Required Workplace Postings Must Now Be Provided Digitally in NY
On December 16, 2022, New York Gov. Hochul signed legislation requiring all employers with employees in New York to provide digital versions of all required workplace postings. The legislation, which took effect immediately, amended New York Labor Law Section 201, which has long required employers to maintain certain postings in the workplace in a “conspicuous place on each floor of the premises.” Required postings have included postings notifying employees of the New York State minimum wage, protections against discrimination in the workplace, workplace health and safety requirements, availability of workers’ compensation and statutory disability benefits, unemployment benefits, and other topics covering workers’ rights. Traditionally, employers have maintained these required postings on bulletin boards in locations where employees tend to congregate, such as break and rest areas, and near time clocks.
The new legislation amends Section 201 of the New York Labor law to now require that employers:
maintain digital versions of legally required workplace postings; and
make the digital versions of the legally required workplace postings available through the employer’s website or by email; and
provide notice to all employees that the documents required for physical posting are also available electronically.
In addition, Section 201 of the New York Labor Law now provides that, in addition to the documents required to be posted by the New York Labor Law, the electronic posting and notice requirement also applies to “all other documents required to be physically posted at a worksite under state or federal law or regulation.”
This law applies to all employers in New York State, regardless of size. Thus, it applies to businesses with at least one employee. The law does not address what, if anything, is required of businesses that do not maintain a website and do not provide their employees with email.
Employers are advised to take the following steps as soon as possible:
Review and update all required workplace postings;
Ensure that physical postings are up to date and displayed in the workplace;
Prepare electronic versions of all required postings;
Determine the method by which electronic postings will be made available to employees; and
Provide written notice to all employees of the manner in which electronic notices will be provided and, where applicable, the electronic location where employees can access the required postings.
As a starting point, a list of New York State postings requirements can be found here: https://dol.ny.gov/posting-requirements-0 The Federal Department of Labor’s website contains a tool that employers can use to identify postings required by the Federal Labor Laws. https://www.dol.gov/general/topics/posters Please note that posting requirements vary by statute and this tool only addresses the statutes enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor. Other federal statutes not enforced by the U.S. DOL (i.e. Title VII, ADA, ADEA, USERRA, INA, etc.) may also have posting requirements.