NLRB’s New Required Poster Available

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has released the newly mandated poster it says is necessary to inform employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The Board issued the final rule requiring most private-sector employers to display the poster on August 25, and it must be in place by November 14.

The rule applies to most private-sector employers subject to the NLRA and includes labor unions as employers. Agricultural, railroad, and airline employers are exempt. Also, the Board exempted the U.S. Postal Service and what the NLRB is calling “very small” employers whose annual volume of business isn’t large enough to have more than a slight effect on interstate commerce, according to an NLRB fact sheet.

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Just who is a “very small” employer? The final rule says that typically such employers are those that purchase or provide less than $50,000 per year in goods or services out of state. The exemption also applies to certain retail employers with less than $500,000 in gross annual volume.

Nonunionized employers have to post the notice as well as unionized employers since the NLRA applies to both union and nonunion workplaces. Federal contractors are required by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to post a similar notice, and the NLRB fact sheet says that a contractor will be in compliance with the NLRB requirement if it posts the Labor Department’s notice.

The new requirement also means that employers that post personnel rules and policies on an Internet or intranet site must include the new poster there as well. If at least 20 percent of employees speak another language and aren’t proficient in English, the employer also must post the notice in that language.

If an employer fails to post the new notice, the Board may consider it an unfair labor practice, but it doesn’t have the authority to levy fines. The NLRB’s fact sheet says that in most cases, it will assume that an employer failing to comply is unaware of the requirement and will come into compliance when requested by a Board agent. But failing to post the notice may cause the Board to extend the six-month statute of limitations for filing a charge involving other unfair labor practice claims against the employer.

The fact sheet also says that if an employer “knowingly and willfully fails to post the notice, the failure may be considered evidence of unlawful motive in an unfair labor practice case involving other alleged violations of the NLRA.”

The new poster points out employee rights as well as prohibitions on employers. The poster points out that under the NLRA, workers have the right to:

• organize a union to negotiate wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment;
• form, join, or assist a union;
• bargain collectively;
• discuss wages and benefits and other terms and conditions of employment or union organizing with coworkers or a union;
• take action with coworkers to improve working conditions;
• strike and picket; and
• choose not to do any of the above activities.

The poster also outlines that it’s illegal for employers to:

• prohibit employees from talking about or soliciting for a union during nonwork time;
• question employees about union support or activities in an intimidating manner;
• take action against an employee because of union membership or support;
• threaten to close a workplace if workers choose union representation;
• prohibit employees from wearing union hats, buttons, T-shirts, and pins in the workplace except under special circumstances; and
• spy on or videotape peaceful union activities.

The poster also tells employees how to contact the NLRB if they believe their rights have been violated. It also informs workers that they may inquire about possible violations without their employer or anyone else being informed of the inquiry.

The new requirement has angered many employers. For example, the National Federation of Independent Business has said it “sets up a ‘gotcha’ situation for millions of businesses which are unaware of the new rule or unable to immediately comply.”

Get complete federal and state poster kits, including the new NLRB poster requirement