On October 19, 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) quietly released a new poster entitled “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal,” which informs employees of the federal laws prohibiting job discrimination and notifies employees or applicants that they can file a charge if they believe that they have experienced discrimination. The new poster replaces the mandatory “Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law” poster (and the “Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law Supplement” poster), which had been in place for over a decade. Covered employers are required by law to conspicuously display the poster in the workplace where notices to applicants and employees are customarily posted.[1]
The new poster, which covers entities with 15 or more employees to whom the federal nondiscrimination laws apply, includes several updates from the older version. Some of the changes include:
- Using more straightforward language and formatting;
- Identifying harassment as a prohibited form of discrimination;
- Clarifying that sex discrimination includes discrimination based on pregnancy and related conditions, sexual orientation, or gender identity;
- Providing information about equal pay discrimination for federal contractors; and
- Adding a QR code to provide employees with access to the EEOC’s website to file a charge of employment discrimination.
Like the older version, the new poster outlines the types of discrimination prohibited by federal law, including:
- Race, color, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, religion;
- Age (40 and older);
- Equal Pay;
- Disability;
- Genetic information (including family medical history or genetic tests or services); and includes
- Retaliation for filing a charge, reasonably opposing discrimination, or participating in a discrimination lawsuit, investigation, or proceeding.
In addition to physically posting, the EEOC encourages covered employers “to post a notice digitally on their websites in a conspicuous location.” While electronic posting on the employer’s website in a conspicuous location is encouraged as a backstop, it is permitted to be the only posting for employers without a physical workplace or who have remote employees.
Covered employers are subject to fines for not complying with the EEOC’s posting requirements; therefore, covered employers should update their posters as soon as possible. The EEOC’s guidance suggests employers should replace the old poster with the new one “within a reasonable amount of time” to avoid a fine; however the EEOC did not provide a specific deadline. The new poster can be downloaded here.
[1] The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that notices of federal laws prohibiting job discrimination be made available in a location that is accessible to applicants and employees with disabilities that limit mobility. Printed notices should also be made available in an accessible format, as needed, to persons with disabilities that limit the ability to see or read. Notices can be recorded on an audio file, provided in an electronic format that can be utilized by screen-reading technology or read to applicants or employees with disabilities that limit seeing or reading ability. A screen-readable electronic format is available on the EEOC’s website.
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