It’s the time of year we need to be relooking at annual requirements. Various state, federal and local laws require postings, even for companies with only a few employees. Regardless of your company’s size and even your role within the organization, it’s a good idea to be familiar with these postings and their meaning within employment.
First, how do you determine what you need? If you have legal or HR help, start with them. If you don’t have that, there are various services you can check with to provide all-in-one type postings to make it easier to ensure you have everything, utilizing minimum spacing. The important aspect is in making sure you do indeed have everything, as according to a November 2022 SHRM webcast, there are more than 350 posting laws nationwide! And it’s not unusual for at least some information to change annually, so it’s easy to have outdated posters.
Posters are typically available for free on the various federal and state websites; but again, you need to make sure you’re getting all pertinent information.
In October (version dated 10/20/2022), the EEOC released a new mandatory federal poster: “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal”, replacing their prior poster. Unfortunately, workplace discrimination continues to plague many companies and employees, so being aware of the information provided is important for managers as well as employees to help provide best practices to eliminate or at least minimize issues.
Posters should be placed where employees will see the information (you can and should have it posted online for remote workers). There are also requirements for job applicants, so bear that in mind, too. This is not information that should be hard to find—you want employees to have easy access and be aware of the information; this may mean you need to post it in various areas based on your business layout. There are penalties for non-compliance, and it’s important to be aware of and inform managers and employees of current job-related information.
In case you need an acronym fix, for many employees, federal posters include information on: FLSA, EPPA, OSHA, USERRA, FMLA, and the new EEOC poster. Federal contractors may have additional poster requirements based on contract stipulations.
State posters, too, can include additional information on wages, discrimination, unemployment insurance, work comp and various leave related issues. There can also be city posting requirements, so those should be checked, also. And if you have remote workers living in other states/cities, their state/city laws will also likely come into effect (even if it’s only one employee).
Finally, to make it even more fun, there is no one time of year that catches all changes; changes can and do come during the year. This is another reason to maintain awareness of updates to employment laws/practices. Fines can add up for non-compliance (into thousands of dollars), so it’s important to be up to date. Outdated or missing information could lead to investigations, also. Or, if a company is audited for other reasons, investigators can look for these postings to determine compliance in this area.
Bottom line, you need to keep up with company obligations and employee rights. This is an area where human resources can help minimize risk and help maintain compliance.
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