The Law @ Work

New Poster Requirements for Employers

by Susan G. Fentin

Employers should be posting two new posters based on regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor in early August.  And, as long as you’re at it, you may want to consider replacing another.  See below for details.

FLSA Rights

There is a new poster entitled Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act that  includes a section specifically addressing the rights of nursing mothers.  Employers should already be aware that nursing mothers have the right to take reasonable breaks to express milk for a one year period following the birth of a child, that these mothers are entitled to a workplace location shielded from view and free from intrusion, and that this location cannot be a bathroom, but this new poster may be a helpful reminder.

The new FLSA poster also includes information in the “tip credit” section that instructs employers of tipped employees who meet certain conditions that they may claim a partial wage credit based on tips received.   Finally, the poster references misclassification of workers as “independent contractors.”  This is on the federal radar screen for sure, and Massachusetts employers should already be aware that this is a hot button topic, since that state’s statutory requirements are more rigorous than the federal standard.

The poster is provided by the DOL in 10 different languages.  If a substantial portion of your workforce speaks a language other than English, we recommend that you post the poster in that language.  The new FLSA poster is available at: https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/flsa.htm.

Employee Polygraph Protection

The second revised poster is the “Employee Rights—Employee Polygraph Protection Act” poster. The only substantive change to this poster was the removal of a reference to the amount of possible penalties. The new poster also contains new contact information for the DOL. This poster, available in English and Spanish, is available at: https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/eppa.htm.

FMLA

Finally, for employers with 50 or more employees, the Department of Labor previously released an updated Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) poster in April 2016.  The new poster is basically a redesign of the February 2013 poster, which the DOL has already said can be used to fulfill the posting requirement.  But if you have a separate FMLA poster, you may want to print out the new poster in color and use it in the place of the February 2013 version, since it does look significantly different.  The revised poster, available in English and Spanish, is available at: https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/fmla.htm.

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