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Ohio employers need to be aware that many changes in labor laws occurred during 2007, and will occur in 2008. As a result, these employers will need to update their labor law posters. The coming New Year is a good time to ensure posters are current.

One of the major changes during 2007 related to minimum wage. The federal minimum wage, as a result of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, went from $5.15 to $5.58 per hour. Nearly a dozen states increased their minimum wage on the same day.

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

The complete list of 2008 Ohio labor law posters that every employer should have includes:

• Unemployment Insurance 
• Rebuttable Insurance Notice 
• Workers’ Compensation 
• Public Employee Risk Reduction 
• Minimum Wage 
• Minor Labor Laws 
• Discrimination Notice

In addition, federal law requires all employers in Ohio to display up-to-date copies of the following 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 be 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.

Two states enacted strict bans on smoking in the workplace during 2007. In Illinois, almost every employment venue, including restaurants, bars and casinos went non-smoking. Ohio, too, banned smoking and posted no-smoking signs at all entrances at all workplaces.

The other changes during 2007 had to do with increases in the minimum wage. The federal minimum wage went up from $5.15 to $5.85 per hour in 2007 as a result of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. Several states across the country also raised their minimum wage at the same time.

At other times in 2007, many other states enacted raises for their minimum wage, too. West Virginia, Maine, Washington, Oregon and Oklahoma did so, along with a number of other states.

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

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.

Nine 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 Hampshire, 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 Hampshire, 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.

The year 2007 saw more changes to labor laws than most years do. Some of the changes during 2007 had to do with smoking and the sale of cigarettes.

The Ohio Labor Law Poster is a work of art. OK, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch for me to say, but it isn’t a stretch to say that the Ohio Labor Law Poster is very important if you’re an employer in the state of Ohio. In that case, you better know what the Ohio Labor Law Poster says, and why you have to have one in your work sites.

It also explains why we’ve covered the topic of the Ohio Labor Law Poster so often in this blog. We have to be honest, we’ve covered the Ohio Labor Law Poster quite a bit, but at t he same time, if we’re being honest here, I should add that perhaps you as an Ohio employer need the repeat looks at the Ohio Labor Law Poster.

So that’s why we’ve looked at all of the state postings and the federal postings that go into the Ohio Labor Law Poster. We’ve listed them all, and briefly talked about each. But now, to give you some more idea of what exactly, in detail, is in the Ohio Labor Law Poster, let’s look at one of those postings on its own. Consider this an advanced “class” in the Ohio Labor Law Poster.

The one posting that we’ll look at first in the Ohio Labor Law Poster is the state minimum wage posting. This one is pretty basic, because in many respects it says what the federal poster on the minimum wage goes into. That is that the minimum wage in the state of Ohio is the same as the federal wage, which is $5.15 per hour, which is for non-tipped employees, or those who do not participate in an occupation that gives them more than $30 in tips a month.

For the tipped employees, the minimum wage posting shows, the minimum wage is $2.13 per hour.

In Ohio there are labor laws that must be adhered to. On of these laws is the posting of Ohio State Mandatory Posters. These are posters which highlight and list some of the major labor laws for the state. These posters are required to be posted in the workplace for many reasons. These posters are designed to keep employees and employers current on the labor laws for the state. They are required to be posted by the state labor board in the workplace. They are also required to be updated whenever there is a change in the laws as the posters are updated. These posters are designed to be a tool and not a problem. However they can become a problem if the rules around them are not adhered to.

Some of the problems from lack of compliance can be a series of fines or worse. The Ohio State Mandatory Posters are viewed as being a very important part of the workplace by the labor board. That alone should make you aware of them and change them as necessary. Not having an updated poster could lead to other things that could be found wrong with the workplace as well. So keep the poster updated, it is a small thing that could have huge dividends in the long run.

There are many items that need to be on your Ohio Mandatory Posters. These items are; Unemployment Insurance, Rebuttal Insurance Notice, Minor Labor Laws, Minimum Wage, Public Employee Risk Reduction and Worker’s Compensation. These items should always be on your Ohio State Mandatory Posters. These items also can change periodically as we are all aware which would mean that a new poster would be required. The most pressing matter that could be changed would be the minimum wage. So keep that in mind next time you see your Ohio State Mandatory Poster.

Here’s to the Buckeye State. They have the No.1 football team in the country at the moment, Ohio University isn’t looking like it’s going anywhere in the standings anytime soon—at least not until they play the University of Michigan. But while employers and employees can celebrate together about their football team in Ohio, they have to face not so fun choices at work. How should employers treat their employees? How should employees act toward their bosses, and what are their rights?

All of the answers to these questions, and more, can be found in the Ohio Law Posters. No, these aren’t some magic collection of encyclopedias that you can look through to find the answer to every employment question under the sun in Ohio. No, the Ohio Law Posters are actually very simple, very easy to read posters that go up into the work place—on a wall in the lunchroom or break room say—for both the education and training of employees and employers.

The Ohio Law Posters are actually made up of 13 different posters. There are six federal mandated posters in the Ohio Law Posters collection, along with seven state mandated posters in the Ohio Law Posters collection. We’ve talked about the six federal postings in detail elsewhere, so let’s stick for now with the seven state postings in the Ohio Law Posters.

These seven state postings in the Ohio Law Posters include the Minimum Wage notice, the Unemployment Insurance notice, the Public Employee Risk Reduction postings, the Discrimination Notice, the Rebuttable Insurance Notice, the Minor Labor Laws posting, and the Workers’ Compensation posting.

If we look at one of these state postings in the Ohio Law Posters, we see that it does go into pretty good detail, though not enough to confuse the idea. For instance, the minimum wage posting simply informs employees that the minimum wage for nontipped employees is $5.15 per hour, compared with $2.13 per hour for tipped employees.

Thank you for allowing me to provide you with some information about the requirements for Ohio Posters and the employer’s responsibility to provide workers with the most up-to-date information about labor laws and employee rights. I believe this summary will answer some of the questions you may have about Ohio Posters, as well as requirements at the worksite or place of business.

Remember, the employer has the responsibility to make sure that all current Ohio Posters are in a place where they can be easily seen and read by all employees. This means that current posters should be on display in an area commonly used by workers, or where employees regularly meet. Typically, you would see these types of posters posted in places such as a break room or lunchroom, although any public meeting area would work. By doing this, the employer not only passes necessary information along to employees, but also remains within the guidelines for state and federal law. In addition, the company is also prepared if Ohio Posters would happen to be the focus of a labor inspection.

State requirements for Ohio Posters include Unemployment Compensation, Rebuttable Insurance Notice, Workers’ Compensation, Public Employee Risk Reduction, Minimum Wage, Minor Labor Laws, and Discrimination Notice. Among the state laws that are a bit different from those in other states are the Rebuttable Insurance Notice and the Minor Labor Laws.

The Rebuttable Insurance Notice refers to placing the burden of proof on the employee that alcohol or drugs were not the cause of a workplace injury. This law, which deals with workers’ compensation claims, went into effect late in 2004. Keep in mind that this is important information that workers need. Therefore, by having current Ohio Posters on display at the worksite, employers are able to assist employees better.

The Minor Labor Laws in Ohio deal with such things as work permits for those under 17 and restrictions on working hours for minors. Again, this information can be very important to employees and having the most up-to-date Ohio Posters at the work site can help inform workers and keep the employer within state and federal guidelines for posting information.

On the list of federal posting requirements are: 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.

I highly suggest you check the posters on display at the workplace currently to see if any changes need to be made due to updated laws or changes in labor laws. Remember that laws can and do change. Therefore, any information pertaining to these rules and regulations needs to be provided to employees by using current Ohio Posters.