Employers Are Now Required to Post Notice Informing Employees of Their Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act

As promised, on August 25, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued final regulations pursuant to which the NLRB now requires all National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) – covered employers to post a notice to employees informing them of their rights under the NLRA.  NLRA-covered employers include private employers that have an impact on interstate commerce, which is determined by the dollar volume of business generated.  Importantly, employers must post the notice regardless of whether or not they have a unionized workforce.  The notice, which is 11 x 17 inches, is required to be posted by November 14, 2011.  Employers can find the content of the poster at www.nlrb.gov.

The posters must be conspicuously displayed in the workplace in a location where employment notices are customarily posted.  Employers that normally use the Internet or Internet sites to post personnel rules and/or policies should also post the notice, or the NLRB’s link to the notice, on the company’s website.  As with the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act notice, where a majority of the workforce is not fluent in English, the employer must display a poster in the applicable and appropriate languages of the workforce.

Employers that fail to comply with this posting requirement may be subject to penalties, including an unfair labor practice charge, a finding that they have an “unlawful motive,” and/or the granting of extra time for employees to file an unfair labor practice charge against the employer.