How to Audit Your Labor Law Poster Program: Best Practices

It’s a question that comes up at the start of every year: How can you effectively audit your labor law poster program?

At first, it might seem simple. Define your locations, determine the appropriate postings, get them displayed.

Of course, it’s never that easy.

Below, we will examine some basic steps employers can take to audit their labor law poster program, including best practices and tools that can make the process much easier.

How to Audit Your Labor Law Poster Program

First, employers should ask themselves some basic questions about their labor law posters:

• Are they in the correct area and in the right format?
• When was the last time I sent updated posters to my locations?
• Are my labor law posters meeting all my employees’ needs?

The proliferation of new laws at the city and county level has led to a more complex process for labor law poster compliance. Here is where it’s important to know a location’s exact boundary.

For example, there is a mall in California that straddles two jurisdictions, meaning different posters may be required at different locations in the mall.

Meanwhile, 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-blanks postings
• Dispose of old posters
• Develop a plan for remote workers

Remember, too, that in the event of an audit from a government official, they look beyond postings at recordkeeping requirements, break periods, job classifications and more.

Tools for Auditing Labor Law Posters: Best Practices

What does all this add up to? A major headache for large, multi-jurisdiction employers.

Fortunately, labor law poster vendors have tools available to help businesses remain compliant with their program. About 98 percent of large employers outsource poster compliance.

Dashboards

A strong labor law poster vendor will often include a dashboard, which provides a visual representation of locations, shipments, updates, required posters, and more.

Planograms

One of the more challenging aspects of labor law poster compliance is knowing which posters are required. Planograms can help.

These simple guides help:

• Ensure locations have the required federal, state, county, and city labor law posters
• Verify labor law posters are up-to-date
• Provide display locations according to posting audiences

Branded Shipping Labels

One hiccup compliance teams often face is when a poster is delivered but not opened. With branded shipping labels, labor law posters look like they came from the corporate office, helping location managers realize their importance at a glance.

PosterCheck

At GovDocs, our patent-pending PosterCheck® product fills the gap between the delivery of labor law posters and their display.

Posters ship with a removable QR code that, once scanned, automatically notifies headquarters that a poster has been displayed. The scan also lets location managers know a poster has been confirmed as displayed.

Likewise, GovDocs’s ComplianceCheck determines whether a poster is in compliance. Scanning the QR code gives location managers one of three messages:

• Green: Poster is compliant
• Yellow: Poster is updated – new poster pending shipment
• Red: Poster is not compliant

Posters for Remote Workers

Lastly, with so many employees working from home, maintaining labor law poster compliance takes on an added level of complexity.

Some vendors offer an intranet poster program, updating new postings automatically and giving employees easy access to their applicable posters.

Conclusion

While the task of ensuring dozens of locations are compliant may seem daunting, establishing a strong process and taking advantage of available tools can give you peace of mind and help you focus on other responsibilities.

GovDocs’s labor law poster management tools provide a smarter, more convenient way to keep your locations in compliance.

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