labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Every North Carolina employer needs to understand that in 2007 a number of changes to the labor laws were made. In 2007, for the first time in ten years, the federal minimum wage was increased from $5.15 to $5.85 per hour as a result of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. At least ten states increased their state minimum wage on the same day.

These changes mean that employers must update their 2008 North Carolina Labor law posters.

The North Carolina Labor Law Posters that every employer is required to display are:

• Unemployment Insurance 
• OSHA - Safety and Health Protection 
• Wage and Hour Act 
• Workers’ Compensation

In addition, North Carolina employers are required to display the following posters by federal law:

• 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

Another increase will occur on July 24, 2008, raising the federal minimum wage from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour. Again, the states that tie their minimum wage to the federal rate will bump their state minimum wages, too.

The 2008 Connecticut labor law posters required by state law are:

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.

The New Year will bring more changes which will require employers to change labor law posters. Restaurants, bars and casinos and practically every other work environment in Illinois will enact a tough new law banning smoking.

Also, during the 2007, several other states, including Utah, Washington, Oregon, and West Virginia increased their state minimum wage. 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.

2007 also saw other changes that required employers to update their labor law posters. Employers in Ohio had to post new no-smoking signs at all entrances as a result of the establishment of tough new ban on smoking in the workplace.

Washington, Oregon, Texas and several other states raised their state minimum wages in 2007.

A change was enacted in Alaska to the state Child Labor Laws regarding the selling of cigarettes. It was already illegal for anyone under the age of 19 to buy cigarettes. This change in the law also made it illegal for anyone under the age of 19 to sell cigarettes. The change resulted from the fear that teens working in gas stations or convenience stores were selling cigarettes to their underage friends.

As a result of these changes, companies need to take the time to update their labor law posters by the end of this year. Failure to update the posters with the new information can result in a fine for the employer.

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.

In reviewing state employment laws, I noticed that North Carolina (NC) has been very busy changing its Employment Labor Posters recently. Every state has employment labor laws that have to be posted in the workplace. This is mandated by both the Federal government and the state Department of Labor.
In North Carolina, the Federal Employment Labor Posters that are required 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.
Additionally, the state of North Carolina has its own requirements. These posters are: Unemployment Insurance, OSHA - Safety and Health Protection, Wage and Hour Act, and Workers’ Compensation.
As I said, the state of North Carolina has been very busy with their Employment Labor posters, and there are a number of changes you should be aware of. Your employer should have already posted these new items, because every employer has to replace their posters each time the labor laws change—which can be fairly often. These are updates that make your 2004 posters obsolete.

I’ll just summarize some of the changes in 2006. This is by no means a complete list, it’s just to remind you of the changes. Those have been to the Fair Employment poster – this one tells the employees which department will actually protect them under the employer retaliation Act, and the Right to Work information describing the state’s right-to-work status was added. Also the Wage and Hour Act underwent several changes. One change is in regard to employers withholding or diverting employee wages, one is related to promised wages, and some minor changes were made concerning youth employment. The OSHA poster has been changed because the Safety and Health review board changed its name to the NC Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

We’re back on the North Carolina and Federal Labor Law Poster again. Now, you might want to ask me: Haven’t we covered this topic before? Well, my careful and loyal reader, that question shows that you have been paying attention to some of my blogs, and have noticed that I have covered the North Carolina and Federal Labor Law Poster before.

However, I don’t mean to test you, Rather, I’m more concerned about the readers here—and I won’t name names—who maybe haven’t been paying close enough attention as they should. Or for no fault of their own, have just arrived at this site and this is their first exposure to the North Carolina and Federal Labor Law Poster.

At the heart of the North Carolina and Federal Labor Law Poster is the six federal postings that are mandatory in the state, as well as many other states. These six postings in the North Carolina And Federal Labor Law Poster include the federal minimum wage posting, the USERRA posting for military duty, the equal employment opportunity posting, the lie detector test, or polygraph protection, posting, the OSHA posting for workplace safety and health, and the Family and Medical Leave Act posting for personal and health leave time.

What sets the North Carolina And Federal Labor Law Poster apart from other state labor law posters, though, are not these six federal postings—but rather the four state postings in the North Carolina And Federal Labor Law Poster that are unique to the state of North Carolina.

These four state postings include the: worker’s compensation posting, the OSHA safety and workplace posting, the wage and hour act posting, and the unemployment insurance posting. These four postings, in the format found on the North Carolina and Federal Labor Law Poster, cannot be located on any other state poster for employment law.

I would like to take a few minutes to tell you about the labor law posters for North Carolina. These posters are important because they inform employees about their rights and protections under the law. Employees need to make sure they know where the posters are located so that they know what is contained on the labor law posters for North Carolina.

In order to allow employees to know about the information on the labor law posters for North Carolina, employers are required to display the posters in a conspicuous place. The labor law posters for North Carolina must be in an area where all employees will be able to see them. Usually the labor law posters for North Carolina are displayed in a break room or beside a time clock. If the business is very large then the posters may need to be displayed in more than one spot in the workplace.

The federal requirements for the labor law posters for North Carolina are the same as the requirements for the rest of the fifty states in the United States. The state requirements are: Unemployment Insurance, OSHA – Safety and Health Protection, and Workers’ Compensation. The exact labor law posters for North Carolina that are required in each workplace depend on the size and the type of the business.

Employers must make sure they keep all the labor law posters for North Carolina up-to-date. They also need to display the posters in an obvious place where employees are known to gather. Employees need to make sure they know where the labor law posters for North Carolina are located and what the posters read. If an employee feels his/her rights have been violated, that person should file a complaint. No worker can be retaliated against for filing a complaint.

There’s no need for introductions. You’ve all met me before, Mark, your friendly neighborhood human resource consultant, who can help you navigate the maze of state and federal laws regarding employment, labor, salaries, overtime, and the such. Today, friends, our topic are the NC Labor Law Posters.

We of course have looked at labor law posters before—between me and my colleagues on this blog site, we’ve guided you through many of the rules and regulations on posters in every state in the Union, as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

But today we’re honing in on the NC Labor Law Posters. They have the same ground rules as other state posters we’ve looked at. First, the NC Labor Law Posters must always be located in every work site for every employer, just about. And in these work sites, the NC Labor Law Posters must be posted somewhere that’s convenience and accessible for most, if not all, the employees at that work site.

After all, the NC Labor Law Posters are meant to educate employees about their rights as workers in the state of North Carolina, and the NC Labor Law Posters are also meant to instruct them as to their responsibilities, as well, say, if they get hurt on the job, or if they see OSHA violations taking place at their work site.

But the NC Labor Law Posters also contain the same ground rules when it comes to federal postings. They contain the six federal postings that we’ve seen in many of the other state posters.

The NC Labor Law Posters also contain their very own state postings—four of them to be exact. These four state postings in the NC Labor Law Posters include the workers’ comp notice, the unemployment insurance notice, the OSHA safety and worker health posting, and the wage and hour posting.