How to Avoid a Labor Law Poster Scam

All employers are required to display labor law posters. Poster compliance is one of those necessary evils that most business owners don't want to consider for one millisecond more than they must. And scammers prey on this. This article is about the types of labor law poster scams you may encounter and how to avoid them.

Types of scams

Here are just a few of the labor law poster scams we've heard of...

1. You get a letter in the mail that looks like an official government mailer. It tells you about a mandatory change and insists that you update your compliance posters or face a fine of thousands of dollars if you don’t.
2. You get a phone call from a supposed labor poster company that claims to supply your posters. They tell you to update your compliance posters “or else” you will be fined. The updates cost hundreds of dollars.
3. People show up at your business and claim to be OSHA inspectors or other government officials. They claim your compliance posters are outdated and insist you update them immediately for a large fee.

Check out our free New York State Labor Law Poster Compliance Kit.

What you need to know

Labor law posters are available for purchase from a variety of sources, and most of them are legitimate. You can purchase them from a government agency and several legitimate labor law poster companies. 

How to avoid a scam

Here are some guidelines to make sure you don't get scammed...

• Verify the source. If someone is at your door selling themselves as a government agent, ask to see some ID. If it’s an email, check to see if anything was really changed in the labor laws relevant to your business, then do some basic research on the company.
• A legitimate company will only contact you to notify you of labor law updates. They won't threaten you with fines or penalties.
• Don't ever buy posters from someone selling them door-to-door, at least in the moment. Take their information down and do some research.
• Conduct a basic Google search and check out company reviews before making any purchases. If people were scammed before they are likely to report it.
• Consider enrolling in an automated poster compliance service. Such a service will automatically send you verified updates to your labor law poster, and they're typically very affordable. Most come with a guarantee. For example, they're willing to pay up to a certain amount of any potential fines should you ever be found to not be in compliance.

We created a free New York State Labor Law Poster Compliance Kit to help you remove all the guesswork from poster compliance. Click the image button below and check it out!