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As if the end of the year wasn’t busy enough for most employers, they also have to worry about updating their 2008 Idaho labor law posters.

There are a number of changes to the 2008 Idaho labor law posters. Every employer is required by law to display these posters in a prominent position, where they can be seen by employees and applicants alike. Popular choices are the break room, near the time clock or in a back hallway.

Employers who fail to display posters face penalties and hefty fines.

It is especially important that employers display the updated 2008 Idaho labor law posters, since the federal minimum wage – and other relevant laws – changed in 2007.

For 2008, the Idaho labor law posters are:

• Unemployment Insurance 
• Minimum Wage 
• Workers’ Compensation 
• Discrimination Notice

These posters must be displayed by every employer in the state.

In addition, federal law mandates a number of posters having to do with labor laws on the national level. 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

The labor laws covered by labor law posters vary widely from state to state within the country. Overtime laws and the minimum wage rates for tipped employees are two areas of labor law that vary widely from one state to another.

The federal rate for tipped employees is $2.13 an hour. Kentucky, Nebraska, and Indiana follow that rate. Kansas is only $1.59. Massachusetts is $2.63 and Michigan is $2.65. Wisconsin is at $2.33 and North Carolina at $2.43. Connecticut hotel and restaurant workers get overtime on the 7^th consecutive workday.

Tipped workers get the normal minimum wage in Washington State - $8.07 per hour on January 1. In Hawaii, tipped workers get $7 an hour compared to the normal rate of $7.25. Colorado’s rate for tipped workers is going to $4.02 in 2008.

Some states have no overtime laws of their own, and are covered by the federal law. Others have passed laws mirroring or extending the federal laws.

Federal law offers a premium of 1.5 times the normal hourly rate for any time over 40 hours. States without their own laws include Delaware, Arizona, Idaho, Georgia, and Florida. Workers not normally covered by federal overtime law are not entitled to overtime in these states.

Nebraska mirrors the federal law but extends coverage to all businesses with 4 or more employees. Illinois, Massachusetts, and Michigan also mirror federal law – 1.5 times normal after 40 hours. But Kansas’ overtime does not kick in until 46 hours, and Minnesota’s not until 48.

Kentucky provides overtime after 40 hours or on the 7^th consecutive workday regardless of number of hours. In Colorado, it kicks in after 12 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. Only restaurant and hotel workers may collect overtime on the 7^th consecutive day of work in Connecticut.

California has the most generous overtime plan for workers. Employees get overtime after working 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. Anyone working 7 consecutive days gets overtime on the 7^th day. Double-time is paid after an employee works 12 hours in a day, or after 8 hours on the 7^th consecutive work day.

In 2007, the first minimum wage increase in more than a decade affected many workers. This is especially true in the five states without any state minimum wage, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee. An additional 70-cent increase in the federal minimum wage is scheduled for July 24, 2008 when the rate goes from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour. On July 24, 2009 the final 70-cent increase will take the federal rate from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour.

Lately we have received several messages inquiring about USERRA, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The Department of Labor recently made the final USERRA laws available to the public. These regulations outline the employment rights of veterans, members of the National Guard and Federal Reserve. USERRA was put in place to protect military members as well as to improve and clarify the enforcement of the law.

The updates to USERRA include details about veteran pension plans and also include the following rules regarding the reinstatement of veterans:

• Veterans should be reinstated at their civilian jobs if they have five years or less of cumulative absence for military service. An injured military person may be entitled to an additional two years giving them a total of seven cumulative years of job protection.
• When a military person is reinstated they are entitled to the same salary, benefits and status as they would have earned if they had never left. This also includes promotions, if promotions are based on seniority alone.  Here the “escalator principle” should be applied. This principle simply means that as people in the company move up the escalator everyone keeps their place in line. If a person steps out for military duty, they will not lose their place. Therefore, they should not be denied any promotion that would normally be due to them when they return.
• Employers are required to give any necessary training or refreshing to employees returning from military duty. If conditions in the company have changed to the point where the old position no longer exists or if the returning worker would still not qualify for his old position even after training, regulations provide for alternative positions within the company.

Now is a good time for employers to make sure that their Idaho USERRA posters are up to date with all the latest information. The law requires that these posters be displayed for all workers to see regardless of the fact that the company may not have any employees who serve in the military.

We’ve covered Idaho Labor Law Posters before, but there’s always the chance that we missed something the first time. Plus, what if we have new readers to my blog since the last time we talked about Idaho Labor Law Posters? Now you see my point—we got to talk about the Idaho Labor Law Posters again. There’s no way around it!

Well, while we’re at it, we might as well discuss the six mandatory federal postings. They are not only part of the Idaho Labor Law Posters, but they’re also part of many other state mandatory labor law posters. So I guess that makes them pretty important.

In review, the six federal postings in the Idaho Labor Law Posters are the: OSHA labor safety and workplace health posting, the federal minimum wage notice, the USERRA notice for employees in the active armed services, the FMLA posting for personal time off from work, the Equal Employment Opportunity posting, and the posting for employee polygraph protections.

Now we can move on to the state postings in the Idaho Labor Law Posters without fear that we’re forgetting to cover something. Whew! The four state postings in the Idaho Labor Law Posters are the unemployment insurance posting, the minimum wage posting (the state, not the federal this time), the workers’ comp posting, and the discrimination notice.

If we look at one of these state postings in the Idaho Labor Law Posters in particular, we’ll see the true differences come out of the Idaho Labor Law Posters, compared with other state postings. It’s sort of like holding a glass of red wine up to a white piece of paper so you can truly appreciate the color of the wine.

For instance, the discrimination notice goes into how employees cannot be discriminated against because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, as well as disabilities.

Idaho has not made a whole lot of changes to its employment labor posters recently, but they did update the discrimination notice in April of 2006. The update means that particular labor poster needs to be replaced with a new one. The changes to labor law posters are often small but very important; just a few changes in wording can mean a world of difference. That’s why it is so important that employers keep the correct, updated posters on their walls. Each company is required to keep the updated information and it is their responsibility to be aware of changes. Just as an example, there have been over 40 labor law changes already in 2006. So you can see that it is a big responsibility to remain in compliance.

The Idaho ( ID ) Employment Labor Posters that are required to be placed in a conspicuous location in the workplace include: Unemployment Insurance, Minimum Wage, Workers’ Compensation, and Discrimination Notice.

In addition to these state labor laws, there are Federal Labor Law Posters that must be displayed in the workplace. 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 & Health Protection.

By posting employment labor law posters in the workplace, employers protect not only themselves but also their employees. Everyone is educated about the laws when they read the posters, and so they know what is expected from them as far as compliance. The posters notify the employees of their workplace rights. Giving them this information is a duty set out by the state of Idaho, but it is also beneficial to the employer because the employee will not be able to claim that they lacked knowledge or that the employer was negligent in withholding this information.

In Idaho, posters that outline the state and federal labor laws need to be posted in the workplace so that all employees have access to them. This means that they should be visibly posted in a work room, break room or mail room – or any other place that the employees gather on a regular basis.

Posting regulations of the Idaho posters are not arbitrary laws that the employers in the state need to follow. There is great benefit to having these posters available for employers and employees. First of all, the employees can easily reference these posters if they have questions about their rights on the job. If they question any workplace policies, the posters can help them determine exactly what their rights are as well as whom to contact if their rights have been violated. Furthermore, employers will most likely also find these posters a great help. They need to know exactly what they need to do to make sure they are extending all the necessary rights to their employees and the Idaho posters are a great quick reference that clearly outlines exactly what’s expected of employers.

Idaho posters need to have both state and federal laws. The state laws that each Idaho employer should have posted are the ones concerning unemployment insurance, minimum wage, workers’ compensation and discrimination. Federal laws that all employers should post 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.

It’s not unusual for labor laws to change on a yearly basis. Just as it is unlawful for employers to not have any posters available in the workplace, it is also unlawful for the posters to be outdated. That’s why it’s important to have current Idaho posters available at all times.