Required Posters, Notices and Disclosures

Many state and federal laws reviewed in this Guide provide that specified information shall be posted or disclosed to employees. Posters and notices must be conspicuously posted where it will be seen and can be read by employees. In some cases additional posting requirements are provided.

Listed below are the posting and disclosure requirements applicable to agricultural employers:

Wages and Hours--Federal

With certain exceptions, employers in interstate commerce must post the poster Your Rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act (Publication WH 1088). Agricultural employers should add this text to the "overtime pay" section: Overtime provisions do not apply to individuals employed in agriculture. FLSA Section 13(b)(12). The poster, in English and Spanish, can be obtained from the Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor.

Wage and Hour Regulation--State IWC Orders

Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) requires employers to post in an area frequented by employees where it may be easily read during the workday the appropriate IWC order(s) for their industry or employees' occupations. Most agricultural employers must post Order 14 (Agricultural Occupations) plus one of these orders: Order 4 (Professional, Technical, Clerical, Mechanical and Similar Occupations); Order 8 (Handling Products after Harvest): or Order 13 (Preparing Agricultural Products for Market, on the Farm).

Also, IWC Order MW-2007 (Minimum Wage) must also be posted next to each IWC industry or occupational order.

IWC orders may be obtained from the California Department of Industrial Relations and are posted on the IWC's Web site at http://www.dir.ca.gov/IWC/WageOrderIndustries.htm. For more information on IWC orders, see the heading Overtime, page 26, this publication.

Pay Day Notice: Every employer must post a notice stating the regular pay days and time and place of payment set by the employer. Either DLSE 8, available from the Department of Industrial Relations, or a notice stating that information must posted.

Rate of Compensation - State-licensed farm labor contractors must prominently display at the worksite and on all vehicles used to transport employees, the rate of compensation printed in English and Spanish. Labor Code § 1695(7). A poster, DLSE 445, is available from the Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA)

Employers employing migrant or seasonal agricultural workers must post or give the following notices:

1. General MSPA Poster - explains rights of protected employees. Form WH-1376.

2. Worker Information - used by employer to disclose employment information at time of recruitment. Form WH-516.

3. Housing Terms and Conditions - employers providing housing to migrant employees must post information regarding housing Form WH-521.

Employment of Minors

An agricultural employer who employs a parent or guardian of minor children must post the following notice (Education Code §49140):

Minor children are not allowed to work on these premises unless legally permitted to do so by law and unless permits to work have been secured by the minor children from duly constituted authorities.

No se permite que menores de edad trabajen en estos terrenos, a menos que tengan permiso de hacerlo legalmente y a menos que se hayan asegurado permisos oficiales para trabajar de las autoridades constituidas.

Employment Development Department

1. A poster entitled "Notice to Employees" (Poster No. DE-1857A) may be obtained from the local Employment Tax Office of the Employment Development Department.

2. A written statement relating to filing of claims for benefits under UI and SDI is required when employees are terminated, laid off or become disabled. The Department has produced two pamphlets to aid in compliance. These pamphlets are: "For Your Benefit, California's Programs for the Unemployed" (DE 2320) and "Disability Insurance" (DE 2515 and DE 2515S - Spanish).

3. Terminated or laid-off employees must be given a reason in writing for their separation. Unemployment Insurance Code §§1085 and 1089.

4. Upon the hiring of an employee, each employer must provide employees information regarding State Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave. DE 2515 and DE 2511 can be used for this purpose.

5. Hand deliver or mail to all employees a notification that each employee may be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The notice must be given within one week before or after, or at the same time, that the employer gives the employees an annual wage summary, such as an IRS Form W-2 or Form 1099. At a minimum the notice must contain instructions on how to obtain forms and notices available from the IRS for the purpose of claiming the EITC. A sample notice is available at http://www.edd.ca.gov/eddeitc.htm

Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law

Federal: The poster Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law must be posted by employers with 15 or more employees in 20 or more weeks of the current or prior year. This poster includes the poster Age Discrimination is Against the Law, which must be posted by employers with 20 or more employees in 20 or more weeks of the current or prior year. It may be obtained from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): Employers with 50 or more employees in 20 or more weeks in the current or prior year must post a notice describing the federal FMLA, under which qualified employees may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for the birth or adoption of a child or for the serious health condition of the employee or of the employee's spouse, parent or child.

California Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC)

Regulations of the Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC) require these notices:

1. Pregnancy-Disability Leave: Employers with 5 to 49 employees in 20 or more weeks of the current or prior year must post a notice describing the FEHC's requirements for pregnancy-disability leave.

2.. California Family Rights Act (CFRA): Employers with 50 or more employees in 20 or more weeks of the current or prior year must post in a conspicuous place a notice describing the provisions for CFRA leave and for pregnancy-disability leave under the Fair Employment and Housing Act.

3. The poster Discrimination in Employment is Prohibited by Law must be posted by employers with 5 or more employees in 20 or more consecutive calendar weeks in the current or prior year. The poster, in English and Spanish, can be obtained from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

Time Off to Vote

The California Elections Code requires employers to post at least 10 days before each statewide election this notice:

If a voter does not have sufficient time outside of working hours to vote at a statewide election, the voter may, without loss of pay, take off enough working time that, when added to the voting time available outside of working hours, will enable the voter to vote.

Not more than two hours of the time taken off for voting shall be without loss of pay. The time off for voting shall be only at the beginning or end of the regular working shift, whichever allows the most free time for voting and the least time off from the regular working shift, unless otherwise mutually agreed.

If the employee on the third working day prior to the day of election, knows, or has reason to believe that time off will be necessary to be able to vote on election day, the employee shall give the employer at least two working days notice that time off for voting is desired, in accordance with the provisions of this section.

Housing and Meals

The California Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) requires these notices:

1. Operators of labor camps must post a notice summarizing the legal requirements for labor camps. Poster HCD 206 can be obtained from the DHCD.

2. Amounts charged for meals and lodging must be posted at labor camps.

3. The poster Fair Housing is the Law (DFEH164) must be posted at labor camps.

Cal/OSHA

1. A poster in English and Spanish entitled "Safety and Health Protection on the Job" describing the Cal/OSHA program may be obtained from the Department of Industrial Relations.

2. Employers subject to Cal/OSHA's recordkeeping requirements (i.e., employers with 10 or more employees) must record injuries and illnesses on Cal/OSHA Form 301, or an equivalent form and transfer the information onto Cal/OSHA Form 300 "Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses." Each year Cal/OSHA Form 300A, "Annual Summary of Work-related Injuries and Illnesses," which consists of a compilation of Cal/OSHA Form 300, must be posted during the months of February, March and April.

3. Field laborers must be informed of the location of Field Sanitation Facilities and of good hygiene practices where 1 or more employees are working. General Industry Safety Order Section 3457.

4. A poster entitled "Access to Medical and Exposure Records" must be posted if the employer maintains medical records for employees. General Industry Safety Order § 3204. Form S-11 may be used for this requirement.

5. A poster to notify employees where they can review the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for hazardous substances used in the work place must be posted. General Industry Safety Order §5194.

6. A poster entitled "Agricultural - Industrial Tractors" (Form S-504) must be posted at a place frequented by tractor drivers. General Industry Safety Order § 3664(b).

7. A poster entitled "Operating Rules for Industrial Trucks" (Form S-503) must be posted at a place frequented by truck or industrial tow tractor drivers. General Industry Order § 3664á).

8. Containers of Handwashing Water for agricultural hand laborers must be posted with a sign stating the water is only for handwashing purposes.

9. Materials Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) - Each employer of an employee applying or handling a hazardous substance must post or distribute to each such employee "Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)." California Administrative Code §2452(j)(9)(A).

California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act

California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65): An employer must provide Occupational Exposure warnings to employees if substances identified by the state as causing cancer or birth-related defects are present in the workplace.

Pesticide Postings

Pesticide Postings: The California Department of Pesticide Regulation requires the following postings

1. Posting of Pesticide Storage Areas. Signs visible from every direction of probable approach must be posted around all areas where containers that hold, or have held, pesticides required to be labeled with the signal words "warning" or "danger" are stored. Each sign must be big enough to be readable from at least 25 feet away. The notice must be repeated in another appropriate language where it may reasonably be foreseen that persons who do not understand English will come to the enclosure.

2. Emergency Medical Care: Where employees apply or handle pesticides, prior arrangements must be made for emergency medical care. A notice must be posted at the work site, or on the application vehicle, of the name, address and telephone number of the physician, clinic, or hospital providing emergency care.

3. Emergency Medical Services: Emergency Medical Services: An employer with an employee who regularly handles pesticides containing organophosphates or carbamates must retain a physician to provide emergency medical services and post the notice described above. "Regularly handles pesticides" means handling them during any part of the day on more than six days in a 30-day qualifying period starting on the first day of handling.

4. Field Postings. A property operator must assure that signs are posted around a field to be treated with a pesticide where either (1) the product label requires posting, unless access to the field is controlled so that no employee (other than handlers applying the pesticide) will enter, work in, remain in, or walk within one-quarter mile of the field during the application and the restricted entry interval (REI) or (2) the application results in an REI of greater than seven days. Further, signs must be posted around a greenhouse in which a pesticide application will be made, unless access is controlled so no employee will enter, work in, or pass through the greenhouse during the application and the REI. Required signs must be posted before the pesticide is applied but no more than 24 hours before its application. The signs must remain posted and clearly legible throughout the application and the REI. They must be removed within three days after the REI ends and before any entry prohibited during the REI is made.

5. Irrigation: Signs must be posted when a pesticide product with the signal word "DANGER" on the label, or a minimal exposure pesticide is being applied to a field through an irrigation system, signs shall be posted.

6. Fumigants: Signs must be posted when a fumigant is applied to a field.

7. Application-Specific Information for Field Workers. The operator of property used for commercial or research production of an agricultural plant commodity must display at a central location application-specific information. The information must be displayed within 24 hours of the completion of an application and include all applications that have been made to any treated field on the agricultural establishment within 1/4 mile of where employees will be working.

8. Pesticide Safety Information Series A-8: Before employees may handle pesticides, the employer must display a copy of a completed written Hazard Communication Information for Employees Handling Pesticides (Pesticide Safety Information Series leaflet A-8) at a central location at the workplace. Upon request, the employer must read it to the requesting employee in a language the employee understands.

9. Pesticide Safety Information Series A-9: Whenever employees are working as field workers in a treated field, the employer must display at the worksite a copy of a completed written Hazard Communication Information for Employees Working in Fields (Pesticide Safety Information Series leaflet A-9). In the event that field workers gather at a central location before being transported to the worksite, Pesticide Safety Information Series leaflet A-9 may instead be displayed at that central location. Upon request, the employer must read it to the requesting employee in a language the employee understands.

Workers' Compensation

These notices must be posted:

1. "Notice of Compensation Carrier" can be obtained from the employer's workers' compensation carrier. In addition, employers must post a notice that names the employer's workers' compensation carrier, reviews workers' compensation benefits and other basis information regarding filling a claim. The poster is provided by the employer's workers' compensation carrier. Labor Code §3550.

2. Off-Duty Recreation: To limit the employer's liability, a notice should be posted reading substantially as follows: "Your employer or its insurance carrier may not be liable for the payment of workers' compensation benefits for any injury that arises out of an employee's voluntary participation in any off-duty recreational, social, or athletic activity that is not a part of the employee's work-related duties." Labor Code §3600(9).

3. Written Notice to New Employees: At the time of hire, each new employee must be provide a pamphlet describing Workers' Compensation coverage and a form for the employee to designate her personal physician or personal chiropractor. This notice and pre-designation form must be given either at the time of hire or by the end of the first payroll period. Labor Code §3551.

Employee Polygraph Protection Act

Employers must post a notice informing employees about the Act.

Whistleblower Hotline

Employers must post a notice a list of employees' rights under the whistleblower laws, including the telephone number of the hotline. (Labor Code §1102.8.) The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement believes that the sample posting at http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/WhistleblowersNotice.pdf meets the requirements of Labor Code section 1102.8(a). (Disregard the note at the top of that Web page about the size of the lettering; the lettering requirement has been changed from "larger than size 14 pica type" to "larger than size 14 point type.")

(Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act USERRA)

Employers must inform employees of their rights under the USERRA. The poster Your Rights under USERRA contains the required information employers must provide to covered employees.

Checklist of Required Notices & Disclosures

Pre-Employment:

Required:

  •  Worker Disclosure Information (MSPA WH-516)

  •  Applicant Flow Data (DFEH)

Optional:

  •  Application for Employment

At Time of Hire:

Required:

  •  Issue Paid Family Leave Pamphlet DE-2511

  •  Issue Disability Insurance Pamphlet DE-2515

  •  IRS Form W-4

  •  INS Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification Form)

  •  Pesticide Haz Comm & Training (Field PSIS A-9/Handlers PSIS A-8)

  •  Work Permit for Minors

  •  Payroll Deduction Authorization (For Health Insurance and other deductions)

  •  Safety Training provided to new employees

  •  Sexual Harassment DFEH-185 pamphlet or contained in employee handbook

  •  Explain Hazard Communication Program and MSDS's

  •  Location of Sanitation Facilities and Good Hygiene Practices

  •  Family Care & Medical Leave Policy (Employee Handbook)

  •  Workers' Compensation Claim Information and Physician Pre-designation form

  •  New Employee Registration Act, Form DE-34

  •  New Independent Contractor Reporting, Form DE-542

Optional:

  •  Issue Employee Handbook and a signed receipt

  •  Employment Contract

  •  Orientation Company Rules/Procedures

  •  Tools & Equipment Loan Agreement

  •  Housing Agreement

  •  Bonding for Employees Handling Funds

Terminations:

Required:

  •  Written Notice of Termination, Layoff

  •  EDD Pamphlet DE 2320 "For Your Benefit, the California Unemployed"

  •  COBRA 60-Day Notification for Group Health Plan

  •  California Department of Health Services, Health Insurance Premium Payment Act Notice (Labor Code §2807(a) & (b))

  •  Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)

Optional:

  •  Exit Interview (Voluntary Quit)

  •  INS Form I-9 to Inactivate File

Required by and/or Available from

• US Department of Labor (DOL) http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/posters/mspaensp.htm

• Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) Title 2 CFR §7287.0(b)

• Available from private sources

• Employment Development Department (EDD)

http://www.edd.ca.gov/direp/pflpub.asp#de2511.pdf

• EDD

http://www.edd.ca.gov/direp/de2515.pdf

• US Internal Revenue Service

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4_03.pdf

• US Citizenship and Immigration Service

http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-9.htm

• Department of Pesticide Regulation

http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/whs/psisenglish.htm

• Local school district

• California Labor Code § 224

Available from private sources

• Cal/OSHA General Industry Safety Order § 3203

Available from Cal/OSHA and private sources

• DFEH

http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/Publications/DFEH-185.pdf

• Cal/OSHA General Industry Safety Order § 5194

Available from Cal/OSHA and private sources

• Cal/OSHA General Industry Safety Order § 3457

Available from Cal/OSHA and private sources

• US Department of Labor (DOL)

Available from private sources

• Available from workers' compensation carrier and other private sources

• EDD http://www.edd.ca.gov/taxrep/de34ps.pdf

• EDD http://www.edd.ca.gov/taxrep/de542.pdf

• Available from private sources

• Available from private sources

• Available from private sources

• Available from private sources

• Available from private sources

• Available from private sources

• Unemployment Insurance Code §§1085 and 1089

Available from private sources

• EDD http://www.edd.ca.gov/uirep/de2320.pdf

• DOL

Available from health insurance carrier

• CDHS http://www.dhs.ca.gov/mcs/psd/TPL/PDFs/cobraeng.pdf

• DOL

Available from health insurance carrier

• Available from private sources

• Action to be taken