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(Editor’s Note: Today’s article is brought to you by our friends at Poster Guard® Compliance Protection Service, a division of HRdirect, and the leading labor law poster service that gets your business up to date with all required federal, state and local labor law postings, and then keeps it that way — for an entire year. Enjoy the article!)

Today’s article is a friendly reminder that when we’re thinking about labor law posters, not every organization is the same. Some organizations have specific labor law posting requirements based on their industry and location. 

Currently, there are six federal labor law posters that most organizations are required to post.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) 

Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)

Organizations that have their federal and state postings, but not their industry specific ones, are still at risk. For example, health care organizations might have up to 18 additional notices covering areas such as biohazard materials, radiation areas, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Notice of Privacy Practices. 

Restaurants might have requirements to post information about alcohol service, CPR and choking assistance information, and notices for tipped employees. In addition, some restaurants are subject to workweek laws. These posting requirements happen mostly on a city level. 

Public-sector employee notices include information about electronic monitoring, right-to-know postings, and whistleblower protections. Government agencies also have their own unique versions of the FLSA and OSHA. The takeaway here is that when it comes to federal, state, and local posting requirements, we can’t just assume that all organizations are the same. 

It might be tempting to think that the organization doesn’t need to spend a lot of time worrying about labor law poster enforcement because the organization can simply pay the fine and move on. Someone might say, “So, what’s the big deal if the company doesn’t have their industry postings?” Let’s remember that a primary purpose of labor law posters is to inform employees of their legal rights and responsibilities under federal, state, and local law. 

Sadly, I’ve actually heard senior executives suggest not displaying posters because they were “ugly”. Thankfully, that particular organization came to their senses and realized they needed to focus on the purpose of the posting and their responsibilities as an employer. 

Also, if the organization has government contracts, don’t forget your federal contractor postings. According to the U.S. Treasury department, the United States government spent $6.75 trillion (not a typo) last year. While a big piece of government spending goes towards programs like Medicaid and Social Security, billions of dollars are spent with private sector companies, like defense contractors.  

But don’t make the assumption that only big businesses are federal contractors. Last year, $178 billion in federal procurement opportunities was awarded to small businesses. Many different types of organizations have contracts with the government: auto dealers, financial institutions, non-profits, retailers, service establishments, technology companies, etc. If your organization is a federal contractor, there are posting requirements. Here’s a sampling of the nine common federal contractor posters:

Department of Defense (DOD) Hotline 

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Hotline

E-Verify

Minimum Wage

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)

Notice to Workers with Disabilities

Paid Sick Leave

Right-to-Work

Walsh-Healy Public/Service Contracts

One of the reasons that I mentioned the “ugly poster” comment earlier is because I’m not naive. I realize that organizations might have plenty of money to pay a fine. The question becomes do organizations want to pay two fines? Six fines? Ten fines? 

I spoke with Lillian Chavez, Esquire, managing legal research attorney at HRdirect, and she told me that the fines for a federal notice violation could be as much as $43,000+ per location. So, let’s say that you’re an auto dealer with 4 locations that services government vehicles. That puts your risk potential at $172,000. Not to mention increased legal exposure in employment litigation and negative public relations if job candidates and employees found out about the incident. 

So, it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, the penalty for non-compliance isn’t just a fine. For some organizations, it could include losing a government contract. I’d like to think that, if your organization has a nice contract with the government, it makes good business sense to maintain compliance and keep it that way.

Organizations need to maintain labor law posting compliance. We can’t forget that labor law posting compliance is complex. Frankly, staying current with labor and employment legislation is complex in general. What’s amazing to me is that organizations don’t look for ways to make the process easier. 

The good news is that our friends at Poster Guard have a Labor Law Poster Service that will do it for you. Yep, that’s right. Poster Guard monitors labor law requirements (at the federal, state, and local level) and lets you know when things change. In addition, they have an add-on service that covers industries like healthcare, restaurants, and the public sector. 

Poster Guard extends a 100% guarantee that all posters are compliant – or they’ll pay any government fine due to improper posting content. But to me, the best part of the service is that for an entire 12 months, you get new posters every time a mandatory change occurs … automatically and at no additional cost. 

I’ve mentioned before that one of the biggest business lessons I’ve learned as a consultant is just because I could do something doesn’t mean I should. Spending huge amounts of time on manual tasks keeps me from other activities like recruiting, engagement, learning, and retention. The same applies to other organizations. Spending lots of time manually tracking labor laws keeps the organization from their customers. That has a direct impact on the bottom-line.
The post Organizations: Labor Law Posters Could be Different for Your Industry and Location appeared first on hr bartender.
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20/05/2025 – 12:07 /Sharlyn Lauby
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