Labor law compliance is essential for employers. Employers have a legal obligation to inform employees of their rights, and posting notices that describe their rights is one of the most efficient ways to provide them with the information they need.
If you receive a labor law compliance notice, you shouldn’t assume that it’s legitimate. Labor law compliance notice scams take advantage of business owners by selling them things they don’t need and threatening them with fake fines for violations they haven’t committed.
Here’s how to tell if your labor law compliance notice is legitimate and how Mosey can help you meet your compliance needs.
What Is a Labor Law Notice?
The Fair Labor Standards Act established federal labor rules that all employers are mandated to follow. Employers must meet specific workplace compliance protocols as a result of the FLSA and abide by laws and guidelines set forth by other labor laws and discrimination laws.
Every time a new act, law, or rule that affords rights, protections, or opportunities to employees is passed, employers are required to comply with the rules. In addition to complying with the rules, employers have a responsibility to make employees aware of their rights. A labor law notice is a posted explanation of federal employment laws.
States have their own labor laws. Some laws apply to all employers, while others apply only to employers in specific industries. Employers are required to post state-specific labor law posters in addition to federal labor law notices.
What Labor Law Notices Are Employers Required To Post?
Employers are required by federal law to post at least some of the ten major labor law notices in their workplace. Notices depend on the compliance requirements placed on the type of business.
Federal contractors are required to post additional notices, and state law may require the use of other state specific labor law posters:
- Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
- Job Safety and Health: It’s the Law
- Employee Rights and Responsibilities Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
- Know Your Rights
- Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision
- Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Notice
- Employee Rights for Workers with Disabilities Paid at Special Minimum Wages
- Employee Polygraph Protection Act Notice
- Your Rights Under USERRA
- Employee Rights Under the H-2A Program
Some employers may not be subject to all requirements or provisions in mandatory labor law notices. It’s important to check your business’s compliance requirements before you hang posters.
For example, if your business is a clothing store, migrant agricultural worker notices would be entirely irrelevant to you. There’s no reason to post that notice in your workplace. If your clothing store hires people with disabilities at special minimum wages, you would be required to post a notice explaining the special minimum wage laws.
Who Is Required To Post Labor Law Notices?
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that every employer post labor law notices in a conspicuous place. A conspicuous place is interpreted to mean anywhere an employee would easily be able to see and read these posters. Notices don’t need to be posted in an area where customers or clients would see them.
Many employers choose to post them next to the time clock or near an employee entrance to the building. Some employers will post duplicates of mandatory labor law posters in the HR department to use as quick reference sheets for compliance and labor law matters.
Where Do You Obtain Labor Law Notices?
The Department of Labor provides mandatory labor law notices, which they refer to as workplace posters. They generally don’t send out physical labor law notices. Instead, they offer electronic versions on their website that businesses can print on normal copy paper. You don’t need to modify the notices in any way, and you shouldn’t. They’re intended to be posted exactly as written, as any changes in verbiage can lead to compliance issues.
You can choose to have them printed in a larger format at your local office supply store or printing company, but there is no mandatory size for notices. A normal sheet of printer paper is completely acceptable as long as the text is legible and you’re posting all of the right notices in every language necessary for your workplace.
Especially for remote-first teams, it can be difficult to distribute these notices in an easy way. Mosey automates this process for you. Generate a link you can embed into your internal company site and share with employees that includes all relevant labor notices and posters for the states in which your business operates or has employees.
How Does the Labor Law Notice Scam Work?
Dozens of companies represent themselves as business compliance specialists. They scam unsuspecting business owners by claiming to be aware of things like labor law notice compliance violations. Their goal is to get small business owners to part with their hard-earned money for unnecessary products or services.
Labor law notice scammers can be very brazen. They may walk into your workplace claiming to be inspectors with an official organization like OSHA or the Department of Labor. These people are misrepresenting themselves. They don’t work for any government agency, or for that matter, any legitimate agency at all.
Scammers and bad actors will tell you that your labor notices are inaccurate or outdated and inform you that you need to immediately replace them for a large sum or money or you’ll be fined an even larger sum of money. Know that scammers don’t have the ability to impose or collect fines from you at all — it’s a completely empty threat.
A less brazen version of the scam involves mailing a fraudulent letter to your business or sending a fraudulent email. The letter will spoof an official organization and inform you of an error with your compliance notices, requesting a hefty sum for replacement posters or new notices.
If you make contact with someone attempting to charge you money for labor notice posters and/or threatening you with a non-compliance fee, ignore the notice you received. Report the letter, email, or visit to the organization the individual claims to represent. They will follow up with any appropriate action.
How Can I Tell if Labor Law Notice Communications Are Legitimate?
The Department of Labor makes digital versions of every required labor law notice available electronically. Labor law notices will never cost you any money aside from the money you’ve spent on the paper and ink you use to print the notices.
Any website or individual claiming that you need to pay them money for updated labor law posters should be regarded as suspicious and ignored. You will never be charged for mandatory law compliance posters.
It also helps to double-check the title of the labor law poster against the titles of the notices provided by state and federal compliance resources. If you’re being told that you need a poster or notice that isn’t listed as mandatory, the notice is unnecessary.
Official government agencies will never send you spam mailers, bombard you with phone calls, or fill up your inbox. Electronic communications will always come from email addresses that end in “.gov,” which indicates that the government sent the email.
Double-check all addresses on letters sent by physical mail. A quick Google search of the address can confirm if the notice you received was sent from an official government office. If you’re asked to send mail to a mailing address different from the sender’s address, check that address as well.
One of the easiest ways to get to the bottom of the issue very quickly is to run a Google search for the company name, followed by the word “scam.” Google will find every instance of that company being accused or suspected of running a scam. The first few results on the page should make it easy to tell if you’re dealing with a bad actor.
How To Maintain Compliance With Labor Law Notices
Federal labor law notices seldom change. They will only be updated if a new law is created or an existing law is modified. State labor law notices rarely change. If your state passes a new labor law or employee protection, they may require that you update your workplace notices to reflect these changes.
Staying up to date with labor laws and new rules can help you stay ahead of new compliance requirements and help you plan for when changes will go into effect. Alternatively, you can outsource compliance checking to Mosey and automate collecting these labor law notices for all your business locations.
Mosey’s business compliance platform is designed to help you keep track of important state business compliance matters, like labor law notice compliance. You won’t have to worry about receiving a compliance notice when Mosey helps you stay on top of your compliance to-do list.
Schedule a demo with Mosey to learn how compliance automation can simplify your business.
