Role of Labor Law Posters in Securing Workers’ Rights

Labor law posters have become a product that is selling like hot cakes these days. Since the federal government has made it obligatory for every private sector company to hang up the labor law posters, one starts to wonder about the exact reasons of this order. Every government has developed some rules and regulations regarding its labor and employment since the industrial revolution. Although a pattern of these regulations is given by the US, but it is still essential for each state to clearly specify the regulations of labor in its economy itself. It is because of the reason that there are some variations in labor laws among states. Where it is important to develop elaborate labor laws for the security of the rights of the workers, it is equally important to reinforce them. This cannot be possible if the workers are not clearly aware of their rights. Labor law posters are hence required to be hung at the workplaces, with translation in the second languages being used in the area for creating awareness.

Labor law posters have to fulfill certain requirements to be published just like the publishing of safety posters:

• The printing should be clear and bold to ensure good visibility.

• There should be use of the other languages along with English, which are mostly spoken in that workplace. For example English with translation in the Spanish language.

• The content of the poster should include both the federal labor law as well as the state labor law. For example, the New York labor law posters should include both the federal labor laws as well as the state’s own labor laws.

These posters can be collected from the government offices or ordered on the internet. The federal labor laws are not usually changed like the state laws. These labor laws address the health and safety issues, worker’s compensations, discriminations, unemployment issues, child labor issues, wage and hour issues. As soon as any amendment in labor laws takes place, the companies should make it their responsibility to update the posters.  It can help them steer clear of the citations and penalties while creating awareness in the workers regarding any new benefits they are rightful to receive according to the latest in labor laws. For this reason private sector companies should find a reliable resource like a reputable poster company, to communicate due changes in the labor law posters.

The need to hang both federal as well as state labor law posters arises from the fact that they are clearly different. The difference of federal and state labor laws can be understood with an example. The Ohio labor law posters include unemployment compensation notice, minimum wage, unemployment insurance, minor labor law. Meanwhile, the federal state law posters include veteran’s merit improvement act, federal minimum wage, pays per day notice, federal OSHA, department of justice, health and job safety.