Do Your Employees Know that EEO is the Law?
Who is responsible for making employees aware of their rights under various federal equal employment opportunity laws? Employers, that’s who.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) require covered employers to post notices describing the applicable provisions of each law in a conspicuous, prominent and accessible place. Covered employers are generally those having fifteen or more employees in the current or preceding calendar year.
Employers can satisfy their legal obligation to provide the required notices by posting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s “EEO is the Law” poster. This poster summarizes the laws and explains how employees or applicants can file a complaint if they believe they have been the victim of discrimination.
The poster should be placed in a conspicuous location in the workplace where notices to applicants and employees are customarily posted. The EEOC also encourages employers to post the electronic notice on their internal web sites in a conspicuous location. But employers should note that in most cases, electronic posting supplements but does not independently fulfill an employer's basic obligation to physically post the required information in its workplaces.
The failure to post the required notice is punishable by a fine. Federal agencies are required to annually adjust the maximum penalty for inflation. In 2016, the maximum penalty was increased from $210 to $525.
As of April 22, 2019, the maximum penalty for failing to post the required notice is $559 for each separate offense. But, let’s be honest. No employer should ever have to pay a fine because it’s just too easy to satisfy your the posting requirements.
Step 1: Download the “EEO is the Law” poster. It’s free!
Step 2: Print the poster.
Step 3: Post the poster.
If you haven’t done it yet, do it now.
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