In this new monthly series, the GovDocs Employment Law & Compliance Team highlights three recent labor law poster releases that employers need to know about.
- Michigan Law Prohibits Discrimination Poster
- New York City’s Your Rights at Work Poster
- Maine Veterans’ Benefits and Services Poster
Michigan Law Prohibits Discrimination Poster
The Michigan Law Prohibits Discrimination poster was recently updated to include new discrimination protections. Specifically, the poster now states that Michigan law prohibits discrimination in employment based on the following criteria (new additions are highlighted):
- Religion
- Race (including hair texture and protective hairstyles)
- Color
- National Origin
- Sex
- Disability
- Sexual Orientation
- Gender Identity or Expression
- Age
- Marital Status
- Height
- Weight
- Arrest Record
- Genetic Information
- Familial Status
The updates to the poster, which is required to be displayed by all employers, stem from two bills passed in 2023 by the state legislature. Senate Bill No. 04 was signed by the governor on March 21, 2023, adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” as categories protected under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
Senate Bill No. 90 was signed next on June 20, 2023. Often referred to as the CROWN Act, the bill expands the definition of “race” under the Civil Rights Act, clarifying that race “is inclusive of traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles. For purposes of this definition, ‘protective hairstyles’ includes, but is not limited to, such hairstyles as braids, locks, and twists.”
New York City’s Your Rights at Work Poster
The New York City Council recently adopted a new local law requiring the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to create a NYC Workers’ Bill of Rights. The bill provides information on local, state, and federal laws impacting workers in The Big Apple, regardless of their immigration status.
DCWP released its newly created Workers’ Bill of Rights webpage on March 1, 2024, citing it as a “one-stop-shop” for information on New York City’s labor rights. The webpage contains workers’ rights enforced by DCWP, including paid safe and sick leave and various industry-specific rights. It also has a list of laws enforced by other agencies at the local, state, and federal levels, including, among others, union rights, minimum wage requirements, unemployment benefits, applicant rights, and so on.
Along with the new webpage release, DCWP also released a new Your Rights at Work poster for employers to display in their respective workplaces. Employers are required to provide the poster in English and any language spoken as the primary language by at least 5% of employees, if made available by the DCWP.
The Your Rights at Work poster is multilingual and provides a QR code linking to the NYC Workers’ Bill of Rights webpage. Employers must display the new poster by July 1, 2024. In addition, employers must upload the poster to their intranet or mobile app if either is used to regularly communicate with employees.
Maine Veterans’ Benefits and Services Poster
On June 1, 2023, Maine passed a new law requiring employers with more than 50 full-time employees to display a labor law poster on veterans benefits and services in a conspicuous place accessible to employees in the workplace.
Accordingly, Maine’s Department of Labor released the new Veterans’ Benefits and Services poster. As required under the law, the poster includes information on the following:
- Contact and website information for the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services, and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Crisis Line
- Substance use and mental health treatment services
- Employment and education resources
- How to obtain a driver’s license or identification card
- Unemployment insurance benefits
- Legal services
- Tax benefits
Labor law poster releases related to veterans’ benefits and services have been a recent trend, with Maine following in the footsteps of New York and Minnesota.
Conclusion
Jurisdictions continue to release new and updated labor laws impacting posters across the United States. This reaffirms the importance of having access to a robust labor law poster service to remain up to date on the latest changes.
This Employment Law News blog is intended for market awareness only, it is not to be used for legal advice or counsel.
