Labor law posters remain legally required in 2026, but remote work has transformed how employers must distribute them. Electronic posting solutions now complement or replace physical workplace posters, creating both opportunities and compliance risks.
This labor law poster generator guide explains which posters are required, how remote work changes distribution requirements, and how poster generators ensure compliant displays across all work locations.
Why Labor Law Posters Still Matter in 2026
Labor law posters inform employees about their workplace rights under federal and state law. Despite being a decades-old requirement, poster compliance remains actively enforced with penalties reaching thousands of dollars for missing or outdated displays.
The Department of Labor (DOL), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) all require specific federal posters. State labor departments add their own requirements covering state minimum wage, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and state-specific employee rights.
Enforcement hasn’t decreased with remote work—it’s intensified. DOL investigators still check for compliant postings during workplace inspections. State agencies audit poster compliance during wage and hour investigations. Employees can report missing posters, triggering investigations.
Penalties vary by violation but accumulate quickly. Missing federal FMLA posters can result in penalties up to $200 per violation. Missing OSHA posters risk citations up to $15,625. State penalties range from hundreds to thousands per missing poster. Multiple missing posters mean multiple violations.
Remote work also complicates compliance dramatically. Traditional workplace posters don’t reach employees working from home. Federal and state agencies have clarified that remote employees must receive required notices electronically. Simply mailing physical posters isn’t sufficient—employees need accessible digital access.
What Posters Employers Are Required to Display
Federal posters
All employers must display certain federal posters regardless of size or industry:
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): Explains federal minimum wage ($7.25, though many states exceed this), overtime requirements for non-exempt employees, child labor restrictions, and recordkeeping obligations. Required for all employers engaged in interstate commerce (which includes virtually all businesses).
- OSHA Job Safety and Health: Informs employees about workplace safety rights, how to report hazards and injuries, and protections against retaliation for safety complaints. Required for most private sector employers (some small farms and self-employed are exempt).
- Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO): Explains federal protections against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, and genetic information. Required for employers with 15+ employees (20+ for age discrimination).
- Employee Polygraph Protection Act: Prohibits most private employers from using lie detector tests. Required for virtually all private employers (some security and pharmaceutical manufacturers have limited exemptions).
- Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): Explains rights to unpaid leave for medical and family reasons. Required for employers with 50+ employees within 75 miles.
- Federal contractors face additional requirements including pay transparency notices, Service Contract Act postings, and Davis-Bacon Act wage postings depending on contract type and value.
State posters
State requirements for posters vary dramatically but typically include:
- State minimum wage: Every state with a minimum wage above federal $7.25 requires posting the state rate. These update annually in many states (California, Colorado, Washington, etc.), requiring poster replacements each January.
- State unemployment insurance: Information about filing unemployment claims, benefit eligibility, and employer obligations. Required in all states with unemployment programs.
- Workers’ compensation: Explains employee rights after workplace injuries, how to report injuries, and insurance carrier information. Required in all states with workers’ comp systems (virtually all states).
- State wage and hour laws: State-specific rules about overtime, meal breaks, rest periods, pay frequency, and final paycheck timing. Common in states with requirements exceeding federal minimums.
- State anti-discrimination laws: Many states protect additional classes beyond federal law (sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, etc.) and require postings explaining state-specific protections.
- Paid sick leave or paid family leave: States with mandatory paid leave programs require posters explaining accrual, usage, and employee rights. This includes California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and others.
- State-specific safety posters: Some states require additional workplace safety information beyond federal OSHA posters.
Local posters
Many cities and counties have enacted local employment ordinances requiring additional postings:
- Local minimum wage ordinances: Cities like Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles have minimum wages exceeding state rates and require specific local postings.
- Local paid sick leave laws: Even when states lack paid leave requirements, cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Austin have local ordinances requiring posters.
- Fair chance hiring ordinances: “Ban the box” laws in numerous jurisdictions require postings about criminal history protections.
- Predictive scheduling: Cities including Seattle, New York City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco require postings about employee scheduling rights.
Employers in multiple locations must track city and county requirements separately for each jurisdiction.
How Poster Requirements Differ by State
State variations create significant complexity for multi-location employers:
- Language requirements: California, New Mexico, and other states with large Spanish-speaking populations require posters in both English and Spanish. Some require additional languages based on workforce composition.
- Update frequency: States updating minimum wage annually require new posters each January. States with stable rates need updates only when laws change. Tracking 50 different update schedules manually is impractical.
- Industry-specific posters: Some states require additional posters for specific industries—healthcare facilities, restaurants, agricultural employers, construction sites, or temporary staffing agencies.
- Size and format requirements: Some states specify minimum poster sizes or formatting. Others accept any format that’s readable and accessible.
- Posting locations: States may require postings in break rooms, time clock areas, payroll offices, or other specific locations where employees congregate.
- Electronic posting acceptance: Federal agencies and most states now accept electronic posting for remote workers, but some states have specific requirements about accessibility, acknowledgment, or supplemental physical mailing.
Common Poster Compliance Gaps
- Using outdated posters: The most frequent violation is displaying old posters that don’t reflect current law. This happens when minimum wage rates increase annually (California, Colorado, New York, Washington, etc.), new laws take effect requiring updated language (paid leave, anti-discrimination protections), or federal agencies revise poster content and formatting.
- Missing state or local posters: Employers sometimes display federal posters but forget state requirements. Multi-location employers may miss city-specific ordinances in some locations.
- No remote worker distribution: Many employers still only display physical posters in offices, leaving remote employees without required notices. This violates federal and state distribution requirements.
- Incomplete poster sets: Displaying some required posters but not others. Common gaps include FMLA posters at companies that recently exceeded 50 employees, polygraph protection posters (often forgotten since most employers don’t use polygraphs), or state-specific safety posters beyond federal OSHA requirements.
- Wrong language versions: Failing to provide Spanish-language posters in states requiring them, or missing other required language translations based on workforce composition.
- Poor accessibility: Posting in locations employees rarely visit, using font sizes too small to read from normal distances, or placing posters behind obstructions.
- No documentation of distribution: Lacking records proving when electronic posters were distributed to remote employees or acknowledgments showing employees received them.
How a Labor Law Poster Generator Works
Modern poster generators automate compliance across multiple locations and employee types:
Step 1: Location and Employee Information – The platform asks which states you operate in, whether you have employees in cities with local ordinances, your total employee count (triggers federal thresholds), and what percentage of employees work remotely.
Step 2: Automatic Poster Selection – Based on your profile, the generator identifies all required federal posters, state posters for each location, local posters for applicable jurisdictions, and industry-specific posters if relevant.
Step 3: Current Poster Generation – The system creates compliant poster packages using current law versions, including required language translations, and proper formatting for each jurisdiction.
Step 4: Distribution Format Selection – You choose physical poster packages for workplaces, electronic PDF packages for remote workers, or both physical and electronic for hybrid workforces.
Step 5: Automatic Updates – The platform monitors for law changes requiring poster updates, generates updated versions automatically when laws change (like annual minimum wage increases), and notifies you to distribute updates.
Step 6: Documentation and Tracking – For electronic distribution, the system tracks when posters were sent to employees, monitors employee acknowledgments, and maintains compliance documentation.
What to Look For in a Poster Generator
- Multi-jurisdiction intelligence: The best generators know federal, state, and local poster requirements for every jurisdiction. The platform should automatically identify which posters apply based on your locations, flag city-specific ordinances beyond state requirements, and track employee count thresholds triggering additional posters.
- Current law updates: Poster requirements change constantly. Your generator should monitor federal agency updates to poster content, track all 50 state minimum wage changes and law updates, follow local ordinance changes in hundreds of cities, and provide automatic updates without manual monitoring.
- Electronic posting support: With remote workforces, electronic distribution is essential. Look for systems that generate accessible PDF poster packages, distribute electronically to remote employees, track employee receipt and acknowledgments, and maintain audit-ready documentation.
- Language compliance: Multi-language support is critical in diverse workforces. Generators should provide Spanish-language posters where required, offer additional language translations based on workforce needs, and ensure translations are accurate and legally compliant.
- Physical poster options: For businesses with physical workplaces, generators should provide print-ready poster packages in appropriate sizes, compliance with state formatting requirements, and shipping of professional poster sets if needed.
- Compliance alerts: Advanced generators alert you about upcoming law changes requiring updates, notification when new employees trigger threshold requirements (e.g., growing from 49 to 50 employees triggers FMLA), and warnings about outdated posters needing replacement.
Why SixFifty Simplifies Poster Compliance
SixFifty’s labor law poster generator addresses multi-state and remote workforce challenges:
- Comprehensive jurisdiction coverage automatically identifying federal, state, and local poster requirements for every location where you employ workers—including remote employee home locations.
- Always-current poster content with automatic updates when minimum wages change, paid leave laws take effect, anti-discrimination protections expand, or federal agencies revise poster formats.
- Hybrid workforce support providing both physical poster sets for offices and electronic distribution systems for remote employees with acknowledgment tracking.
- Multi-language compliance automatically including Spanish-language posters where required and supporting additional language translations based on workforce composition.
- Automatic update notifications alerting you immediately when law changes require new posters, managing annual minimum wage update cycles, and distributing updated posters automatically.
- Audit-ready documentation maintaining records of poster distribution dates, employee acknowledgments for electronic postings, and compliance verification for government inspections.
Unlike generic poster providers or manual tracking, SixFifty provides comprehensive poster compliance that adapts automatically as laws change and your workforce evolves.
FAQs About Labor Law Posters
Do remote employees need to receive labor law posters?
Yes. Federal agencies and most states require employers to provide required notices to remote employees electronically. Simply displaying posters in an office remote employees never visit doesn’t satisfy requirements. Distribute electronic poster packages via email or company intranet and track employee receipt.
How often must labor law posters be updated?
Update whenever applicable laws change. This includes annually in states with minimum wage increases (plan for January updates in California, Colorado, New York, Washington, and others), immediately when new employment laws take effect (paid leave, anti-discrimination protections), and when federal agencies revise poster content. Set annual review reminders and subscribe to update services or use generators that update automatically.
Can we print free posters from government websites?
Federal posters are available free from agency websites (DOL, OSHA, EEOC). State posters are typically free from state labor department websites. However, tracking updates across multiple agencies, ensuring you have all required posters, and managing distributions is time-consuming. Many businesses find automated solutions worth the cost for compliance certainty.
What are the penalties for missing or outdated posters?
Federal penalties range from $200-$600 per poster for DOL violations to $15,000+ for OSHA violations. State penalties vary but often range $100-$1,000 per missing poster. Multiple missing posters mean multiple violations. Penalties accumulate during inspections when investigators find several compliance gaps simultaneously.
Do posters need to be in languages other than English?
Some states require Spanish-language posters if you have Spanish-speaking employees. California requires Spanish versions of most posters. Other states require translations if a certain percentage of your workforce speaks a language other than English. Check specific state requirements for your locations.
Generate Compliant Labor Law Posters Now
Labor law poster compliance remains mandatory despite remote work trends. The shift to distributed workforces makes compliance more complex, not less important. Missing or outdated posters create violation risk during inspections and investigations.
SixFifty’s labor law poster generator ensures compliant displays for every location and employee type with automatic updates, multi-language support, and electronic distribution. Schedule a demo and learn how you can eliminate poster compliance risk today.
