LANDLORD’S FEDERAL POSTING COMPLIANCE

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If you have employees, then federal law requires you post at least four and sometimes five notices in a place visible to your employees. This place may be a break room, a store room, a hallway, an employee only space in the rental office at each housing complex, or the like. Click on the highlighted text to download a PDF of the required form as published by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Federal Labor Standards Act Prints in two sheets which must be taped together to form an 11" x 17" poster.

Equal Employment Opportunity poster. Prints in two sheets which must be taped together to form an 11" x 17" poster.

OSHA poster. Prints in two sheets which must be taped together to form an 11" x 17" poster. In many states, the relevant state poster contains the federal information and supersedes the federal poster.

Family and Medical Leave Act This act applies to you if you have or had more than 50 employees who worked 20 or more weeks in the current or previous year, and your business affects interstate commerce. Since almost anything can affect interstate commerce, do not rely on that as an exemption without a written opinion from an attorney.

Employee Polygraph Protection Act Prints in two sheets which must be taped together to form an 11" x 17" poster.

Every state we know of has its own posting requirements in addition to the federal ones. We have not been able to find a single place on the web where information on individual states (except a couple of the largest) can be found, and these sites rarely provide a printable copy of the poster itself, but there are a number of non-web resources (these can still be of value).

1. If you are a regular customer at, say, a hardware store, ask the proprietor or manager, preferably just after you have spent money there and the place is not too busy. He will be happy to show you the employee posting area and share his source of information in order to maintain good will.

2. Ask a fellow landlord who has employees. Be careful with this one as landlords are notorious for not complying with laws and regulations until they get bitten by them.

3. Ask your local or state apartment association or chamber of commerce. Many offer custom printed "superposters" which have all or most of the state's posting requirements printed on them. The price is usually not large, but the consolidated posters usually must be replaced at least once a year to ensure you stay current.

4. Contact your state government. A few phone calls should supply the necessary information. When asking advice of the bureaucrat, remember to emphasize your distress and the great power and expertise the bureaucrat has at his disposal to alleviate it. When approached in this way, he will almost always go out of his way to try to justify your stated assessment of his competence.

Compliance with posting requirements is both tedious and unprofitable. Nevertheless, it must be done, as penalties for noncompliance attach to all posting requirements. The current federal requirements (as of April, 1999) are here and done for you. Fortunately, once you have obtained the necessary contacts to satisfy your state and local requirements, maintenance of your employee notice bulletin board will be quick and easy.

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