labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Labor laws saw a lot of changes during 2007. As the New Year approaches, businesses should take the time to ensure that their labor law posters reflect these changes.

Utah employers need to understand that many of the changes apply to them as well, and that their posters need to be updated.

The updated list of 2008 Utah labor law posters include:

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

These posters must be displayed by every employer in the state of Michigan. In addition, federal law requires that employers display a number of posters related to nationwide statutes.

The 2008 labor law posters required by federal law 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
• OSHA-Job Safety & Health Protection

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 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.

The past year also saw a number of significant minimum wage violations. 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.

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.

Employers are required by law to ensure that all labor law posters for 2008 are up to date. Failure to comply with the law can result in a fine for the business.

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.

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.

Folks, the state of Utah only requires three Utah (UT) Employment Labor Posters to be placed in every business. These are OSHA - Health and Safety Protection, Unemployment Insurance, and Workers’ Compensation.

There are also Federal labor law posters that are required to be placed in view of all employees. They are:

Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law

OSHA - Job Safety and Health Protection

Employee Polygraph Protection Act

Federal Minimum Wage

Family and Medical Leave Act

USERRA - Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act

If you’re an employee, you should look at these posters on a regular basis. The laws do change, and every time they change the employer is required to replace the related poster with the updated version. As an employee, you owe it to yourself to read and understand the laws that are on the posters. After all, you can’t take action if you aren’t even clear about the contents of the posters. When you read them, you will see that they inform you about safety regulations as well as your rights under the law. They tell you which office handles each law or act and whom you should call if you have a question or a concern.

I know it seems like a lot to take in, but the posters should be someplace that you can see them and refer to them often. By re-reading them, you will educate yourself so that if you have a concern, or even if a coworker does, you will be able to address it correctly and easily.

If your employer doesn’t have the posters displayed that I’ve listed above, or if some of them are out of date, covered up, or torn, you should bring it to their attention. Many employers do not realize that, by not displaying the posters, they are violating the law and could be subject to a citation or a fine.

Today I’m going to briefly let you know about the labor law posters for Utah. These posters are required to be displayed in workplaces throughout Utah. The posters must be in an area where all employees will be able to easily see them. They should be well-lit and free from any obstructions or markings. Many times the labor law posters for Utah are displayed beside a time clock or inside a break room.

The exact required postings for the labor law posters for Utah differ from business to business. The requirements depend on the size and type of the business where the labor law posters are displayed. For larger businesses it may be necessary to display the posters in more than one spot in the workplace.

There are three state requirements for the labor law posters for Utah. The requirements are: OSHA – Health and Safety Protection, Unemployment Insurance, and Workers’ Compensation. The federal requirements for the labor law posters for Utah are: Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, Federal Minimum Wage, Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law, Employee Polygraph Protection Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and OSHA – Job Safety and Health Protection.

The employer in each place of business has a responsibility to update each of the labor law posters for Utah when the posters change. Whenever a law or regulation changes, the accompanying poster must be changed as well.

Employees should make sure they know where the labor law posters for Utah are located. The employees should also know what each labor law poster reads. The posters won’t provide a great deal of protection if the people they protect don’t even know about them. Therefore, the employers need to make sure the labor law posters for Utah are conspicuously displayed and the employees must make sure they read the posters.

Let’s take a look back to Utah. The state is worth a look again for its Utah Labor Law Posters, simply because the Utah posters contain the same six federal postings that many other states have in their posters, but the Utah Labor Law Posters also contain three state postings that are unique to the state.

First, I’ll review the six federal postings, in case new readers have joined us and haven’t seen the past blogs in which we’ve covered the topic. Basically, the six federal postings must be included the Utah Labor Law Posters, along with the state postings. They include:

The OSHA posting on workplace safety and health regulations; the Equal Employment Opportunity posting which outlines federal prohibitions against discrimination; the federal minimum wage notice; the USERRA posting for employer guidelines for dealing with employees on active duty in the military; the Family and Medical Leave Act for employees who need to take time off for health or personal reasons; and the federal posting on the prohibition for forcing employees to take polygraph tests.

Now that we’ve got those six bases covered, let’s move on to the three state postings in the Utah Labor Law Posters. These three include the state OSHA posting for workplace safety, the workers’ compensation posting, and the unemployment insurance posting.

When it comes to the unemployment insurance posting in the Utah Labor Law Posters, we’re talking about the protections that employees get in the case that they lose their job through reasons not of their own doing—in other words, if they lose their job without getting fired.

The Unemployment Insurance fund in the state of Utah is how these unemployment benefits get paid. Employers add to this fund every quarter. The levels of this fund also have a hand in determining just how much taxes are assessed to employers in any given period of time.

With a positive labor outlook in the state, many employers should update their Utah Labor Law Poster. With approximately 20,000 new Utah college graduates entering the work force, the Utah job market is the best it has been in several years. Strong job growth, low unemployment, and increased recruiting activity combine to offer improved opportunities for all new graduates – especially for those with specific skills in demand.

Employers should realize that they could be fined up to $7,500 depending upon the state, for not displaying the Utah labor law poster. The Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS) projects that the fields with the most openings for applicants with bachelor’s degrees are school teachers – both elementary and secondary; accountants and auditors; computer programmers and systems analysts; insurance sales agents, and loan officers.

Another DWS study identified employers’ hardest-to-fill jobs as medical lab technicians, industrial engineers, civil engineers and registered nurses.

Utah’s current job growth rate of 4.3 percent far outpaces the U.S. average of 1.6 percent. The robust job growth coupled with the 3.4 percent unemployment rate is roughly the same as during the strong economy of the late 90’s. This results in more jobs being created and fewer experienced workers looking for jobs. Those conditions favor new graduates.

Utah’s number of non-farm jobs registered a year-over-year increase of 4.7 percent for July 2006. Approximately 53,900 new jobs have been created in the Utah economy over the past year, raising total wage and salary employment in Utah to 1,194,400.

This ratekeeps Utah within the top five states nationwide for employment growth. Utah’s June employment growth rate has been revised up to 4.9 percent.

Utah’s other primary indicator of current labor market conditions, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, registered 3.4 percent in July, down 0.8 percentage pointsfrom the unemployment rate of 4.2 percent registered a year ago in July 2005.

Approximately 44,000 Utahans were unemployed in July 2006 as compared to 52,600 in July 2005. June’s unemployment rate is unrevised at 3.1 percent. The United States’ unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent in July.