Are The Penalties For The Violation Of Labor Posters Adequate?

The United States labor laws administered and enforced by the Department of Labor, with specific labor law posters that are to be posted by employers at some points in the workplace easily accessible to the employees, are designed to provide the sets of conditions guiding employment status.

There are well defined criteria that encompass the various posters as to different classes of employers, employees, and the type of employment that specific labor law poster requirements cover.

It is a well accepted fact of life that the stick and carrot theory successfully hold true in the general case of the enforcement of the laws of the society for the betterment of the human race. In this instance of the labor laws and regulations as apply to the issues of both federal labor law posters and state labor law posters, the carrot is the authorization to be engaging in the various chosen businesses of choice by various employers. And the stick is the penalties levy by constituted regulatory authorities on erring firms that are found wanting in the discharge of their responsibilities as to the posting of labor law posters.

For the stick of penalties to be reasonably sufficient for the different types and level of infringements, there has to be extra care taking not to under or over use the stick for the penalties deserve to be commensurate.

The different Department of Labor posters requirements and the penalties accrual for non compliance are as follows:

1. Equal Employment Opportunity Is the Law; repeated and none rectify violations may lead to contract sanctions.
2. Job Safety and Health Protection; may be given to citation and penalty.
3. Minimum Wage poster; no penalties for not posting.
4. Special Minimum Wage poster; no penalties for not posting.
5. Your Right under the Family and Medical Leave Act; civil monetary penalty not more than $100 due to willfully not posting.
6. Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Right Act; none penalties for not notifying.
7. Notice to All Employees Working on Federal or Federally Financed Construction Projects; no citation nor penalties for not posting.
8. Notice to Employees Working on Government Contract; no penalties for failing to post.
9. Polygraph Protection Act; court action can be lodge with civil penalties.
10. Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act; monetary penalty for not posting.

By equating the necessity and the role that such labor law posters play in ensuring and achieving the rights and wellbeing of the employees relative to what the employers stand to gain or did gain by acts of omission and commission, one should be able to judge if the stick of penalties stated above are adequate to the carrot enjoyed by the employers in terms of benefits accruing to the firms’ coffers.