labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Every employer in Arkansas should take a few minutes during this busy season to update his or her 2008 Arkansas labor law posters.

The past year has brought myriad changes in labor law throughout the nation. And, more changes are on the way. California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and ten other states will be raising their state minimum wage as of January 1, 2008.

Many of these changes affect labor law posters, which is why it’s important to update the posters at least once per year.

The official list of required 2008 Arkansas labor law posters include:

• Right-To-Know
• Minimum Wage
• Unemployment Insurance
• Workers’ Compensation

In addition to the state posters, federal law requires that every employer in the nation display a number of posters. These include:

• USERRA - Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
• Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law
• Federal Minimum Wage
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act
• Family and Medical Leave Act
• OSHA-Job Safety & Health Protection

A number of these posters have been updated for 2008.

The past year saw a number of significant minimum wage violations, by employers who apparently did not read the labor law posters.

In September, two companies agreed to pay nearly $1 million in unpaid overtime to 382 workers employed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The workers were employed by L&R Security Inc. of New Orleans and HKA Enterprises Inc. of Duncan, South Carolina as subcontractors for CH2M Hill of Englewood, Colorado under a FEMA contract. Employees worked as security guards at FEMA trailer sites and in debris removal, but were not paid overtime in accordance with federal law.

In August, five jointly-operated restaurants in Long Island, New York were ordered to pay almost $1 million to 191 low-wage workers. The employees had been forced to work long hours for wages less than the minimum wage, without overtime pay.  The court ordered that if the employers did not pay up, their restaurants could be sold and the proceeds used to pay the employees.

In early July, the U.S. Department of Labor forced 107 subcontractors of KBR, Inc. of Virginia to pay some $1.5 million in back wages and benefits for up to 2,600 workers who participated in the Hurricane Katrina recovery project. The construction workers were involved in repairs to the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport Mississippi or the Naval Air Station/Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. The U.S. Department of Labor is still searching for some of the workers involved in that case. Anyone who believes that they are owed back wages for these projects can contact the nearest U.S. Department of Labor office. The average payment per worker in that case was $616.

The minimum wage is scheduled to go up again in 2008. On July 24, the federal minimum wage will increase from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour. As with the increase in 2007, several other states will bump up their minimum wage, too, as a result of the federal minimum going up.

In other changes to labor law in 2007, Illinois also enacted a tough law regarding smoking. Almost every work environment, even restaurants bars and casinos are now non-smoking. Labor law posters will need to be updated as a result of these changes.

Until October, teens in Alaska could be employed by a gas station or convenience store that sold cigarettes. And though it was already illegal in Alaska for anyone under the age of 19 to buy cigarettes, people were concerned that these teens could be selling cigarettes to friends who might be underage. The Child Labor Laws, therefore, were amended to prohibit anyone under the age of 19 from selling cigarettes.

In addition to the changes in 2007, more changes are scheduled to occur in 2008. On January 1 and July 1, 2008, over 20 states will increase their state minimum wage.

The US Department of Labor has announced recently that there are new regulations pertaining to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).  USERRA protects the civilian job status of special reserve and National Guard soldiers who are called to active duty.

The new regulations are described on an updated version of the Arkansas USERRA poster, which is required by law to be displayed in a prominent location on every job site in the state.  Employers who have no employees serving in the reserve forces must display the poster the same as those employers with workers who are reservists.

Arkansas USERRA regulations require the reservist to provide notification to his or her employer as soon as deployment plans are known.  In some cases, however, the reservist may not be given ample lead time or, for military purposes, cannot reveal deployment plans in advance.  USERRA laws protect jobs under these circumstances, too.

Often considered military leave, Arkansas USERRA regulations allow the reservist to claim vacation or annual leave time while serving on active duty.  This determination is left to the discretion of the employer.

USERRA laws protect the job status of the reservist by locking in his or her position, responsibilities, and rate of pay until the soldier reports back to duty on the civilian job.  Many other aspects of a reservist’s civilian job status are retained under USERRA, too, although many of these aspects change from job to job.

All returning soldiers are allowed ample time to travel safely home and enjoy a brief period of rest after active duty.  The time allowed for a returning reservist to reclaim a job varies according to the length of time served on active duty. 

Soldiers who serve less than 31 days must report back to work on the first work day after coming home while those serving longer terms may have as much as 90 days to reapply for their jobs.  Job protection under USERRA covers active duty for as long as five years.

USERRA regulations require reservists to reapply for their civilian jobs although with most employers, reapplication is a mere formality.

The reservist’s pension plans are one critical issue addressed in the newest USERRA regulations.  Just as the act protects the soldier’s job status, it protects the provisions of existing pension plans, too, while the soldier is on active duty.

If you’re an employer in Arkansas, you are already aware that the state requires the posting of Arkansas ( AR ) Employment Labor Posters at the workplace. You must put these posters in a place that employees will see them easily and often, like in a break room or a main meeting area. The labor posters ensure that both employees and employers know what the laws are and where they can go for assistance in case of compliance issues.

The most important part of posting the Arkansas Employment Labor Posters is to keep yourself updated, so that you and your employees know about changes to the law. For example, the minimum wage law in Arkansas will change on October 1, 2006. At that time all employers who have at least four employees will be required to pay this wage. The employment labor poster about minimum wage, which Arkansas requires to be posted, will have to be replaced right away in order to reflect this change in minimum wage.

In addition to the Minimum Wage poster, Arkansas (AR) Employment Labor Posters that must be present in the workplace include Right-to-Know, Unemployment Insurance, and Worker’s Compensation. There are also Federal posting requirements, including: USERRA – Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law, Federal Minimum Wage, Employee Polygraph Protection Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, OSHA-Job Safety & Health Protection.

There have been other small changes to employment laws over the past year in Arkansas. The addition of criminal penalties for employers and financial advisors who engage in SUTA (State Unemployment Tax Act) dumping is one. You can check back frequently with our website to stay abreast of changes as they occur. You can also easily obtain up to date posters that will keep your business in compliance with the law.

In Arkansas, posters with the state and federal labor laws must be posted in every workplace.  It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that the posters are both up-to-date and readily accessible.  This means that the Arkansas posters should be visible in a work room, break room or other area where the employee’s commonly gather before, during or after work. 

Arkansas posters are important because they outline the laws pertaining to the employees in the state.  They tell them what their rights are, what their employers are expected to do to make sure their rights are upheld within the workplace, and who to contact if they think their rights have been violated.  Arkansas posters are also quite beneficial to employers in the state as well.  They help the employers know their responsibilities as well as what they can do to make sure their employees are treated fairly according to the law.  The posters also help the employers know what they have to do in terms of certain laws such as the minimum wage law and the Family and Medical Leave act.

In Arkansas, the state posters should outline the following labor laws:  Right-to-Know, Minimum Wage, Unemployment Insurance and Workers’ Compensation.  Furthermore, Arkansas employers need to post information about federal laws as well.  These include USERRA – Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law, Federal Minimum Wage, Employee Polygraph Protection Act, Family and Medical Leave Act and OSHA – Job Safety and Health Protection.

Labor laws change frequently, so it’s up to employers to make sure they have the most up-to-date Arkansas Posters posted in the workplace to make sure that employers and employees both know the current laws so that everyone has the information they need to keep fully protected if problems or questions concerning the law should arise.

Our attentions now turn to the Arkansas Labor Law Poster, which, my friend, we may have looked at before just casually. But now that we have the time and the free space here in our blog, we should take a closer look at just what makes the Arkansas Labor Law Poster different from all other work site posters.

For starters, the Arkansas Labor Law Poster isn’t all that different from other state compliance posters. If you learn one thing about the Arkansas Labor Law Poster and all other compliance workplace posters, it’s that they have one major similarity in most cases: and that is that they are required to include six federal postings.

The other similarity between Arkansas Labor Law Poster and most other postings—and again, one more thing that’s crucial for all employers to know about work site posters—is that they must be posted in one or more very visible and very accessible spots in the workplace.

You promised us differences, you’re demanding? Well, differences you shall have. The Arkansas Labor Law Poster contains four state postings that are unlike any other posting you’ll find in any other state compliance poster. There, are you happy?

Those four state postings in the Arkansas Labor Law Poster are the right-to-know posting, the unemployment insurance notice, the minimum wage posting, and the workers’ compensation posting.

Now while we’re on the topic of differences, let’s get specific. First, let’s look at the minimum wage posting for the state. This posting states to employees that they are all covered under the Arkansas Code 11-4-202 and 11-4-219, which says that they should get paid $5.15 an hour after October 1, 1997.

The beauty of workplace posters, and especially the Arkansas Labor Law Poster, is that they change. And in fact, the Arkansas Labor Law Poster did change. This minimum wage posting changed as of October 1, 2006, when the state adopted a new minimum wage of $6.25 an hour.