North Carolina labor poster requirements come from two sources at once: the state Department of Labor requires two posters in every workplace, and several federal agencies each mandate their own notices on top of that. Add a workers’ compensation notice and an unemployment insurance notice if those apply to your business, and most private employers end up with roughly a dozen postings. Fines for missing even one can reach $16,550, and a missing poster can extend the deadline an employee has to sue you.
The Two Required State Posters
Every business in North Carolina must display the Wage and Hour Notice to Employees and the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Notice to Employees, both issued by the North Carolina Department of Labor.1North Carolina Department of Labor. State and Federal Workplace Poster Requirements
The Wage and Hour poster summarizes North Carolina’s Wage and Hour Act, including minimum wage, overtime, promised wages, pay schedules, and how workers can report employee misclassification.2North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 95-25.13 – Notification, Posting, and Records The OSH poster tells employees they have the right to a safe workplace and can report hazardous conditions without retaliation.3North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 95-143 – Record Keeping and Reporting
NCDOL publishes both notices as a single combined poster, printed in English on one side and Spanish on the other. You can download it or order a free permanent printed copy from the department.
State Posters Tied to Specific Coverage
Two more state notices are required whenever the underlying coverage applies to your business.
If you carry workers’ compensation insurance, the North Carolina Industrial Commission’s Form 17 must be posted where employees can see it. It tells injured workers they may be entitled to benefits and identifies the insurance carrier (or the employer’s self-insured status).4North Carolina Industrial Commission. North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Notice to Injured Workers and Employers If your workers’ comp coverage lapses, the notice has to come down within five working days.5North Carolina Industrial Commission. North Carolina Code 97-93 – Employers Required to Carry Insurance or Prove Financial Ability to Pay
Employers covered by the state’s Employment Security Law must post the Certificate of Coverage and Notice to Workers (Form NCESC 524). It explains that no money is withheld from paychecks for unemployment insurance and describes how workers qualify for benefits after a job loss or a substantial reduction in hours.6North Carolina Department of Commerce. Certificate of Coverage and Notice to Workers as to Benefit Rights
Required Federal Posters
Federal posting requirements sit on top of the state ones. Which apply to your business depends mostly on headcount and industry.
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Every employer subject to federal minimum wage and overtime rules must post the FLSA notice, which covers the $7.25 federal minimum wage and child labor restrictions.7U.S. Department of Labor. Fair Labor Standards Act Minimum Wage Poster
- Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Employers with 50 or more employees must post the FMLA notice at every location, even locations with no currently eligible employees, and it has to be visible to job applicants as well as current staff.8U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act Poster
- Equal Employment Opportunity. The EEOC’s “Know Your Rights” poster covers protections against discrimination based on race, color, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, religion, age, disability, and genetic information.9U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal Poster
- Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA). Most private employers must post the EPPA notice, which explains that lie detector tests generally cannot be required as a condition of employment.10U.S. Department of Labor. Employee Polygraph Protection Act Poster
- OSHA Job Safety and Health. Every employer covered by the federal OSH Act must post the federal OSHA notice about the right to a safe workplace and to report hazards without retaliation.11eCFR. 29 CFR 1903.2 – Posting of Notice
- USERRA. Virtually every employer, public or private and regardless of size, must post the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act notice, which covers reemployment rights, protection from discrimination, and health insurance continuation during military service.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 4334 – Notice of Rights and Duties
The U.S. Department of Labor’s elaws Poster Advisor asks about your industry, workforce size, and federal contract status and produces a customized list. It’s the most reliable way to confirm which federal posters apply to you.13U.S. Department of Labor. Workplace Posters
Extra Posters for Federal Contractors
Businesses holding federal contracts or subcontracts have two additional postings to worry about. The “Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws” notice explains rights under the National Labor Relations Act to organize and bargain collectively. It has to appear at every location where contract work is performed, both physically and electronically if the company customarily posts notices online.14U.S. Department of Labor. Notification of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws Contractors subject to Executive Order 13658 must also post a notice about the separate federal contractor minimum wage rate.
Noncompliance costs more for contractors than for anyone else. Missing this poster can lead to suspension or cancellation of the contract, and repeat offenders can be debarred from future federal contracts entirely.14U.S. Department of Labor. Notification of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws
Where and How to Display Them
Federal and state rules both require posters to sit in a conspicuous location where employees and applicants can readily see them. Break rooms, hallways near time clocks, and common-area bulletin boards all work. A filing cabinet doesn’t.15eCFR. 29 CFR 825.300 – General FMLA Notice Requirements
The OSHA poster is the only federal notice with prescribed dimensions. Reproductions must be at least 8½ by 14 inches with a minimum 10-point type, the heading must be in large type (generally 36-point or above), and the poster cannot be altered, defaced, or covered by other material.11eCFR. 29 CFR 1903.2 – Posting of Notice Other federal posters have no set size but must be easily readable.16U.S. Department of Labor. Posters – Frequently Asked Questions
If your business runs across multiple buildings or floors, put a complete set of state and federal posters in each location. One bulletin board in the front office doesn’t cover employees who work on a separate floor and never see it.
Remote and Applicant-Facing Postings
Remote and field-based employees can’t be served by a physical bulletin board alone. The FMLA rules allow electronic posting if it meets the same accessibility standard as a physical poster, and for companies that already communicate through an intranet or shared portal, that’s the cleanest approach.16U.S. Department of Labor. Posters – Frequently Asked Questions Remote workers need to be able to access every required poster at any time. A PDF buried in a folder nobody opens won’t satisfy the requirement.
Several notices also have to be visible to job applicants, not just current employees: the FMLA notice, the EEOC “Know Your Rights” poster, and the EPPA notice. If interviews happen in a separate office or conference room, make sure those postings are visible there too.15eCFR. 29 CFR 825.300 – General FMLA Notice Requirements
Languages Other Than English
North Carolina law requires posters only in English, but the NCDOL’s official combined poster is printed English on one side and Spanish on the other, so bilingual compliance at the state level is automatic.17N.C. Department of Labor. Poster and Agency Referral Information On the federal side, FMLA rules require covered employers to consider the languages their workforce actually reads and provide the poster in those languages. If a significant portion of your employees primarily speak Spanish or another language, an English-only posting creates both a compliance risk and a real communication gap. Free downloads in Spanish and other common languages are available from the DOL and most state agencies.
Penalties for Missing a Poster
The cost depends on which poster is missing and which agency finds it.
OSHA carries the steepest fines. Failing to display the federal Job Safety and Health poster can bring a penalty of up to $16,550 per violation, based on the most recent inflation-adjusted figures.18Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties That’s per location, so a company with three offices and no OSHA poster in any of them faces penalties that stack.
The FMLA posting penalty is smaller: an employer who willfully fails to display the required FMLA notice can be fined up to $216 per offense, adjusted annually for inflation.19U.S. Department of Labor. Civil Money Penalty Inflation Adjustments Other federal posters, like the FLSA notice, don’t carry standalone fines, but the DOL treats a missing poster as evidence of broader noncompliance during a wage-and-hour investigation.
State-level penalties come from the NCDOL and the Industrial Commission, typically discovered during a site inspection or an employee-complaint investigation. A missing poster is rarely the reason for an inspection, but it lands on the citation list and it signals to investigators that other labor rules may not be followed either.
The most underappreciated risk is in court. If an employee files a claim about a right the employer was required to post about and didn’t, a court can extend the statute of limitations for that lawsuit. The employee, the reasoning goes, couldn’t have known about a right the employer was legally required to disclose. Keeping old posters on file after you replace them with updated versions helps prove they were displayed during the period in question and can defuse that argument early.
Where to Get the Posters for Free
Every required state and federal poster is available at no cost.
NCDOL provides the Wage and Hour Notice and the OSH Notice as free downloads, and employers can also order a free permanent printed poster by calling 1-800-625-2267 or filling out the online order form.1North Carolina Department of Labor. State and Federal Workplace Poster Requirements Form 17 comes from the North Carolina Industrial Commission, and the unemployment insurance poster comes from the Division of Employment Security.
Federal posters live on each agency’s website. The DOL hosts the FLSA, FMLA, EPPA, and USERRA posters at dol.gov/general/topics/posters, and the EEOC “Know Your Rights” poster is at eeoc.gov/poster. All are print-ready PDFs. Private subscription services sell all-in-one posters with automatic updates, typically in the $60–$70 range, but they’re entirely optional. Checking the NCDOL and DOL sites once or twice a year does the same job for free.