By Caitlyn Rest
In the workplace employees are required to be made aware of their employment rights [federal, state, and in some cases municipal] as employees. There are different ways to do this depending on the specific right or law surrounding it, but in many cases, this means that notices of these rights need to be posted in a conspicuous place where employees can easily refer to it. There are some important things to remember about these required postings:
- They can vary – Depending on state, municipality, and company size different postings could be required. For example, a business with fewer than 50 employees is not required to comply with the federal FMLA [Family Medical Leave Act], so they are not required to post the laws surrounding FMLA in their workplaces.
- They can change – An important part of having these laws posted is also ensuring that they stay up to date with current state and federal laws. This means that when a state raise in employee minimum wages goes into effect, employers are required to update these posters to reflect the new law.
- Make them obvious – One of the biggest parts of having these postings is that they must be posted in a conspicuous place where employees can easily refer to them. Many companies post them in areas such as the break room or the staff work area. Another way to post them conspicuously, if you work remote jobs or have no physical office or workspace, is to add them to the employee handbook for employees to be able to reference at any time. The most important thing is that employees can easily access and refer to them by themselves.
- You can pay to get them, or get them for free – When you are updating these postings, you can buy them all together and with the assurance that they are up-to-date, correct, and appropriate for your organization based on its location, size, etc. While many companies sell these required posters, you can always go to the federal Department of Labor website or your state’s department of labor to obtain the posters for free.
Ensuring that you are in compliance with all laws around posting employee rights is an essential part of business but doesn’t need to be an overwhelming task. When looking at the DOL website you can gather an inclusive list of required federal postings then continue on with this process on the appropriate website for your state and municipality. Federal law requires posting notices about these in all workplaces:
- Federal minimum wage
- Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
- Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
- EEO Know Your Rights
These posters are all available for free on the USDOL website, which also easily links you to many other state and federal sites where these are available. Make sure to do your research, before reaching out to third parties to obtain these posters so that you don’t have to pay for something freely available.
Do you need assistance with your workforce strategy or other Human Resources consulting needs? Contact us and check out our updates for more helpful resources.
Caitlyn Rest is an intern with Organizational Architecture working as a Project Support Specialist. Caitlyn is a student at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio and is working towards her Associate's degree in Human Resources Management.