The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has released its final rule for the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) Employee Rights posting requirement. This will be published in the Federal Register on Aug. 30, 2011.
This rule requires employers subject to the NLRA to post notices of employee rights under the NLRA. Subpart A of the rule sets out definitions; prescribes the size, form, and content of the employee notice; and lists the categories of employers that are not covered by the rule. Subpart B sets out standards and procedures related to allegations of noncompliance and enforcement of the rule.
The board is mandating the poster because it believes that many employees protected by the NLRA are unaware of their rights under the statute and that the rule will increase their knowledge of the NLRA, in order to facilitate the exercise of these rights. A beneficial side effect the board seeks is that it may promote statutory compliance by employers and unions.
The Final Rule is a virtual carbon copy of the proposed rule that the NLRB issued on Dec. 22, 2010. After receiving some 7,000 comments, the board did make some minor changes to the text, but overall, the NLRB poster pretty much tracks the Department of Labor's poster for federal contractors, which details employee rights under the NLRA.
Personnel Concepts will begin shipping the new panel in September, in anticipation of its mandated posting date of Nov. 14, 2011.
The 11-by-17-inch poster must be displayed along with other mandated state and federal posters. Additionally, if a company posts its notices on an Intranet or other electronic delivery system, it must include the NLRA poster in the array. Finally, businesses where more than 20 percent of the workforce speak a language other than English must also display the NLRA poster in that language (or languages).