The Department of Labor has a long list of posters and notices employers have to provide employees, based on the size and kind of business. But what if some employees don’t understand English well enough to comprehend the rules outlined in the posters? In some locations, many or even most of the workers won’t have sufficient English skills to read them. Although foreign-language posters are available, the rules for when to use them can be vague or just local. Here are some guidelines for their effective use.

The DOL briefly addresses foreign-language use on an FAQ page: Posters that explain rights under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act should be posted in “Spanish or other languages common to migrant or seasonal agricultural workers who are not fluent or literate in English.” Such posters are available on the DOL site in Spanish, Vietnamese, Hmong, and Haitian-Creole. The DOL also says that posters regarding the Immigration and Nationality Act (basically, employee rights under the H-2A program) should be provided “in any language common to a significant portion of the workers if they are not fluent in English.”

However, the DOL does not define “significant portion” and does state that with a few exceptions, the DOL doesn’t require the posting of notices in Spanish or other languages. “However, we encourage you to post the posters that are available in other languages on the Poster Topic page if employees in your workforce speak other languages.”

State Rules May Be Significant

You should check to see whether your state has foreign language poster requirements. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Texas all require certain posters to be bilingual when a certain percentage of the workforce uses English as a second language.

In Arizona, for example, the poster about workers’ compensation must be in both English and Spanish. In California, employers with workers who speak and read-only Spanish must post the minimum wage notice in Spanish.

Even more significant, the large majority of states, as well as the DOL, make posters available in different languages even when there are no regulations requiring their use. It’s common sense that there will be fewer misunderstandings and greater compliance when everyone understands the rules. Indeed, the SHRM notes that multilingual posters “can only help HR discover managers engaging in unlawful practices and to support an affirmative defense that the employer had these posters in place as part of its anti-discrimination policy.”

Of course, DOL and state rules change frequently, so keep in touch with us to make sure you are following the correct regulations and adhering to best practices for your situation.

Copyright 2020