Employers in Texas must comply with requirements to provide employees with notices concerning their rights and workplace safety issues through posters. These posters are designed to provide employees with information about their rights under both Texas state and federal law. Failure to display one or more of the required posters can result in liability for an employer. Yet understanding how these poster requirements work for remote or work-from-home employees can be complicated. Our experienced Dallas employment lawyers have information to help your business remain in compliance with state and federal law regardless of whether you have employees in the physical office or working remotely.
Texas Poster Requirements for Employers
In order to understand how to handle posting requirements for remote workers, we want to provide you with more general information about those posting requirements. The Texas Workforce Commission explains that “all Texas employers must display posters containing information on the Workers’ Compensation Program, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act.” In addition, Texas employers who are covered by the Texas Payday Law and the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act also must display posters that provide employees with information about their rights under those laws.
In addition to those poster requirements, any employer in Texas that employs 15 or more people or that receives any federal grants or contracts (even if the employer has fewer than 15 employees) must display a notice called “Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law,” which provides employees with information about the rights they have under federal law that through disability laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as information about the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity’s enforcement of federal employment discrimination laws.
Guidelines for Posting Requirement Compliance with Remote Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor issued a Field Assistance Bulletin designed to provide employers in Texas and across the country with information about how to remain in compliance with posting requirements for remote workers. The bulletin clarifies some of the following information:
- Since employers are required to “post and keep posted” the information listed above, emailing employees a single time with the poster information is insufficient, and the employer will not be in compliance with a single emailing.
- Employers will need to keep the information in the posters continuously posted on an internet site, on a work drive, or through another form of electronic access that is continuously available and accessible.
- In order for electronic posting to be in compliance, an employer must provide access without the employee needing to request access (i.e., the posters should be viewable whenever the employee wants without the employee needing to request access), employees must be provided with clear notice of how and where they can access the electronic postings, and employees must be able to determine which of the posters are applicable to their positions.
The bulletin clarifies that employers need to be careful about how and where they post required information to ensure that it is obviously available to employees: “Posting on an unknown or little-known electronic location has the effect of hiding the notice, similar to posting a hard-copy notice in an inconspicuous place, such as a custodial closet or little-visited basement.” In other words, the forum of the electronic posting must be equivalent to a visible area of the workplace where physical postings are obvious to employees.
Contact a Texas Employment Lawyer
If you have questions about posting requirements for remote workers, one of our Texas employment lawyers can speak with you today. Contact Simon Paschal PLLC for more information.
