Compliance with Federal and State Labor Laws

When it comes to compliance with labor laws, businesses should comply with laws enforced by State and Federal governments.

Labor laws are enforced by both Federal and State law agencies
Labor laws enforced by Federal government agencies under the Department of Labor have jurisdiction over private and public employers in the US. The Department of Labor enforces more than 180 labor laws that cover about 10 million employers and 125 million employees.

State labor law agencies also enforce and administer various labor laws, but their validity is limited to the businesses and organizations in the respective State alone. Some State labor laws are more stringent than the Federal labor laws. Hence, State labor laws should not be disregarded.

Which laws to comply with?
If you are an employer, you are covered under both Federal and State laws. The only matter of ambiguity is which laws apply to you and which posters you should display.

Sometimes both State and Federal agencies enforce laws related to a particular aspect like the FLSA, FMLA, Child Labor, etc. Under such circumstances, the employer has to follow the law that is more favorable to the employee. For instance, apart from The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor, State government agencies also enforce laws on the FLSA.

Interestingly, States like California, New Jersey and District of Columbia have State minimum wages more than the Federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 per hour. So, employers have to follow the State law and pay the State minimum wage. This applies in the cases of FMLA and Child labor laws as well.

Which posters to display?
You have to display posters of both State and Federal labor laws at places where they can be easily identified and accessed by your employees.

Federal FLSA posters have to be displayed at the workplace along with the State FLSA poster. FMLA posters have to be displayed even if none of the employees qualify for it. Similarly, in addition to the Federal job applicant laws, there are a few State laws that require posters to be displayed for the sake of job applicants.

Posters have to be presented in a language that a significant portion of the workforce understands. If there are employees who know Spanish and do not understand English, then posters have to be displayed in Spanish along with English.

Compliance to the labor laws is overwhelming
Compliance to labor laws requires a good understanding of the laws and their validity. The reason many employers fail to comply is they don't know which law applies to them and which posters should be displayed. They feel overwhelmed by “which law”, “which poster” and “State or Federal”.

All this may look complex, but you needn't worry. A simple way to get over it is to pass the concerns to compliance services. Compliance service providers have a good understanding of the laws. They will assess your business and employees, and will advise on which laws you have to follow and which posters you have to display at your workplace.

Labor Law Center provides labor law poster service & compliance solutions to any size business, corporate resellers and government institutions across the United States since 1999. We have a wide selection of OSHA, State and Federal labor law posters, safety products and employment related kits. If you're looking for our services using the keyword Texas labor law poster service, visit our website.