If you rely on your workers’ comp insurance provider for labor law posters, you could be making a costly mistake. They may offer certain notices for free to their clients, but they don’t address every labor law posting requirement. This incomplete approach increases your risk of government fines and costly lawsuits.
Partial Compliance Equals Partial Protection
In most cases, workers’ comp providers:
- Only give clients a few federal postings, like the OSHA safety poster
- Do not provide legally required state and local notices
- Do not replace outdated postings when mandatory changes occur
To satisfy the latest federal, state and local posting requirements, you need to look beyond workers’ comp insurance providers and government agencies.
Wondering why workers’ comp providers don’t supply all the necessary postings? Contrary to popular belief, there’s no “one-stop-shop” for free government posters. Federal, state, county and city agencies often don’t work together, nor do they offer a single resource for all the necessary postings. In fact:
- Approximately 175 different federal and state agencies are responsible for issuing more than 500 posters
- In a single state, up to 25 postings issued by up to nine different agencies may be required for federal/state compliance
- Approximately 22,000 local jurisdictions have authority to issue their own posting requirements
- Plus, additional postings are required by businesses in certain industries or those with government contracts
As you can see, labor law posting compliance is a complex, ever-changing situation. Most workers’ comp insurance providers don’t have the expertise to research every posting requirement or the time to contact all the appropriate agencies.
Why Posting Compliance Matters
By not displaying the necessary labor law postings that inform employees of their legal rights, you put your company at risk for government fines. But fines aren’t the only threat.
Missing or outdated postings can extend the “statute of limitations” in employee disputes, which normally allows you to dismiss a claim that was filed too late from a former or existing employee. You may also be accused of “bad faith” for a compliance lapse, which is the intentional, dishonest act of not fulfilling your legal obligations. A finding of bad faith can directly affect your damages in an employee lawsuit — either by increasing the total awards or preventing a good-faith defense to reduce or eliminate your damages.
Protect Your Business with Complete Posting Coverage
With a service like Poster Guard® Poster Compliance Service, you can be confident you’re addressing every posting requirement. Our posting solutions – from the base service to industry-specific, applicant area, foreign language or remote worker postings -- are guaranteed to be 100% compliant with current laws. Your business is protected with complete, year-round labor law coverage (no matter how many changes) at the federal, state, county and city levels.
