New Minimum-wage Law Incites Bogus Labor-poster Ads

Did you get a labor law poster warning in mail? Don't be fooled. The "warning" or "compliance notification" you got is most likely an advertisement from a company selling posters.

Centereach, NY (PRWEB) July 10, 2007 -- On July 24 the new Federal minimum wage of $5.85 goes into effect, and with it comes a wave of misleading attempts to sell labor-law posters, warns Janet Attard, author of eight books on small-business management and Founder of the Business Know-How (http://www.businessknowhow.com) website.

Labor-law posters contain notifications that employers are required to display for their workers. Employers can choose to print out all the mandated information from free, public sources, or purchase new federal and state posters whenever the laws change.

Some vendors take advantage of misunderstandings about legal-notification requirements to sell such posters through misleading ads. Ms. Attard reminds employers that:

* You are not required to purchase a poster. Such posters are a convenience, and in fact Ms. Attard sells them herself at http://www.businessknowhow.net/posters/ . The law only requires that the information be prominently displayed, but does not dictate that posters be purchased from a commercial source.

* Solicitations to buy labor-law posters are sent by private companies, not the government. Some misleading ads imply that they are connected to governmental bodies to sell their posters. They are not.

* You do not have to pay for a purchase you don't choose to make.

Some misleading ads look like bills or penalty notices, with fake "Notice" or "Reference" numbers. These are just ads meant to intimidate you or trick you into buying.

Ms. Attard, who has provided online content and community management services for small businesses since 1988, clarified the notification requirements. "Preprinted posters that combine federal and state notifications are a great convenience, and typically cost about $30.

It's a shame that some marketers rely on fear and ignorance to sell their posters; I hope that, by reminding employers they have a choice, they'll be able to comply with the law in the way that works best for them."

About business know-how: Business Know-How (R), a woman-owned business, provides practical information tools and resources for starting, growing and managing small and home-based businesses. The Business Know-How web site (http://www.businessknowhow.com) reaches close to 2 million individuals each year.

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