The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has released a newly-updated Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) poster, which is available here.

Per the applicable FMLA regulations, “covered employers” must post and keep posted on their premises, in conspicuous locations where employees are employed and where it can be readily seen by employees and applicants for employment, a notice of explaining FMLA’s provisions and the procedures for filing a complaint for FMLA violations with the DOL. Employers are covered by the FMLA if they employ 50 or more employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year. Covered employers must post this notice, even if none of their employees are eligible for FMLA leave. The DOL’s FMLA poster is designed to fulfill such posting requirements.

Fortunately for employers, the DOL notes on its website, www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/posters/fmla, that the prior April 2016 and February 2013 versions of the FMLA poster still fulfill posting requirements, meaning employers are not required to immediately replace the posters that may be captured in a combination posting. However, as a best practice, employers should consider posting the April 2023 poster as soon as practicable.

The DOL last revised the FMLA poster in April 2016, and although the FMLA statute and related regulations have not changed recently, the DOL has made the following clarifications in the new poster:

  1. That FMLA is not paid leave, but that the employee may choose, or be required by the employer, to use any employer-provided paid leave during FMLA leave;
  2. That an employee must be restored to their same or a virtually identical job with the same pay, benefits and other working conditions (such as shift and location) at the end of the FMLA leave;
  3. That certification may be requested for FMLA leave due to a qualifying exigency; and
  4. That the notice of rights and responsibilities and notification to the employee of how much of their request leave, if any, will be FMLA-protected, must be provided to the employee in writing.

Employers should also take note that the FMLA regulations require covered employers to have an FMLA handbook policy that reflects, at a minimum, all of the information contained in the DOL’s notice, or to otherwise provide such notice to new employees upon hire.

Employers with questions regarding posting requirements, or FMLA leave requirements, may contact the authors or their usual employment law counsel at AALRR.