Employers: Required Federal Postings for Job Applicants
All employers are required to display three federal postings visible to job applicants.
Are you missing a key component of posting compliance in your business?
Depending on how your company manages job applicants, you may be missing three required Federal labor law postings that must be accessible to job applicants:
- Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law
- Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
- Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)
The ubiquitous requirement for “conspicuous location” comes into play here. If your labor law postings are in an area not accessible to job applicants, that location would not satisfy the conspicuous location requirement.
For example, many companies display workplace postings in break rooms or on bulletin boards next to time clocks, or in manager’s offices. But if an applicant never makes it past the reception area into area where posters are displayed, then the postings are not in a conspicuous location for applicants.
How to Meet Federal Requirements for Applicant Postings
- Determine where applicants typically fill in and/or submit job applications at a physical location.
- Determine if labor law posters are visible and accessible (in other words, “readable”) for job applicants.
- If not, display the three required postings.
GovDocs offers a convenient 3-on-1 laminated posters containing the required postings for applicants. Subscribers to this blog can save 20% on all compliance poster purchases, including the GovDocs Federal Applicant poster, using coupon code BLOG20.
Focus on EEO is the Law Posting for Job Applicants
For the EEO is the Law posting, employers are encouraged to post the electronic notice on their web sites in a conspicuous location. However, electronic posting does not fulfill the obligation to physically post the required information.
Additionally, physical versions must be visible and accessible to applicants and employees with disabilities that limit mobility.
E-Verify and Right-to-Work Applicant Posting Requirements
If not, display the three required postings. If your locations participate in the E-Verify program, your participating locations will have to display the E-Verify postings “in a location that is clearly visible to any employees and applicants who will have their employment eligibility verified with E-Verify.” The posting must be displayed in English and Spanish.
Where poster display is not feasible, the employer must provide all applicants with copies of the E-Verify notices in English and Spanish with application materials.
Want Even More Information About Federal Posting Requirements?
Download the free GovDocs Federal Posting Guide to learn more about Federal postings. The Guide describes each Federal posting’s content, for whom it’s required, and the posting requirements. The Federal Posting Guide includes guidance for:
- Postings Required for All Employers
- Postings for Applicants
- Federal Contractor Postings
- Federal Construction / Transportation Projects
- Postings by Industry / Worker Classification
Federal Contractors: Posting Requirement Stands
A challenge opposing a pro-union workplace posting lost in U.S. District Court.
[wc_divider style=”dotted” line=”single” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=””]President Obama issued Executive Order 13496 in 2009, which prompted the U.S. Department of Labor to release a new workplace posting for Federal contractors, Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act. The posting reminds employees of contractors with contracts from the Federal government valued at $100,000 or more that they have the right to organize a union and use collective bargaining.
Two groups representing Federal contractors took the posting and its rule to court and lost.
The National Association of Manufacturers and Virginia Manufacturers Association argued that the regulations compelled speech in violation of the First Amendment and that the President and Department of Labor lacked the authority to issue the rule (Civil No. 1:13-cv-01998).
On the first charge, the trade group representatives argued that employers would be forced to communicate a pro-union message to workers, even if participating companies held other opinions about unions. The Court, however, determined that:
“…the Posting Rule does not require a contractor to speak at all. Rather, the contractor is required to host government speech as a condition of receipt of a federal contract. That, of course, presents a contractor with a choice—agree to post the Notice or forgo federal contracting.”
Government contractors and subcontractors involved in Federal contracts valued at $100,000 or more are required to post the notice:
“…in conspicuous places in and about [their] plants and offices where employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act engage in activities relating to the performance of the contract, including all places where notices to employees are customarily posted both physically and electronically.” [29 C.F.R. § 471, Subpt. A, App. A.]
Contractors covered by the rule who fail to display the posting risk having their contracts with Federal agencies cancelled.
Employers may recall the NLRB posting debacle of 2011 wherein the Board tried issuing a posting required for U.S. employers. Two different Courts ruled they lacked both the authority to issue posting requirements and the power of enforcement.
In the more recent case of E.O. 13496, however, the combined authority of President Obama and the DOL make for power only the Wonder Twins could dream of.
