When was the last time you stopped and looked – really, truly looked – at all of the workplace posters on your company's bulletin boards? Many employers take the Ron Popeil philosophy of workplace posters and "set it, and forget it." But failing to keep your workplace posters up to date can lead to unnecessary headaches, especially when governmental agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Occupational Safety & Health Administration come knocking for an on-site visit. While you may not be paying attention to the contents of your workplace posters, you can be sure that an agency investigator will not make the same mistake.
The federal government and many state counterparts provide helpful tools for employers to make sure they are in compliance with workplace posting requirements. For example, the Department of Labor's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization maintains a webpage with links to workplace posters required by several federal statutes including the Family & Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. In Michigan, the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs maintains links to a number of workplace posters including the workplace poster (updated in October 2015) required by the Workforce Opportunity Wage Act (dealing with minimum wage).
As a practical matter, employers should mark their calendars every January to make sure that their workplace posters are current. The last thing you want at the end of an on-site visit is for the investigator to say, "but wait, there's more," and cite you for failing to maintain the proper workplace posters.
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