employee Relations. These posters are fundamental communication tools that represents the employer/employee relationship. It shows a good faith effort by you, the employer.
Fast facts
GovDocs, one of the largest providers of labor law posters and compliance services in the country pulled together the following statistics and trends from over the last couple years.
- There were 46 federal updates over the last three years.
- And 887 state updates over the last three years.
- State with the largest number of updates in 2016: Colorado (12).
- State with the largest number of city updates in 2016: California (90).
- Percentage of states with a posting update in 2016: 88%.
- City updates over the last three years: 459.
- Number of county updates in 2016: 31
Up and coming topics in the compliance space: Equal pay, ban the box, discrimination and paid family leave.
How to stay compliant.
The easiest way to make sure your business stays compliant is to sign up for a program that will automatically send you updated labor law posters when necessary. That way, the only thing that’s in your hands is replacing the old poster and hanging up the new one when it arrives.
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