Labor Law Poster Requirements for Employers (Including E-Verify Posters)
Updated 11 min read
Which federal posters you need, by headcount
From the first employee
- FLSA minimum wage poster
- Job Safety and Health: It's the Law
- EPPA (polygraph) notice
- USERRA notice
Federal minimum wage, workplace safety, polygraph, military leave
15 or more employees
- Know Your Rights (EEO poster)
The EEOC notice (Title VII, the ADA, GINA, the PWFA)
50 or more employees
- FMLA general notice
The FMLA notice, even if no one is eligible yet
Enrolled in E-Verify
- Notice of E-Verify Participation
- Right to Work
Two more posters, any headcount
Federal posting duties stack. A one-person shop already owes a few notices; each coverage line you cross adds one. The rungs are cumulative: a 60-person employer posts everything on the first three, and two more if it signed up for E-Verify. The counts are the ones the laws use, employees on the payroll for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks of this year or last (the FMLA says workweeks), not the number in the office today.
One exception runs the other way. The FMLA reaches public agencies and public and private elementary and secondary schools whatever their size, so a 12-person charter school posts the FMLA notice a 40-person shop does not. And every employer posts the FMLA notice once it is covered, “even if no employees are eligible for FMLA leave”.
| Poster | Who posts it | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| FLSA minimum wage posterDOL Wage and Hour Division | Every employer with employees subject to the federal minimum wage, at every establishment | 29 CFR § 516.4 |
| Job Safety and Health: It's the LawOSHA | Private employers engaged in a business affecting commerce; state-plan employers may post the state's version | 29 CFR § 1903.2(a) |
| EPPA (polygraph) noticeDOL Wage and Hour Division | Most private employers; not federal, state or local government | 29 CFR § 801.6 |
| USERRA noticeDepartment of Labor | Every employer, to people with USERRA rights; posting where notices usually go satisfies it | 38 U.S.C. § 4334(a) |
| Know Your Rights (EEO poster)EEOC | Employers covered by Title VII, the ADA, GINA or the PWFA (15 or more employees); also employment agencies and unions | 29 CFR § 1601.30(a) |
| FMLA general noticeDOL Wage and Hour Division | Private employers with 50 or more employees; public agencies and schools whatever their size | 29 CFR § 825.300(a) |
| Notice of E-Verify ParticipationDHS (E-Verify) | Employers enrolled in E-Verify, in English and Spanish, including for remote hires | E-Verify User Manual § 1.5 |
| Right to WorkDOJ Immigrant and Employee Rights Section | Employers enrolled in E-Verify, in English and Spanish, including for remote hires | E-Verify User Manual § 1.5 |
DOL's own advisor asks a few questions about your business and lists the DOL posters you owe, free to print: the elaws Poster Advisor. It covers DOL's laws only, so add the EEOC notice and, if you use E-Verify, the two E-Verify posters.
DOL, Workplace Posters (dol.gov/general/topics/posters)
Federal contractors owe more: notices under the Davis-Bacon Act, the Service Contract Act and the NLRA “Notification of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws”, among others. The Poster Advisor lists them when you say you hold a federal contract. Our HR compliance checklist puts the poster check beside the other recurring duties.
What to do
- Count employees the way the laws do: each working day, 20 or more weeks, this year or last.
- Post every notice for the rungs you have crossed, at every location where employees work.
- Run DOL's Poster Advisor once a year and whenever you open a site or win a federal contract.
The four posters that start with your first hire
| Law | Where it goes | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| FLSA | Conspicuous places in every establishment where covered employees work | 29 CFR § 516.4 |
| OSHA | Each establishment, where notices are customarily posted; not altered, defaced or covered | 29 CFR § 1903.2(a)(1) |
| EPPA | Every establishment, where employees and applicants can readily see it | 29 CFR § 801.6 |
| USERRA | Where you customarily place notices (one way to meet the duty) | 38 U.S.C. § 4334(a) |
| EEO | Conspicuous places on the premises, in an accessible format | 29 CFR § 1601.30(a) |
| FMLA | Conspicuous places where employees and applicants can readily see it, even with no one eligible | 29 CFR § 825.300(a) |
FLSA. Any employer with employees covered by the federal minimum wage posts the Wage and Hour Division's notice “in conspicuous places in every establishment where such employees are employed”. Every establishment means every one: the warehouse, the shop and the second office each get a copy.
OSHA. The “Job Safety and Health: It's the Law” poster covers private employers engaged in a business affecting commerce. An establishment is a single physical location, and a reprint counts when it is at least 8½ by 14 inches with print of 10 point or more. In a state with an approved OSHA plan, the state's own poster does the job.
EPPA. The polygraph notice must be readable by applicants as well as employees, so the right spot is wherever candidates wait or interview, not only the break room.
USERRA. The military-leave notice is owed to everyone with USERRA rights. Posting it where notices usually go meets the duty; DOL also accepts handing it out, mailing it or emailing it.
A state-plan poster counts for OSHA only when you post it as an employer covered by that state plan. Outside the plan's reach, the federal poster still applies.
29 CFR § 1903.2(a)(2)–(3)
At 15 and at 50: the EEO and FMLA notices
At 15 employees you are covered by Title VII, the ADA and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and you post the EEOC's “Know Your Rights” notice where employees and applicants can see it. At 20 the ADEA joins them, with its own posting rule for the notice the EEOC prescribes (29 CFR § 1627.10); the EEOC prints one notice for all of these laws. Print the current version: the EEOC tells employers to check the date in the bottom right corner of what is on the wall.
At 50 employees, the FMLA adds a second duty beyond the wall. Once anyone is eligible, the general notice also goes to each employee: in the handbook, or handed to every new hire. Put it in your new-hire checklist and your employee handbook at the same time.
If an FMLA-covered employer has any eligible employees, the general notice goes in the handbook or to each new employee upon hiring. The poster alone does not cover it.
29 CFR § 825.300(a)(3)
What to do
- At 15 employees, add the EEOC notice and check its date corner.
- At 50, add the FMLA notice and put the same text in the handbook or the new-hire packet.
What a missing poster costs
Failing to post the EEO notice can be fined up to $698 for each separate offense.
29 CFR § 1601.30(b)
A willful failure to post the FMLA notice can be fined up to $216 for each separate offense.
29 CFR § 825.300(a)(1); 91 FR 31358 (no 2026 adjustment)
An OSHA posting violation can be fined up to $16,550.
29 CFR § 1903.15(d)(6)
The FLSA poster is the odd one out: DOL lists “No citations or penalties for failure to post”. For the EPPA, DOL says it can bring court actions and assess civil penalties, without a figure on its poster page.
One trap for anyone reading the agency pages: they lag the regulations. On October 23, 2026, DOL's poster page still gave an older FMLA maximum of $100 and the EEOC's poster page an older $680, while the rules in force say $216 and $698. Quote the regulation, not the summary.
The fine is often the smaller cost. A missing FMLA or EEO poster tends to surface when an employee files a claim and says nobody told them their rights, and then the empty wall is part of the employer's problem.
E-Verify employers: two more posters
- Which posters
- Notice of E-Verify Participation + Right to Work
- Languages
- Both in English and Spanish
- Who must see them
- Applicants and all employees, remote hires included
- Where to get them
- Free, from E-Verify's resources page or inside E-Verify
- Changes allowed
- None. Do not alter them
- Bought from a vendor
- Not allowed
- Old versions
- Replace with the latest as soon as possible
Enrolling in E-Verify adds two notices whatever your size: DHS's Notice of E-Verify Participation and the Justice Department's Right to Work poster from its Immigrant and Employee Rights Section. They are part of the deal you sign when you enroll, and they apply at every hiring site you enrolled, from the first employee.
Notify “prospective employees and all employees, including those hired to work in a remote setting, of E-Verify participation by clearly displaying the Notice of E-Verify Participation and the Department of Justice, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section's Right to Work posters in English and Spanish”. This can include displaying them digitally, online and in hard copy at physical locations.
E-Verify User Manual § 1.5
E-Verify's own FAQ closes the door on poster kits for these two: “You may not make any changes to the posters or purchase them from a vendor.” Download them from E-Verify and print them yourself.
One wrinkle for careers pages. E-Verify allows online display for remote staff, but a separate FAQ says “Electronically linking official (non-sample) E-Verify posters to external web sites is not permitted.” The safe reading is to show the posters on your own careers page or application portal rather than hot-linking E-Verify's files from another site.
The rest of the program, from the MOU to the case deadline, is in E-Verify for employers; whether your state makes it mandatory is in E-Verify requirements by state.
What to do
- Print both posters, English and Spanish, from E-Verify itself at every enrolled hiring site.
- Put both on the careers page or application portal so applicants see them before they apply.
- Swap in new versions when E-Verify updates them.
Remote and hybrid teams: posting electronically
| Notice | When online posting is enough | Source |
|---|---|---|
| FLSA, FMLA, EPPA | Only if all employees work remotely, all usually get information electronically, and all can reach the posting at any time | WHD FAB 2020-7 |
| FMLA | Electronic posting is sufficient if it otherwise meets the posting rule | 29 CFR § 825.300(a)(1) |
| EEO | Encouraged on your website; can be the only posting with no physical site, or for remote staff who rarely visit | EEOC poster page |
| USERRA | Posting, hand delivery, mail or email all work | DOL Workplace Posters |
| E-Verify (both) | Digital, online and hard copy, plus with application materials | User Manual § 1.5 |
| NLRA (federal contractors) | Electronic cannot replace the physical poster; add a link where you post electronic notices | DOL Workplace Posters |
The Wage and Hour Division's guidance is Field Assistance Bulletin 2020-7, written for the pandemic shift to home working and still served at its DOL address when we read it. Its starting point: electronic notices “supplement but do not replace” the duty to post. For a continuous-posting law, the Division treats electronic posting as a substitute only where three things are all true.
“(1) all of the employer's employees exclusively work remotely, (2) all employees customarily receive information from the employer via electronic means, and (3) all employees have readily available access to the electronic posting at all times.”
WHD Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2020-7 (Dec. 23, 2020)
A fully remote company can meet that with an always-open page on its intranet or HR portal. A company with an office and a remote group cannot: for the bulletin, that employer “may supplement a hard-copy posting requirement with electronic posting”, and DOL encourages both. The office wall keeps its posters and the portal carries the same set for the people who never see the wall.
Two details catch employers out. For the EPPA, applicants count too, so an online-only setup also needs a remote hiring process. And “readily available” has a hard edge: the bulletin says a posting does not count if an employee “must specifically request access to a computer or ask for file permissions to view the posting”, and the employer must tell employees how and where to find it.
What to do
- Fully remote: one always-open portal page with every federal and state notice, linked in onboarding.
- Hybrid: keep the physical posters at each site and mirror the set online for remote staff.
- Check that every employee can open the page without asking anyone for access.
State posters: your labor department publishes its own set
States add their own notices, usually published by the labor department, and the set changes whenever the state passes a new workplace law. Some cities add more. There is no single federal list of state posters; DOL sends employers to their state labor office. Three examples of what the state pages look like:
| State page read | What it says |
|---|---|
| California DIR, Workplace Postings | “Workplace postings are usually available at no cost from the requiring agency.” “Downloaded posters meet an employer's legal obligation.” |
| New York DOL, Posting Requirements | Lists the state set, including a copy of Correction Law Article 23-A on hiring people with criminal convictions |
| Washington L&I, Required Workplace Posters | “Our posters are available here - for free.” Its state safety poster takes the place of the federal OSHA poster |
New York's list shows how state posters tie into hiring: employers there post Article 23-A of the Correction Law, the state's rules on considering criminal convictions. If you hire in New York City, the city's own process sits on top of it; see the NYC Fair Chance Act and our table of ban-the-box laws by state and city.
In a state with its own OSHA plan, the state's safety poster can replace the federal one for employers the plan covers. Washington says so outright for its Job Safety and Health Law poster. Check your state's page before you print the federal OSHA poster.
29 CFR § 1903.2(a)(2); Washington L&I, Required Workplace Posters
Every required poster is free from the agency
DOL “provides free electronic copies of the required posters”, some in other languages, and printed copies can be ordered through the Government Publishing Office. The EEOC posts its notice as a printable PDF in English, Spanish and several other languages. E-Verify's two posters come from E-Verify and may not be bought from a vendor at all. California says downloaded posters meet the obligation, and Washington offers its posters free.
Washington's labor department warns that companies selling combined state and federal poster sets use advertisements that “sometimes leverage an official look and imply penalties for not buying their posters.” The agencies above give their posters away; nothing in the rules read for this guide requires buying one.
Washington L&I, Required Workplace Posters
Where a paid tool earns its keep is the tracking, not the paper: knowing when a state revises a notice and which sites need the new one. If you already run HR software, check whether it tracks poster versions; our HR compliance software comparison compares the main tools. For one or two locations, a calendar reminder and the agency pages do the same job.
What to do
- Download every federal poster from DOL, the EEOC and E-Verify; print your state set from your state.
- Ignore mailers that look official and demand payment for posters.
- Set a twice-yearly check of each agency page for new versions.
- FLSA, OSHA, EPPA, USERRA
- From the first employee29 CFR 516.4; 1903.2; 801.6; 38 U.S.C. 4334
- EEO notice
- 15 or more employees29 CFR § 1601.30
- FMLA notice
- 50 or more; public employers any size29 CFR § 825.300(a)
- E-Verify posters
- 2, English and SpanishE-Verify User Manual § 1.5
- EEO posting fine
- Up to $698 per offense29 CFR § 1601.30(b)
- FMLA posting fine (willful)
- Up to $216 per offense29 CFR § 825.300(a)(1)
- OSHA posting fine
- Up to $16,55029 CFR § 1903.15(d)(6)
- Online only (WHD laws)
- All remote, all electronic, always openWHD FAB 2020-7
- Cost of the posters
- Free from the agenciesDOL Workplace Posters
Questions employers ask
Do I need labor law posters if I have only one employee?
Usually, yes. The FLSA, OSHA, EPPA and USERRA notices start with the first employee for most private employers. The EEO notice waits until 15 employees and the FMLA notice until 50, unless you are a public agency or a school.
Do I have to buy an all-in-one poster?
No. Federal posters are free from DOL, the EEOC and E-Verify, and state labor departments publish theirs. E-Verify's FAQ says its two posters may not be bought from a vendor.
Can I post labor law posters only on our intranet?
Only if every employee works remotely, everyone normally gets information from you electronically, and everyone can open the page at any time without asking for access. With an office, keep the wall posters and mirror them online.
Where do the E-Verify posters go?
Where applicants and employees can see them, in English and Spanish: at each enrolled hiring site and, for remote hires, online or with the application materials. See E-Verify for employers.
How often do posters change?
Whenever a law or an inflation-adjusted figure changes. The EEOC asks employers to check the date in the notice's bottom right corner, and E-Verify asks for the latest versions as soon as possible. Build the check into your HR compliance checklist.