If you are subject to the federal anti-discrimination laws (and for most of you, that would be if you employ at least 15 employees), you must have a poster in your break rooms, on bulletin boards, etc., advising employees of various rights under the federal anti-discrimination laws. Due to recent changes in the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as the fact that the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) will go into effect November 21, the EEOC has revised its poster.

You have three options for compliance:

1. You can print and post the November 2009 version of the “EEO is the Law” poster. This would replace previous versions of the EEO poster. This seems to make sense if you post your EEO poster as a single document, not an integrated one you may have purchased from a vendor.
2. You can post a supplemental poster alongside the EEOC’s September 2002 “EEO is the Law” poster or the OFCCP’s August 2008 “EEO is the Law” poster. This makes sense if you use integrated posters which address other required notices, such as wage and hour issues.
3. You can order new posters through the EEOC Clearinghouse. If you have employees whose native language is not English, you should consider ordering posters in the languages spoken by your employees.

To download the posters or for the address of the EEOC Clearinghouse, click here. NOTE: In our December Employer’s Legal Resource, we will discuss GINA in more detail.

By Kristen L. Brightmire, kbrightmire@dsda.com