Does Your EEOC Poster Include GINA?

On November 21, 2009, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA, goes into effect across the United States. GINA, signed into law on May 21, 2008, is designed to protect Americans against discrimination based on their genetic information.  Employers cannot make decisions regarding employees’ health insurance and employment.  GINA requires that covered entities obtain and post notices informing covered individuals of their rights under the new law.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has updated its “self-print” EEOC poster to include information about GINA.  All covered entities are required to post the most recent EEOC poster, along with five other required Federal posters.

Is Your Company a “Covered Entity”?

• Private companies with 15 or more employees
• Some public sector employers
• Employment agencies
• Labor organizations

Is Your Company Posting All Six Required Posters?

1. EEO - Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
2. FLSA or Federal Minimum Wage - Fair Labor Standards Act
3. OSHA - Occupational Safety and Health Act
4. EPP - Employee Polygraph Protection
5. FMLA - Family and Medical Leave Act
6. USERRA - Uniform Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act

Depending on your company’s circumstances, you may have to display as many as eight other Federal posters to be in compliance:

1. DOL Wage/Hour Division Poster- Notice to Workers with Disabilities
2. MSPA - Migrant & Seasonal Agriculture Worker Protection
3. IRS Poster- Check Your Withholdings
4. EIC - Earned Income Credit
5. ARRA - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
6. DBRA - Davis Bacon Act
7. SCA - McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act
8. LMRDA - Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
9. ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act

In addition, you should know and be prepared for the recently enacted American Recovery and Investment Act (ARRA).  While ARRA compliance is not an issue, certain aspects of the Act could have a positive effect on your workforce.

Your state is likely to require you to post certain information with respect to state labor laws, as well.  Check with your state Department of Labor or Employment Office; the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is a good starting point.

One of the more complex — and frustrating — aspects of operating a business is the plethora of federal, state, and local employment regulations.  Many companies — small, large, and in between — are simply overwhelmed by the wide variety of labor laws they need to comply with.  (Did you know that by the time a company reaches twenty employees, it must comply with virtually all Federal labor regulations?)

Keeping track of the “alphabet soup” of acronyms and abbreviations is extremely challenging for business owners, top executives, and HR professionals, but they have little choice in most instances.  Not understanding and not staying current with labor laws raises your risk of noncompliance, which can leave your firm vulnerable to lawsuits, fines, negative publicity, and loss of revenue.  Simply failing to display any one of the six mandatory posters can lead to thousands of dollars in fines.

If you’re not sure whether your business is subject to ERISA, IRCA, ADA, COBRA, FMLA, and other employee protection laws, we’ve constructed a handy reference table (below), listing the major Federal Employment Acts and when compliance is required, based on company size.  Additional compliance requirements for federal government contractors are also listed, as are links to websites for the various government agencies that oversee these regulations.

A much easier-to-read version of this table is featured in the Bizmanualz Human Resources Policies, Procedures, and Forms Manual (ABR41), a product specifically designed to help businesses like yours maintain a procedural framework for regulatory compliance.

Federal HR Laws

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Posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 under Procedures Manuals

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Originally published in 2009 by Bizmanualz, Inc. under the title Does Your EEOC Poster Include GINA?. All rights reserved. Reproduction permitted with attribution only. www.bizmanualz.com