Mandatory Posting: It’s not mandatory that it costs a lot!

I just received a notice from one of the many, many organizations that exist to provide us with HR support at a price. While you may choose to enroll in an annual subscription from one of these organizations to receive updates about labor law for your company…

BEWARE the scare of the compliance poster!
Just in time for Halloween!

The company in question, call them LaborLawFear.com will sell you an all-in-one federal & state compliance poster, for a mere $99.94! They ensure the fear factor by noting that you will be fined up to $17,000 for not having a poster on display, hence the term mandatory. The price of $99.94 does include updates for one annual period, gee, that’s worth it now isn’t it?

No, not necessarily. Here is where a person new to HR can get tripped up and end up feeling like the government is trying to take all her hard earned money by creating these laws. I am here to tell you the government is not the troll under the bridge in this tale but the fairy princess here to save the day.

Mandatory Poster on the Cheap with the help of BOLI
Every employer is obligated to display a number of labor law postings where all employees can view the information. These are all related to employee rights. On my home page is a link under ‘For Employers’ called ‘Mandatory Postings’. Follow the link and you will find that BOLI will send you an all-in-one poster for $15.

Again that’s 15 dollars.

Now, how to stay current on any additional postings that may pop up during the year? After all, that is one of the benefits LaborLawFear.com is offering. When I get advertisements from these companies, I look to see what they say is new in the labor law landscape then I go to my fairy princess, BOLI, for free information and free posters. That’s right folks; you don’t even need to spend $15. Just scroll down the BOLI page to find downloads of English and Spanish versions of each individual poster.

It can be a great stress relief to know someone out there is watching the changing landscape of labor laws and reporting back. Just don’t let them fear you into paying lots of money for a laminated piece of paper that you can get, un-laminated with a bit less color in the graphics, directly from the people that make the rules for $15 or less.

So, mark your calendars and buy a shiny new $15 poster each new year. Post it in an area that all the employees have access to, like the break room, cafeteria, or printer bay. And pat yourself on the back each time you receive a fear based promotion about mandatory compliance posters because you are not falling prey to the fear.