(Editor’s Note: Today’s article is brought to you by our friends at Poster Guard® Poster Compliance Service, a division of HRdirect and the leading labor law poster service that gets your business up to date with all required federal, state, and local labor law postings, and then keeps it that way — for an entire year. Enjoy the article!)
Just in case you missed it, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 on December 29, 2022. The Act has several components including:
- Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)
- Telehealth benefits
- Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) 2.0 Act
- Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (PUMP) Act
There’s a nice overview on the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) website “How does the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 affect employers?” It’s worth checking out.
Today, I want to focus on the last provision I mentioned – the PUMP Act. With this provision, organizations need to update their federal labor law posters.
What is the PUMP Act?
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all covered employers must provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk, as needed, for their nursing child for one year after the child’s birth. In addition, employees are entitled to a place to pump at work, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion.
The prior legislation excluded exempt employees from coverage, but the PUMP Act rectifies that. Plus, nonexempt employees who are not completely relieved from duty must be paid for that time. For more information about the PUMP Act, check out this fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Labor – as well as this frequently asked questions (FAQ) page.
Okay, now that we’re up-to-date with the PUMP Act, let’s talk about what you need to do as an employer. Well, the first thing is to get in compliance by updating your labor law posters.
And just an important reminder. This is the third time in the past 12 months that employers are required to update their labor law posters. Yes, you read that right. Back in October of last year, changes to equal employment opportunity laws resulted in a new “Know Your Rights” poster. In April of this year, the FLSA was revised to reflect the PUMP Act, which is what we’re talking about today. And get ready for it … just last month, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) went into effect.
Now that organizations are facing a second (or third) new workplace poster, it’s a great time to think about your overall compliance strategy. Employers can move from being reactive to proactive when it comes to employment compliance.
Take a proactive approach to labor law posters
For a moment, let’s step back from the immediate need of the new FLSA poster. Nationwide, there are literally thousands of government agencies that are responsible for hundreds of mandatory posters.According to our friends at Poster Guard, they monitor more than 22,000 federal, state, and local agencies. Think of all the hours it takes to track these changes and stay in compliance. I’m pretty confident that HR does not have time to do this. And if they did, is this how they want to spend their valuable time?
That’s why instead of doing all this work yourself, you can rely on Poster Guard Poster Compliance Service. With this service, you receive an up-to-date federal poster that includes the new EEO poster, the new FLSA poster, PLUS other mandatory federal labor law posters. The service also provides all the necessary state and local posters.
Poster Guard extends a 100% guarantee that all posters are compliant – or they’ll pay any fine due to improper posting content. But to me, the best part of the service is that for an entire 12 months, you get new posters every time a mandatory change occurs … automatically and at no additional cost.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: This is money well spent. As HR professionals, researching labor law poster changes isn’t a good use of our time. Especially when there are companies like Poster Guard with a dedicated team of experts who can do it for you – effectively and efficiently.
Not only does this free up HR’s time to focus on hiring, engaging, and retaining employees, but it sends a strong message that you prioritize compliance and value the rights of your employees. The last thing an organization wants is for employees to see outdated compliance posters. It sends the message that following the law isn’t important and might cause job candidates or employees to wonder, “What else isn’t the company keeping up with?”
So, if you haven’t already, order your new labor law posters now. And while you’re at it, think about how to maintain poster compliance moving forward. This is the perfect time to move from a reactive compliance strategy to a proactive one by signing up for a poster replacement service. It’s the best way to maintain year-round compliance, allow HR to attend to other issues, and demonstrate your care about upholding the law.
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