The federal government revised a number of required employment laws and regulations, e.g. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). If you haven’t yet done so, it’s time to update your federal and state employment law postings.
Physical and relevant employment law posters are required in order to meet state and federal posting requirements. Employers must post these notices in a common area that will be frequented by all employees, which depending on your location, may be a lunch room, break room, conference room, or kitchen, near a time clock or any location employees frequent daily.
Did you know Pennsylvania requires employers must fill in company-specific information on the employment posters? Not all states have this requirement but Pennsylvania and many other states do. This usually includes an emergency phone number, payday information or worker’s compensation policy information. Please make sure your company information is placed on your employment postings.
It’s also important for you to know that a few federal employment laws require their posters be displayed prominently where job applicants as well as employees see them; they are:
- The Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law,
- Family and Medical Leave Act, and
- Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA).
To meet this requirement, many employers place them at an applicant entrance area which is usually the main entrance area to the organization.
The Department of Labor (DOL) indicates that employers place a prominent notice on their job posting websites stating “Applicants have rights under Federal Employment Laws.” This should be linked to three postings: Family and Medical Leave Act, Equal Employment Opportunity and Employee Polygraph Protection Act.
Please be aware, posting these notices on your website is not a substitute for posting them on your premises. Employers must also display physical copies of the posters, so applicants are informed of federal employment law rights when they come to the physical company location for in-person interviews.
If your employees report to a construction or any other type of site away from your primary location, the employment law postings must also be displayed at the location these employees report to each day. Therefore, if employees report directly to a construction site, posters should be displayed there.
If a salesperson checks in at a certain office or another company location each day, paper employment law posters should be displayed there. If the salesperson works from home, paper posters could be sent to the employee.
Failure to post required state and federal employment law notices can result in fines up to $17,000. Following are some examples:
- The penalty for violating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) posting requirement is $7,000.
- An employer who violates any provision of the federal Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988, including the posting requirement, faces a fine of up to $10,000.
- The penalty for failing to display the Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law posting (required for employers with 15 or more workers) increased to $210 in 2014.
- Employers with 50 or more workers are required to display the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) notice, and the penalty for willful refusal to display it is $100.
If you have any questions or would like assistance regarding employment postings, feel free to contact Sherri Hebda, SPHR, SHRM-SCP.
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