DOL Posting Fines: 2022 Increase

DOL Posting Fines: 2022

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor increased the fine amounts for federal posting violations.

Most employers know that labor law posting management is the backbone of any employment law compliance program. Labor law posters are an employer’s first line of defense against an employee complaint, and outdated posters can create problems.

The 2022 federal posting violation fine amounts are:

• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): $189
• Equal Employment Opportunity Is the Law (EEOC): $612
• Job Safety and Health: It’s the Law (OSHA): $14,502
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA): $23,011

Government officials encourage employers to conduct regular audits of their locations’ posters and the flurry of employment laws at the local level in recent years has made posting compliance more complex.

Employers should always consult with location managers to ensure they are:

• Displaying all required posters
• Posting them in the proper location
• Making labor law posters visible and/or available to employees and applicants

How to Audit Your Labor Law Poster Program: Best Practices

DOL Posting Fines

The increased fines for federal labor law poster violations have been in effect for about half the year at this point.

And while it’s true that audits can be relatively rare, fines can go up on subsequent offenses. Plus, if a government investigator at a location sees outdated labor law posters, they could reasonably assume other compliance matters are slipping through the cracks, as well.

Meanwhile, employers should also beware of potential labor law poster scams. These methods — official-looking letters or emails, fake audits and more — can sometimes confuse location managers and cost businesses time and money.

Most large employers, of course, outsource their labor law poster program, giving companies a more comprehensive view of postings compliance with:

• Dashboards
• Branded shipping labels
• Planograms
• QR code technology

Labor Law Posters: Remote Employees

Also, providing labor law postings for remote employees has become a growing concern as more employees work from home these days.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the DOL issued a field assistance bulletin regarding electronically posted notices of the:

• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
• FMLA
• EPPA
• Services Contract Act (SCA)

“In most cases, these electronic notices supplement but do not replace the statutory and regulatory requirements that employers post a hard-copy notice,” reads a portion of the bulletin. “Whether notices are provided electronically or in hard-copy format, it is an employer’s obligation to provide the required notices to all affected individuals.”

Some federal postings require employers to “post and keep posted” notices at all times. In those cases, federal officials will only consider digital postings an “acceptable substitute” under certain conditions:

• All employees exclusively work remotely
• All employees customarily receive information from the employer via electronic means
• All employees have easy access to the electronic posting at all times

If an employer has both on-site and off-site workers, companies may supplement hard-copy postings with the digital variety. The DOL encourages businesses to use both methods.

Labor Law Posters for Remote Employees

Postings Compliance: The Basics

Lastly, labor law posters get updated regularly. At a basic level, employers should:

• Ensure location managers are displaying posters in a conspicuous location
• Cross-reference compliance dates on posters with government websites
• Calculate workforce composition to determine the potential need for non-English postings
• Note poster size and font requirements
• Update fill-in-the-blank postings
• Dispose of old posters
• Develop a plan for remote workers

Conclusion

The increase in fines for some federal posting violations shouldn’t really change how employers approach their labor law poster compliance programs.

It’s really simply a reminder that postings compliance is a serious matter and one of the many challenges facing large, multi-jurisdiction employers.

This Employment Law News blog is intended for market awareness only, it is not to be used for legal advice or counsel.