California Chamber of Commerce Labor Law Posters: Buying vs. Free

The California Chamber of Commerce sells an all-in-one California and federal labor law poster through store.calchamber.com, starting at $31.99 for the 2026 English paper version. The poster combines every mandatory state and federal workplace notice into one wall display, which spares you the work of gathering individual flyers from a half-dozen agencies. The same notices are available free directly from those agencies if you’d rather assemble them yourself.¹

What CalChamber Sells and How to Order

The base product is a single wall-sized poster bundling every required California and federal notice. As of 2026, the English paper version is $31.99. Laminated versions cost more. Languages include English, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese, with Simplified Chinese available only in the laminated format.¹

Two add-ons handle updates for you. Poster Protect pairs the current poster with automatic replacement mailings whenever a state or federal agency releases a mandatory change during the year; the paper version runs $49.99, and a digital-and-print option starts as low as $19.50. An Auto-Ship program mails the following year’s poster automatically once it’s released.²

To order, go to store.calchamber.com, pick your format and language, and check out. The poster ships ready to hang and is sized to meet California’s minimum dimension rules.

Getting the Same Posters Free From Agencies

Most required California notices are available at no cost from the agencies that issue them. The Department of Industrial Relations keeps a Workplace Postings page at dir.ca.gov/wpnodb.html listing every mandatory notice and where to get it. The DIR states that downloaded versions satisfy an employer’s obligation, provided the printout meets any size requirement attached to the notice — typically at least 12 inches high by 10 inches wide.³

Where to find the main free versions:

Minimum wage and IWC wage orders come from the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. Post the wage order that matches your industry.⁴
The Cal/OSHA safety poster is available in English and Spanish from Cal/OSHA’s publications page.
The whistleblower protection notice is a downloadable PDF from DLSE in English and Spanish.⁵
The workplace discrimination and harassment poster comes from the California Civil Rights Department at calcivilrights.ca.gov.
Unemployment, disability, and paid family leave notices come from the Employment Development Department.
The EEOC “Know Your Rights” poster is free at eeoc.gov/poster.⁶
Federal minimum wage and other Department of Labor posters are free at dol.gov/agencies/whd/posters or by calling 888-972-7332.⁷

The catch with going free is maintenance. You have to watch each agency separately for updates, replace notices one by one, and make sure the wall stays complete. That’s what the CalChamber bundle sells: a single item to hang and a single item to replace.

What Must Actually Be On the Wall

Every California business with at least one employee has to display a core set of state notices, enforced by DLSE, Cal/OSHA, and other agencies:⁴

The California minimum wage notice reflecting the current rate. As of January 1, 2026, the state minimum wage is $16.90 per hour for all employers regardless of size.⁸
The Cal/OSHA “Safety and Health Protection on the Job” poster.
The paid sick leave notice.
The workers’ compensation notice.
The IWC wage order for your industry. There are multiple wage orders covering different sectors; you have to post the one that fits your business.
The whistleblower protection notice, which must include the California Attorney General’s Whistleblower Hotline (1-800-952-5225) and be printed in lettering larger than 14-point type on 8.5-by-14-inch paper.⁹

On top of state requirements, several federal notices are also required:

The EEOC “Know Your Rights” poster on workplace discrimination.⁶
The federal FLSA minimum wage poster. It’s still legally required even though California’s rate is higher, and there is no federal fine for failing to post this particular notice.¹⁰
The FMLA notice if you have 50 or more employees within 75 miles.
The USERRA poster on military reemployment rights.

California’s Civil Rights Department also requires its own workplace discrimination poster separate from the federal EEOC notice. Government Code section 12950 requires every employer to post it conspicuously in hiring offices, on employee bulletin boards, and in other places where employees gather.¹¹

Additional postings apply in specific situations, including injury and illness prevention program notices, access to medical and exposure records, and immigration-agency inspection procedures. The DIR’s Required Posters page lists them all with links.

The 2026 Written Notice That Isn’t a Poster

A poster alone won’t cover you in 2026. Senate Bill 294, the Workplace Know Your Rights Act, requires every California employer to give each employee a written workplace rights notice on or before February 1, 2026, and by that date every year afterward. This obligation is separate from wall posting: the notice has to be delivered directly to employees.¹²

The notice must address seven areas: workers’ compensation rights; the right to advance notice of I-9 inspections; immigration-related employment protections; constitutional rights when interacting with law enforcement at work; the right to organize and engage in collective activity; recently enacted workplace laws; and the enforcement agencies that handle the rights described. The Labor Commissioner’s Office publishes free templates that meet the requirement, updated annually and offered in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, Hindi, Punjabi, Arabic, and Urdu.³

Where to Hang It, Size, and Language

Posters go in a conspicuous location where employees can read them during the workday. Breakrooms, main hallways, and areas near a time clock all qualify. Tucking a poster behind a storage shelf doesn’t.

Several notices carry a minimum size of 12 inches high by 10 inches wide. If you print your own, verify the printout meets that requirement; the DIR warns that some downloaded versions may not.³ The whistleblower notice has a separate format rule: 8.5-by-14-inch paper with margins no larger than half an inch, so the type comes out larger than 14 points.⁵

Language rules vary by poster. The CRD discrimination and harassment notice must be translated if more than 10% of the workforce at a facility does not speak English.¹¹ Other posters are published in multiple languages by the issuing agencies. If a significant share of your employees speaks a language other than English, check each poster’s page on the DIR site to see what translations are available and whether translation is mandatory in your situation.

Penalties for Missing or Outdated Posters

Penalties depend on which notice is missing and which agency enforces it. Failing to display the Cal/OSHA “Safety and Health Protection on the Job” poster can result in a fine of up to $1,000 per violation under Labor Code section 6431.¹³ Federal OSHA can impose penalties up to $16,550 per violation for posting failures under its jurisdiction.¹⁴ The federal FLSA minimum wage poster is an odd case: legally required, but no citation or penalty for failing to post it.¹⁰

A poster with an outdated wage rate or superseded legal language is treated the same as no poster at all. An employer whose 2024 poster never got replaced after the January 2026 minimum wage change is exposed the same as one who never posted anything. Treat maintenance as a recurring task.

Keeping Posters Current

Most mandatory changes take effect on January 1 following new legislation, which makes late December or early January the natural review point. The state minimum wage rose to $16.90 per hour on January 1, 2026, for example.⁸ Agencies also release mid-year updates on occasion, and those need immediate replacement.

At a minimum, review your postings once a year. If you don’t want to track changes manually, CalChamber’s Poster Protect subscription and similar services from other vendors handle it for you. Subscription poster services generally run from about $40 to $100 a year across the market.

Remote and Hybrid Workforces

If your entire workforce is remote, federal agencies allow electronic-only posting under narrow conditions. The Department of Labor’s Field Assistance Bulletin 2020-7 says electronic posting satisfies the continuous posting requirement for the FLSA, FMLA, and other covered statutes only when all three of these conditions are met:¹⁵

All employees work exclusively remote. Not most; every one.
Employees customarily receive information electronically as a normal practice.
Employees have readily available access at all times, on an intranet, shared drive, or website, without requesting permission.

Posting a notice on a company website alone isn’t enough unless the employer already distributes similar information that way, and workers have to be told where and how to find the electronic postings.

Hybrid workplaces still need physical posters at the work location. The DOL encourages electronic posting as a supplement for teleworkers but doesn’t require it. The safest approach for hybrid employers is physical posters onsite plus digital access.

Federal Contractors Have More to Post

Businesses holding federal contracts face posting obligations beyond the standard set. The Department of Labor identifies several contractor-specific notices:¹⁰

The Davis-Bacon Act notice, required for construction contracts exceeding $2,000 involving public buildings or federally financed projects, must be posted at the work site.
The Service Contract Act poster is required for service contracts exceeding $2,500 with the federal government.
The Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws notice (NLRA) covers organizing and collective bargaining rights. Federal contractors who post electronically must also include a link to the Office of Labor-Management Standards website, and electronic posting cannot fully replace the physical version.

Where a significant portion of a federal contractor’s workforce is not proficient in English, the NLRA notice must be provided in the languages employees speak. Non-compliance can lead to suspension or cancellation of the contract and debarment from future federal contracts, not only fines. CalChamber’s all-in-one poster covers general employer obligations but may not include these contractor-specific notices, so federal contractors should verify additional requirements directly through the DOL.

1
CalChamber Store. CA and Federal Labor Law Paper Poster
2
CalChamber Store. CA and Federal Labor Law Paper-Poster Protect
3
California Department of Industrial Relations. Workplace Postings
4
California Department of Industrial Relations. Required Posters and Notices
5
California Department of Industrial Relations. Whistleblowers Are Protected Model Posting
6
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal Poster
7
U.S. Department of Labor. Workplace Posters
8
California Department of Industrial Relations. Division of Labor Standards Enforcement Home Page
9
California Legislative Information. California Code LAB Section 1102.8
10
U.S. Department of Labor. Workplace Posters
11
California Civil Rights Department. California Law Prohibits Workplace Discrimination and Harassment
12
California Department of Industrial Relations. LCO Letter to Employers New Laws 2026
13
California Department of Industrial Relations. Title 8 Section 340 – Contents and Posting Requirements of CAL/OSHA Notice
14
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties
15
U.S. Department of Labor. Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2020-7