Labor Law Poster Spotlight: Important New Posters from California, Maine, and Tennessee

In this monthly series, the GovDocs Employment Law and Compliance Team highlights three recent labor law poster releases that employers need to know about.  

California’s Health Care Employees Minimum Wage Poster

After several months of delay, California’s health care worker minimum wage finally went into effect on Oct. 16, 2024. For context, the new health care minimum wage was supposed to increase back on June 1, 2024. However, several delays occurred due to the impact on the state budget. Finally, on Oct. 1, 2024, California’s Department of Health Care Services provided notice to the state legislature that it initiated its data retrieval related to hospital quality assurance fees for Jan. 1, 2025. Under California’s labor code, the health care worker minimum wage would then go into effect 15 days after notice, or Oct. 16.  

Accordingly, California released a new health care minimum wage supplement to its minimum wage orders. The California Health Care Employees Minimum Wage Poster is required for covered health care facilities and must be displayed next to any other applicable state wage order.  

The GovDocs Update Program is currently shipping new posters to impacted customers with covered health care facilities in California.    

Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Poster

Maine’s much-anticipated Paid Family and Medical Leave poster has been released by the Maine Department of Labor. As a refresher, Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) law will provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave for family, medical, safe, and military leave. Contributions begin on Jan. 1, 2025, and benefits begin on May 1, 2026.  

Employers are required to display the new poster in a conspicuous place at each of their locations in English and each language other than English that is the primary language of 3 or more employees of that workplace. Per the law, the department must release the poster in any primary language of at least 2,000 residents of the State, including Spanish, French, Somali, etc.   

Like California’s Health Care Employees Minimum Wage supplement, the newly released Paid Family and Medical Leave poster has also been added to the Standard Update Program, which is shipping to customer locations in Maine.   

Tennessee’s Unemployment Insurance Poster

Back in 2023, Tennessee’s state legislature passed HB 1060, which amended the Tennessee Employment Security Law. The amendments included changes to unemployment insurance benefit eligibility, disqualification events, and employment reporting of certain claimant conduct. HB 1060 went into effect on July 1, 2024.  

Tennessee’s Department of Labor & Workforce Development subsequently released an updated Unemployment Insurance poster. In line with the amendments, the poster now indicates that to be eligible for unemployment insurance benefits, claimants must search for work by making a minimum of “four work search activities” (previously “three tangible job contacts”), which would be documented in the weekly certification process. It further states, “Failure to do four work search activities will result in a loss of benefits unless you are job attached, a member of a hiring union, or attending training approved by the Commissioner.”  

This poster is required to be displayed in the workplace by all employers. Accordingly, updated Unemployment Insurance posters are currently shipping to impacted customers in the Volunteer State.