2008 Massachusetts Labor Law Posters

December 7th, 2007 Posted by Amelia

It’s important that employers order their 2008 Massachusetts labor law posters soon. Both state and federal law require that the updated posters be displayed.

This is even more critical for Massachusetts employers, where the state’s minimum wage will increase on January 1, 2008 – making all existing labor law  posters obsolete.

During 2007 many changes occurred to labor laws. As 2007 comes to an end, employers will need to update their labor law posters. Massachusetts employers are affected by these changes, and need to be aware of them.

Under state law, the officially required 2008 Massachusets labor law posters are:

  • Discrimination Notice
  • No Smoking Notice
  • Unemployment Insurance
  • Parental Leave Act
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Workers’ Compensation
  • Minimum Wage/Payment of Wages
  • Child Labor

By law every Massachusetts employer is required to display these posters.

In addition, under federal law, employers must display these posters:

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

Both state and federal law require that every employer prominently display the posters in an area where they can been seen by every employee. Popular locations are a bulletin board, near the time clock or in the break room.

The most common reason for employers to update posters includes statute changes, especially to minimum wage laws. In just the past few months, employers in New Hampshire, Nevada and Maine have updated their labor law posters as the state minimum wages changed. The most recent increase was on October 1, 2007 when the New Hampshire minimum wage increased to $6.50 per hour.

Smoking in the workplace was a change that took place in 2007, in some states. Both Illinois and Ohio enacted new, tough laws banning smoking at work. Ohio employers had to post no-smoking signs at every workplace, at every entrance. In Illinois, the ban on smoking extends to nearly every place of employment, including casinos, bars and restaurants.

In Alaska a smoking related change was made to the Child Labor Laws regarding selling cigarettes. The law currently bans anyone under the age of 19 from buying cigarettes, but until October, teens could work at establishments such as gas stations and convenient stores which sold cigarettes. Concern arose that these teens when working alone, could sell cigarettes to underage pals. Partly due to this concern, the law was amended to also prohibit anyone under the age of 19 from selling cigarettes.

If companies and businesses haven’t already made the relevant changes to their 2008 labor law posters, they should do so as soon as possible. If the information isn’t updated, the employers could be considered in violation of the law and subject to a fine.

A large number of changes over the year influenced the poster requirements. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 increased the federal minimum wage for the first time in close to a decade. Seventy cents was added to $5.15 to raise the minimum to $5.85 per hour. A number of states that connect their minimum wages to the federal minimum raised their minimum wages on that day, too.

These states will increase their minimum wage again in 2008 when the federal minimum gets another 70 cent boost. On July 24, 2008, the federal minimum will go from $5.85 to $6.55. The states that bumped their minimum wage with the previous federal increase will bump their minimum wage again.

More than a dozen states will increase their minimum wages on January 1, 2008. These include Delaware, Oregon, Washington, California, Florida, Iowa, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Vermont, Colorado, Arizona, Missouri, Montanan and Ohio. The lowest rate to be increased is in Montana, where the state minimum wage will increase from $6.15 per hour to $6.26. In Missouri and New Mexico, the state rate will go to $6.50.

After the increase, the nation’s highest minimum wage will be in Washington state, where the minimum wage will be $8.07 per hour. Both California and Massachusetts plan increases to $8.00 per hour, while the state rate in Oregon goes to $7.95.

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Massachusetts USERRA Poster

May 31st, 2007 Posted by Amelia

The American workforce is peopled with men and women who hold typical civilian jobs while being an active part of special reserve and National Guard units.  Most employers consider it an honor, even a patriotic duty, to welcome these soldiers returning from active military duty by giving them their pre-deployment jobs back.  Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.

The US Department of Labor thinks these returning soldiers deserve their civilian jobs back. That’s the law, as enacted in the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) as a means of protecting the civilian jobs held by reservists who are called away for military purposes.

New regulations providing stronger job protections are described in a revised version of the Massachusetts USERRA poster.  The latest version of the USERRA poster is required by law to be posted on every job site in the state, even those that list no reservists on their payrolls.

The newest Massachusetts USERRA regulations address the time span a returning reservist has before reapplying for their pre-deployment jobs.  The time for reapplication is based upon how long a reservist is deployed but can preserve a job when military service lasts as long as five years.  Reapplication is often just a formality, rather than a necessity, for a returning soldier.

The returning soldier is allowed to reclaim his or her pre-deployment job under exactly the same circumstances it was left.  Job status, position, title, pay scale, and other issues cannot change for the reservist on active duty.

The reservist is urged to provide written or verbal notification to his or her employer as soon as deployment plans are revealed.  At times, advance notification may be impossible or unreasonable for military purposes but the job protection provisions remain, nevertheless.

There is one very important issue addressed by the newest Massachusetts USERRA regulations.  The status of a reservist’s pension plan must remain in effect without alteration throughout military time served, regardless of length of deployment. 

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Massachusetts (MA) Employment Labor Poster Regulation Requirements

September 15th, 2006 Posted by Lindsay

I’ve been looking up the various labor laws and the changes in the employment labor posters for all the states in the United States. I saw that in Massachusetts, there has been a very recent change to the Family and Medical leave Act poster. That’s because the law was updated to give male employees eligibility to take parental leave, a very positive move for families who have that need.

There are quite a few Massachusetts ( MA ) Employment Labor Posters that the law mandates we hang in the workplace, in plain view of all the employees. Now, that is a very simple thing but many people run into problems when they try to put them up. Sometimes they are not in a location that all the employees visit, so people don’t have an opportunity to view them. Sometimes they get torn down, or they are simply forgotten and so they become out of date. But the fact is, all the labor law posters have to be kept current and up-to-date, and they have to be displayed.

Anyway, having said that you can see how difficult it might be for an employer to keep up with all the labor law changes so they can update their posters. For example, in the state of Massachusetts the laws that are required to be posted in the workplace are: Discrimination Notice, No Smoking Notice, Unemployment Insurance, Necessities Leave Act, Sexual Harassment, Workers’ Compensation, Minimum Wage/Payment of Wages, Child Labor.

In addition to the Massachusetts ( MA ) Employment Labor Posters, there are several Federal posting requirements. These include the following posters: 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.

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The Massachusetts Labor Law Poster Service

September 14th, 2006 Posted by Jolie

I wanted to get on here and talk a little bit about the Massachusetts Labor Law Poster Service. I just spent an hour or two reading the notices for Massachusetts, and found that there have recently been changes made. The Massachusetts Labor Law Poster Service can ensure that all businesses stay within compliance.

Massachusetts law states that all employers must post state and federal labor law posters in an area that is visible and accessible to employees so that they can be informed of their labor law rights. These posters include individual state and federal labor law notices that are mandated by the State of Massachusetts.

Federal and state labor law posters change frequently, and I think it is important that you are aware of that. If employees are to be kept up to date on their labor rights, which is the law, it is important to use the Massachusetts Labor Law Poster Service. Using the Massachusetts Labor Law Poster Service can provide you with the most current posters.

If you are wondering what notices are on the Massachusetts labor law posters, the state posters address Discrimination, No Smoking, Unemployment Insurance, Necessities Leave Act, Sexual Harassment, Workers’ Compensation, Minimum Wage/Payment of Wages, and Child Labor, while the federal posters explain Equal Opportunity Employment, Federal Minimum Wage, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, OSHA’s Job Safety and Health Protection Act, and USERRA.

If you haven’t looked at the posters in a while, you should know that the maternity leave notice has been updated to include information on the Family Medical Leave Act, and on the eligibility of male employees to take parental leave under the Massachusetts Maternity Leave Act. The Massachusetts Labor Law Poster Service can supply businesses with the most up-to-date posters, and can also let them know when changes are made.

So thought I should touch base regarding the Massachusetts Labor Law Poster Service. Hope you found this information interesting.

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Mass Labor Law Posters

September 12th, 2006 Posted by Emily

Massachusetts has several state laws that protect employees’ wages and working conditions. The Attorney General enforces the payment of wages, minimum wage, child labor, job classification, public bidding, and the current wage laws, as well as those covering the payment and lawful use of the unemployment and workers compensation insurance systems.

In an effort to ensure fair competition and to ensure workers’ rights are protected, the Attorney General both enforces the law and works to help Massachusetts employers and employees understand their rights and responsibilities. These rights and responsibilities are listed on Mass Labor Law posters.

The Fair Labor and Business Practices Division presents workshops and seminars for employer groups, labor organizations, community groups and many other interested parties. The Division’s outreach programs are designed to increase compliance with the law by increasing awareness and understanding. One easy way to comply is to post Mass Labor Law posters where all employees have the opportunity to see them.

The Attorney General enforces the Massachusetts laws relating to the payment of wages to employees. This law provides a minimum set of standards for when, how, and how much employees must be paid.

Employers must pay their employees within six days of the end of the pay period during which the wages were earned as long as the individual was employed for five or six days during the pay period. If the employee was employed for seven days or a period of less than three days, they must be paid no later than seven days from the end of the pay period.

Fired or laid off employees must be paid all wages due and owing on the day of termination. The term “wages” also includes all vacation time earned under the employer’s written or oral policy.

All employers must furnish a pay slip or check stub showing the employer’s name, employee’s name, date, number of hours worked, hourly rate of pay and amounts of deductions or increases made for the pay period.

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