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 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.

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.

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 businesses, across the United

States since 1999. Labor law posters at

Laborlawcenter.com make it easy for the businesses to stay

compliant with the latest labor laws and regulations. If

you're looking for California labor law posters,

Laborlawcenter.com might be the right option.