Make Sure You Are Posting All Required Employee Notices

Under federal and state law, employment law posters are to be posted in a conspicuous place where all employees can see them. The list of notices is long, and they are required by a patchwork of state and federal agencies.

It’s not easy to keep track of all the notices the federal and California state governments require.  But it’s important that you do to inform employees of their current rights and avoid fines for failing to post them.

California state law posters

• California Minimum Wage Order. (The 2020 California minimum wage is $12.00 effective Jan. 1, 2020, and for large employers with more than 25 employees it is $13.00.)
• Transgender Rights in the Workplace
• Your Rights and Obligations as a Pregnant Employee
• Workers’ Compensation Notice to Employees: Injuries Caused by Work
• Whistleblowers’ Protection Act
• Family Care and Medical Leave and Pregnancy Disability Leave notices (employers with 50 or more employees only)
• California Law Prohibits Workplace Discrimination and Harassment
• Healthy Workplaces/Healthy Families Act of 2014: Paid Sick Leave
• Cal/OSHA Safety and Health Protection on the Job
• Time off to Vote
• Unemployment Insurance/Disability Insurance/Paid Family Leave
• Emergency Phone Numbers
• Payday Notice

Federal posters

• Federal Minimum Wage
• Employee Rights: Employee Polygraph Protection Act
• Rights and Responsibilities Under the Family Medical Leave Act
• Equal Employment Opportunity Is The Law
• Your Rights Under USERRA (Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act)

Where to get them

All of the posters are available free on the websites of the government agencies that require them. Most of the required federal notices can be found on the  Department of Labor’s Poster Page.

For California posters, you need to go to two agencies’ websites:

• The Department of Industrial Relations’ workplace postings page.
• The Notice to Employee forms are at the state Employment Development Department’s website.

There are a number of vendors online, such as the California Chamber of Commerce Store, that provide all of the posters in one big poster for a low cost. It’s worth looking into so you don’t have to spend time printing out the posters yourself.

Failure to comply

Failure to post required state and federal employment law notices can result in fines of more than $35,000. For example:

• The maximum penalty for violating OSHA’s posting requirement is $13,260.
• 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 $21,039.
• The penalty for failing to display the Equal Employment Opportunity Is The Law poster is $559.
• Failing to post the Family and Medical Leave Act notice can result in a penalty of $173.
• State posting requirements can also carry penalties. For example, failure to display the Cal/OSHA safety and health protection poster could bring a $1,000 fine.

Maximum fines typically would be incurred if an employer continually and/or knowingly violated the law. State fines and penalties will vary by agency and are also determined on a case-by-case basis.