All jurisdictions require employers to post information in the workplace notifying employees of their employment, safety and other rights. Here’s what you need to know to ensure your organization complies with posting requirements.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

Posting requirements are a bit like seat belt laws. The police generally don’t stop you for not wearing a seatbelt. But if they stop you for another traffic infraction and notice you’re not wearing a seat belt, they’ll probably add that offence to your ticket. Similarly, OHS and Employment Standards inspectors don’t usually show up at a workplace because they’re worried about posting violations. But it’s one of the first things they look for once they’re there. And if they don’t see the required information posted, according to one OHS lawyer, they’ll take it as a red flag of non-compliance and may intensify the inspection.

WORKPLACE POSTING LAW MADE SIMPLE

Why

Posting is all about ensuring that employees get key information about their employment rights, particularly with regard to:

• Salary, wages, work schedules and other employment terms; and
• Workplace health and safety.

How

Posting requirements go beyond simply making the information available to employees if they ask for it.  It requires you to actually display the information in the workplace in a paper format that’s unobstructed and easy to access.

Where

While a couple of jurisdictions including Manitoba and Sask. require employers to provide a bulletin board to display safety committee information, the laws simply say that the information must be posted in a conspicuous location(s) where employees are likely to see it. Examples: Locker rooms, break rooms and other areas that employees frequent.

How Long

With limited exceptions, the required information must remain posted until it’s no longer accurate or up to date. Examples: Minutes of an October safety committee meeting can be replaced with minutes from the November meeting; notices about overtime averaging agreements can be taken down once those agreements expire.

What

The key to complying with posting requirements is knowing which kinds of information you have to post.

Although each jurisdiction is different, there are 5 sets of laws that require employers to post employee information in the workplace:

Employment Standards

Employment/Labour standards laws, which are designed to ensure that employees get fair wages, hours, vacations, leave, etc. require employers to post information about the terms of their employment, including:

• Minimum wage schedules or information (NB, NL, PEI, SK, YK);
• Information about the company’s work schedule and hours of work (FED, AB, NB, NS, SK);
• Copies of or notices about averaging and other arrangements affecting overtime pay (AB, MB, ON, SK);
• Notice of termination of a group of employees (FED, NB, ON, QC);
• Notice that the employer has applied and/or received a permit or exemption allowing it to do something different from what the employment standards require, e.g., with regard to paying overtime; and
• Notice when the permit or exemption is amended or cancelled.

Make sure to check what the employment/labour standards laws of your jurisdiction require you to post.

Labour Relations

Laws regulating trade unions and collective bargaining require employers to post certain kinds of information providing notice about:

• Certification efforts, i.e., attempts by a union to get certified to represent the employees in the workplace;
• Attempts by an employer to revoke a union’s certification;
• An employer’s voluntary recognition of a union without requiring a certification vote; and/or
• Union votes.

Make sure to check what the labour/industrial relations laws of your jurisdiction require you to post.

OHS & Workers’ Comp

Employers must post basic information about employees’ health and safety rights and work conditions, including:

• Information about the workplace joint health and safety committee (JHSC) or health and safety representative (safety rep), including member names and contact information and the minutes of most recent meetings;
• Copies of the OHS Act or Regulations (or parts thereof);
• The company’s OHS, workplace violence and harassment policies;
• Workers’ compensation information summaries;
• Basic first aid information including the locations of first aid kits and names of employees at the workplace trained to provide first aid;
• Fire and emergency response plans or procedures;
• Inspection reports, stop work and other enforcement orders issued by government officials pertaining to the workplace; and/or
• Notice and current status of the employer’s application for variances to or exemptions from specific OHS requirements.

Make sure to check what the OHS and workers’ comp laws of your jurisdiction require you to post.

Pay Equity

Three jurisdictions (FED, ON and QC), have or are in the processing of adopting laws requiring employers to implement systematic plans to identify, eliminate and compensate retroactively for gaps in pay between women and men who perform substantially equivalent work at the same establishment. One of the things employers must do to implement the pay equity process is post information keeping employees apprised and engaged, including:

• Notices informing employees of their rights to equal pay and participate in the workplace pay equity process;
• Information about the workplace pay equity committee, if one exists;
• A copy of the organization’s pay equity plan;
• Notification of pay gaps identified and how they have been or will be rectified, including via payment of compensation adjustments to women in job classes that were identified as being underpaid; and/or
• Results of required periodic pay equity plan audits.

Make sure to check what the pay equity laws of your jurisdiction require you to post

HOW TO COMPLY

HR directors should do an audit to determine if their organization complies with all posting requirements. The easiest way to do that is to click on the links to the summary of posting requirements under each law in your jurisdiction.