If you have even one paid employee, you need a labor law compliance poster setup in your workplace, and in most cases you need several. Federal, state, and sometimes city rules require employers to post notices covering wages, safety, discrimination, and leave rights. Which specific posters apply depends on your headcount, your industry, and whether you hold government contracts. Getting it wrong can trigger per-violation fines and, in some cases, extend the deadline an employee has to sue you.
Who Has to Post
The posting obligation starts the moment you hire your first employee, full-time or part-time. A sole proprietor or independent contractor with no employees is exempt.1U.S. Department of Labor. Posters – Frequently Asked Questions Once someone is on payroll, the question shifts to which posters you need. Some apply to nearly every employer. Others kick in only after a certain headcount or in specific industries. The Department of Labor’s online Poster Advisor tool can walk you through the federal requirements based on your business type.2U.S. Department of Labor. Workplace Posters
Federal Posters Most Employers Need
A handful of federal notices apply to almost every private employer regardless of size.
- OSHA “Job Safety and Health” poster. Private employers covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act must display this notice in a conspicuous place where employee notices are customarily posted.3Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1903.2 – Posting of Notice; Availability of the Act, Regulations and Applicable Standards
- FLSA minimum wage poster. Every employer subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must post a notice explaining minimum wage, overtime, and child labor rules.4U.S. Department of Labor. Fair Labor Standards Act Minimum Wage Poster
- USERRA notice. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act covers job protections for employees who serve in the military and applies to virtually all employers. Unlike most posters, USERRA lets you satisfy the notice requirement by other methods, including mail or email.5U.S. Department of Labor. USERRA – A Guide to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act6U.S. Department of Labor. Workplace Posters
- EPPA poster. Employers subject to the Employee Polygraph Protection Act must post a notice explaining the Act’s restrictions on lie detector testing.7U.S. Department of Labor. Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) Poster
Posters That Turn On at 15 and 50 Employees
Two thresholds catch a lot of growing businesses off guard.
At 15 employees, you have to display the EEOC’s “Know Your Rights” poster on workplace discrimination. It covers race, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, and genetic information. Some of the underlying laws have different thresholds (age discrimination applies at 20), but the poster itself is required once you hit 15.8U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Know Your Rights Workplace Discrimination is Illegal Poster
At 50 employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or prior calendar year, the Family and Medical Leave Act notice becomes mandatory. A covered employer has to display the FMLA poster at every location, even ones where no current employees are eligible for leave.9U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28D – Employer Notification Requirements Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
Industry and Government Contract Posters
Several posters only apply if your business fits a specific profile. These won’t show up on a general checklist, which makes them easy to miss.
- Davis-Bacon poster. Contractors and subcontractors on federally funded construction projects must post a notice at the job site that includes the applicable wage determination, placed where workers can easily see it.10U.S. Department of Labor. Davis-Bacon Poster (Government Construction)
- MSPA poster. Farm labor contractors, agricultural employers, and agricultural associations employing migrant or seasonal workers must post the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act notice at the place of employment.11U.S. Department of Labor. Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) Poster
- Federal contractor NLRA notice. Federal contractors and subcontractors must post a notice on employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act, both physically and electronically. Private employers who are not federal contractors have no comparable NLRA posting obligation.12U.S. Department of Labor. Notification of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws
- E-Verify posters. Employers who participate in E-Verify must display the E-Verify Participation poster and the Right to Work poster where both current employees and job applicants can see them, including remote workers.13E-Verify. Can E-Verify Posters Be Downloaded or Linked Electronically to External Web Sites
State and Local Requirements
Federal posters are only part of the picture. Nearly every state has its own required workplace notices covering state minimum wage, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and state anti-discrimination laws. Some states have a dozen or more. Cities and counties add another layer, particularly for local paid sick leave ordinances or minimum wage rates that exceed the state figure.
These requirements change often and vary widely. Your state labor department’s website is the most reliable source for a current list. Missing the state or local layer is one of the most common compliance gaps, especially for businesses with locations in more than one state.
Where to Put the Posters
The standard federal rule is consistent across agencies: posters go in a conspicuous place where employee notices are customarily posted. In practice that means a break room, a hallway near a time clock, or another common area workers actually use. Employers with multiple sites need posters at each site.6U.S. Department of Labor. Workplace Posters Posters can’t be altered, covered up, or tucked somewhere employees don’t have regular access.3Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1903.2 – Posting of Notice; Availability of the Act, Regulations and Applicable Standards
Remote and Hybrid Workers
There is no single federal rule that says you must email every poster to remote employees. The answer depends on the poster. The FMLA regulation explicitly allows electronic posting as long as it otherwise meets the notice requirements.14eCFR. 29 CFR 825.300 USERRA can be distributed by mail or email instead of physical posting.6U.S. Department of Labor. Workplace Posters Federal contractors who post electronically still have to maintain physical copies; electronic posting alone does not satisfy their obligation.
If you have employees who rarely or never come into a physical office, making the required notices available through a company intranet or direct distribution is the safer approach. The DOL has not comprehensively updated its poster regulations for fully remote workforces, so relying solely on a physical poster in an empty office is a risk.
Language Requirements
Most federal poster rules don’t require non-English versions, but several important ones do. The FMLA poster must be provided in a language your employees can read if a significant share of your workforce isn’t literate in English. The MSPA poster must be provided in Spanish or other languages common to the workforce. Federal contractors subject to Executive Order 13496 must post translations when a significant share of workers aren’t proficient in English.1U.S. Department of Labor. Posters – Frequently Asked Questions Many state laws go further.
Keeping Posters Current
Putting posters up once and forgetting about them is a common and costly mistake. Update or replace posters whenever the law changes in a way that affects the content of the notice. The frequent triggers are minimum wage increases at the federal or state level, new leave laws, and annual adjustments to penalty amounts. Some agencies issue revised posters when changes occur; others expect employers to monitor for updates. At minimum, check your posters once a year against the current versions on the DOL and state labor department sites. An outdated poster can be treated the same as a missing one for enforcement purposes.
Where to Get Them
Federal agencies provide their required posters free. You can download and print them from the DOL’s poster page or order physical copies through the DOL’s online publication ordering system.2U.S. Department of Labor. Workplace Posters The EEOC, OSHA, and other agencies do the same on their websites.15Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Cares Job Safety and Health Workplace Poster State labor departments offer state-required posters free as well.
Private vendors sell consolidated “all-in-one” posters that combine federal and state notices on a single sheet. These aren’t required, and some vendors use aggressive marketing that makes the purchase seem mandatory. Before paying, check whether you can assemble everything from free government downloads. If you do use a vendor, confirm their product is updated when laws change; a subscription that ships replacements automatically can be worth it if you don’t want to track every legislative update yourself.
What Non-Compliance Costs
Fines for missing or outdated posters vary by agency and are adjusted annually for inflation. As of early 2025:
- OSHA posting violation: up to $16,550 per violation. The penalty applies per missing poster, so a single inspection can produce a significant total.16Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties
- EEOC posting violation: up to $698 per offense for failing to display the “Know Your Rights” poster.17Federal Register. 2025 Adjustment of the Penalty for Violation of Notice Posting Requirements
- FMLA posting violation: up to $216 for a willful violation.18U.S. Department of Labor. Civil Money Penalty Inflation Adjustments
The FLSA poster requirement does not carry a specific standalone civil monetary penalty for a posting failure. That does not make it optional. A missing FLSA poster can still factor into broader enforcement actions and weaken your position in wage disputes.
The bigger risk often isn’t the fine. Courts have extended the statute of limitations for employee claims when the employer didn’t properly inform workers of their rights. In one Fourth Circuit case, the court applied equitable tolling to an FLSA claim specifically because the employer had failed to post the required workplace notice, giving the employee more time to sue than the standard deadline would have allowed. The same court had previously tolled the filing deadline under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act for the same reason. If you didn’t tell workers about their rights, you can’t hide behind a filing deadline when they discover them late.