As we reported previously in our September FredNEWS, effective November 14, 2011 most employers will be required to post a Notice advising employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
The English language version of the Notice has recently become available for download at www.nlrb.gov. For employers whose workforce consists of 20 percent or more employees who speak a language other than English and who are not proficient in English, the Notice must also be posted in the languages that the employees speak. The Board has indicated that it will provide the Notice in various languages, but has not yet done so. We expect that the additional Notices will be available before November 14, 2011 and recommend that employers who are required to post the Notice in languages other than English monitor the NLRB website, www.nlrb.gov, for these Notices. It remains the employer’s responsibility to post the Notice in appropriate languages without regard to its availability from the NLRB.
Court challenges have recently been filed by the National Association of Manufacturers (September 8) and by the National Federation of Independent Business (September 19) but unless and until those challenges are successful, employers must comply with the new requirements.
Federal affirmative action employers have had similar notice and posting requirements for some time. If your company is a federal affirmative action employer and the company is in compliance with the notice and posting requirements issued by the U.S. Department of Labor, the company is deemed to be in compliance with the new NLRB regulations noted above.
For additional questions regarding the notice and posting requirements under the new NLRB regulations or under the regulations for affirmative action employers, please contact a member of the Employment and Labor Law Group.
