labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Every West Virginia employer should update their labor law posters before the first day of the new year.

The 2008 West Virginia labor law posters contain some important changes.

In 2008, by state law, every West Virginia employer is required to display the following posters:

• Workers’ Compensation 
• Unemployment Insurance 
• Wage Payment and Collection 
• Discrimination Notice 
• Minimum Wage

Popular locations for posters include break rooms, beside the employee time clock or in other employees-only areas.

In addition, West Virginia employers are required to display a number of federal labor law posters including:

• 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

Many of the labor law changes in 2007 concerned the minimum wage. For the past two years, the Oregon minimum wage has been the second highest in the nation. In 2008, it will go to the fourth highest, when California and Massachusetts increase their state rates from $7.50 per hour to $8.00 per hour. This is just one of the changes that will be reflected in the new labor law posters for the year.

Oregon labor law posters serve as a handy reference on a wide range of topics, from unemployment benefits to child labor laws.

Labor law posters provide important information for employees and supervisors alike. For example, from state to state, the laws controlling minimum wage for tipped workers and overtime pay show a wide variation. Complete updates are available on each state’s labor law posters.

States either have no overtime law, in which case they follow the federal law, or they pass laws building on or mirroring the federal law.

Federal overtime laws require an overtime premium of 1.5 times the normal hourly rate for every hour over 40. Some states rely on federal law – Florida, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, and Arizona among them. The federal overtime law covers most, but not all, workers.

Nebraska extends both the federal minimum wage and overtime laws to all businesses with 4 or more workers. Kansas requires overtime after a 46-hour week and Minnesota after a 48-hour week.

California offers overtime after working 8 hours in a single day or 40 hours in a week. Employees who must work 7 days consecutively get overtime on the 7^th day, and those working 12 or more hours in a day receive “double time.” Double-time is also offered after 8 hours on the 7^th consecutive working day.

In Kentucky, workers get overtime either after 40 hours, or on the 7^th consecutive day of work regardless of the number of hours they have put in. Colorado workers get overtime after 12 hours a day or 40 hours in a week. In Connecticut, only restaurant and hotel workers get overtime on the 7^th day.

When it comes to minimum wage rates for tipped workers, some states don’t have their own laws, so they are automatically covered by the federal law. Some are slightly more generous, while others equal or are nearly equal to the states’ own minimum wages. Kansas, on the other hand, at $1.59 an hour, is the lowest.

The federal rate is $2.13 an hour. Nebraska, Kentucky, and Indiana follow the federal rate. Michigan’s on the other hand is $2.65. Massachusetts is $2.63, Wisconsin is $2.33, and North Carolina is $2.43.

But there is no “tip credit” for employers in Washington State. In other words, tipped workers’ minimum wage is the same as for other workers. It will be $8.07 an hour starting January 1. In Hawaii, it’s just 25 cents an hour below the usual minimum wage. Tipped workers get $7 an hour, while other workers get $7.25. Colorado’s rate in 2008 will be $4.02 an hour.

Veterans returning from military service to the work world have a series of protections that guarantee their old jobs back, with all of the seniority, pay increases, and other benefits they would have received if they had never left.

All of the guarantees fall under USERRA, short for the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.

West Virginia USERRA posters should be updated at all workplaces to reflect the final USERRA regulations, issued by the U.S. Department of Labor, whether or not those workplaces employ service personnel. The latest regulations involve pension plan rights for returning veterans. USERRA in general is meant to protect the returning veteran and guarantee enforcement. It applies to National Guard and Reserve members as well.

All of the rights can be described under what is called the “escalator principle,” which essentially says that employees returning from military service are entitled to be reemployed with all the seniority, status and pay increases that would have come to them had they never left.

To understand the principle, imagine an escalator. An employee’s job position, with its continuing increases in pay, seniority, and other benefits, is like a step on the escalator. If that employee must leave the escalator to serve in the military, he or she is entitled to return to the same step – even though that step has advanced upward during the period of absence.

These rights are guaranteed for veterans returning after absences of up to 5 years. Some injured veterans are covered for another 2 years.

A military leave is treated under this law like other leaves of absence. The worker serving in the military is guaranteed the same benefits awarded to those, for example, who are on temporary disability or maternity leave.

Rights to retraining are guaranteed. Often, during a long military absence, the skills of a job evolve in a changing marketplace. According to the USERRA, employers must retrain returning veterans so that their skills qualify them for reemployment. If that is not possible, the employee is entitled to reemployment in another position.

In West Virginia we try very hard to take care of our workers as much as we can as a state.  One tool that helps with this is the West Virginia State Mandatory Poster.  This tool for both employers and employees allows you to provide explanations and details on the major laws that apply to employees in West Virginia.  These things need to be posted and updated as often as necessary in order to provide the best and most accurate information for the employee.  This is not only a benefit for your employees it is the law.  You are required to not only have a West Virginia State Mandatory Poster, but it must be current as well as posted.  By current that means that it must have all of the changes that have recently occurred to the laws on it and updated in order to stay out of trouble with the West Virginia labor board.  These tools if not in place and current can lead to you being in violation as well as leading you being fined or worse.

These posters need to have a specific set of laws posted on them as well.  These laws include; Worker’s Compensation, Unemployment Insurance, Minimum Wage, Discrimination Notice and Wage Payment and Collection.  These are all things that are beneficial to the employees as a whole.  There are many things that these laws outline listing the benefits and rights of your employees so as to keep them aware and informed as to what they are entitled.  These items are all things that need to be posted on the West Virginia Mandatory Poster or you will not be in compliance and thus breaking the law.

Remember it is your responsibility to keep the poster updated and up.  This will keep you in good graces with the labor board and will keep your employees informed with the correct West Virginia Mandatory Poster.

I would like to provide you with some basic information about labor law and employee rights notices and using West Virginia Posters to meet the requirements for posting information so that all employees can easily see and read the notices. After careful research, I am confident this information will help answer some of the questions you may have about West Virginia Posters and getting information to workers.

Remember, the employer is responsible for making sure that the posters at the workplace are current. Posting new West Virginia Posters is a great way to get the latest information to all workers. Up-to-date West Virginia Posters should be on display in an area where employees usually gather or where they go on a daily basis, such as the lunchroom or break room. With the latest posters, the company not only provides necessary notices to workers, but the employer is also prepared if West Virginia Posters are the subject of a labor inspection.

On the list of requirements for state notices are Workers’ Compensation Unemployment Insurance, Wage Payment and Collection, Discrimination Notice and Minimum Wage. As we all know, laws change. Because of this, it is vital that posters at the place of business include current and accurate information. In addition, West Virginia has its own Discrimination Notice requirement that may be slightly different from federal law, and this information would need to be passed on to workers, which is where current West Virginia Posters can help.

On the federal side, the requirements for West Virginia Posters 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. Among the items on this list, the USERRA requirement is somewhat new, as it was passed in 2005.

This federal law protects the rights of those who choose to go into military service but do not want to make it a career. Keep in mind that employees going into the armed forces, reserves, or National Guard on a non-career basis can, under certain conditions, return to claim their original civilian job. The law was designed to balance the needs of the employer for a reliable workforce with encouragement of non-career military service.

To ensure everyone within the company is given the same and current information, now may be a good time for employers and employees to check out the West Virginia Posters on display at the place of business or worksite. This way, each person can determine if any changes have been made that would affect them personally, or make new West Virginia Posters necessary.

I know there are many employers who are already aware that in the state of West Virginia, there are several employment labor posters that are required by law. Nonetheless, I will just go over them here briefly, then we can discuss some important changes that have been made to the laws, that subsequently affect the West Virginia (WV) Employment Labor Posters. The posters that are required to be placed in your work environment in a visible spot are: the Workers’ Compensation Notice, Unemployment Insurance, Wage Payment and Collection Act, Discrimination Notice, and the Minimum Wage Law.

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 Law, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and

USERRA - Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act.

Now, as I mentioned there have been some important changes. The first one affects the minimum wage rate, and that just happened in July 2006 so if you haven’t updated your poster you need to do it now. The new minimum wage rate in West Virginia went up to $5.85 per hour. It will increase again in 2007 and yet again in 2008, so be sure you stay compliant by keeping your business place information up to date.

The second poster that changed was also in July 2006, and that is the Unemployment insurance poster. There have been some new wage “classes” added.

The other poster that has changed this year is the Worker’s Compensation notice. BrickStreet is the worker’s comp insurance carrier for all employers in the state of West Virginia, so that needs to be reflected in your updated West Virginia (WV) Employment Labor Posters.