CHAPTER IV. POSTING OF LABOR LAWS. INTRODUCTION. For the purpose of informing employees and keeping them informed of the laws under which they work, the method is sometimes followed of posting copies of the labor laws, or of portions thereof, in conspicuous places in the factory workrooms. This is a matter of legislation in 6 of the 17 States covered by the investigation. These 6 States are Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, and Wisconsin. In 3 of these, New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, it is specifically required that the employer shall post a copy of the factory and woman and child labor laws, or of the significant portions thereof, in a conspicuous manner. In Rhode Island it is required that the factory inspectors, not the employers, shall do such posting. The New Jersey provision orders the commissioner of labor to furnish copies of the labor laws for posting, on request of the employer; it does not compel the employer to make such request. Finally, the Wisconsin law on this subject is simply that the factory inspectors are authorized to post copies of the labor laws if they consider such procedure desirable. In none of the other 11 States is legislation upon this subject in force. Several of these States, however, do require time schedules to be posted, and in a few instances an abstract of the labor laws is printed on the form used for the time schedule, and this results in such abstract being posted. The laws referred to throughout this volume are as in force at the time of the investigation, December, 1908, to April, 1909. The text of the laws in force January 1, 1912, is given in the appendixes at the end of this volume. MAINE. There is no legal requirement that the factory laws or woman and child labor laws be posted. In 3 establishments the woman and child labor laws were posted in some of the workrooms, and in another establishment a copy of the Maine school laws was hung. In none of the remaining 22 estabishments were any of the laws referred to posted. MASSACHUSETTS. There is no legal reference in the legislation of Massachusetts to the posting of any of the labor laws. There is, however, a requirement that time schedules for women and children be posted, and the forms used for these schedules contain a printed copy of those sections of the law relating to the subject of hours of labor. Therefore, the sections of the law referred to (secs. 24 and 25, ch. 106) may be considered as being posted wherever the time schedules are posted. (See section on "Posting of time schedule," pp. 167 and 170 of this report.) As regards the posting of all the labor laws, information was not obtained. RHODE ISLAND. The posting of the factory and woman and child labor laws is required by the following legal provision: 1 A printed copy of this chapter shall be posted by the inspectors in each workroom of every factory, manufacturing or mercantile establishment where persons are employed who are affected by the provisions of this chapter. The chapter here referred to includes the child labor and factory inspection laws of the State. It will be observed that, as the legal provision reads, a copy of the law is to be posted in every workroom where persons affected thereby are employed, but that the posting is to be done by the factory inspectors. This latter provision would seem to absolve employers from responsibility in the matter further than to see that copies of the law once posted are kept posted. The factory inspection department does not attempt to carry out to the letter the requirement that a copy of the law be posted in every workroom in which persons affected by the law are employed. In the case of communicating rooms, where employees pass frequently from one to the other, it is not considered necessary that posting be done in each room. It is regarded as sufficient if a copy of the law is posted in a room through which all the employees concerned must pass. On the other hand, if rooms on the same floor have separate entrances, it is held that posting should be done in each room. Furthermore, the chief inspector does not believe that the requirement as to the posting of the law was intended to apply to all establishments; such, for instance, as small stores. The present investigation developed that in 11 of the 27 establishments visited copies of the woman and child labor laws and of the factory inspection laws were very generally posted in all workrooms where women and children were employed. In 13 1Gen. Laws, 1896, ch. 68, sec. 13 (22d An. Rept. Com. of Labor, p. 1210). establishments copies of the law were nowhere posted, and in the remaining 3 such posting was too scattered or to inconspicuous to be of any practical service. CONNECTICUT. There is no State law regarding the posting of copies of the woman and child labor or factory laws. In 3 of the 35 establishments visited copies of the law were very generally posted in workrooms where women and children were employed. In the remaining 32 establishments no such posting was anywhere done. NEW YORK. The law of New York requires all labor laws to be posted. The requirement in full is as follows: 1 A copy or abstract of the provisions of this chapter applicable thereto, to be prepared and furnished by the commissioner of labor, shall be kept posted by the employer in a conspicuous place on each floor of every factory where persons are employed who are affected by the provisions thereof. The term "factory" includes also "any mill, workshop, or other manufacturing establishment where one or more persons are employed at labor." 2 The chapter here referred to includes all of the laws of New York State bearing upon matters of labor or factory inspection. Penalty. First offense, $20 to $50; second offense, $50 to $200, or imprisonment not more than 30 days, or both; third offense, not less than $250, or imprisonment not more than 60 days, or both. Thus, in New York the labor laws are to be posted, in full or in abstract form, upon each floor of a factory, not, as in Rhode Island, in each workroom. The limitation that posting is only to be done on floors where persons affected by the laws are employed is of little importance, as a portion at least of the State labor laws applies to every class of employees. The State is to furnish the copies of the laws to be posted but the employer is responsible for the proper posting thereof. Factory inspectors interviewed by agents of the Bureau expressed themselves generally as in favor of the principle of labor-law posting, but thought that the strict inforcement of the law upon this point took up time that could be employed more advantageously in inforc 1Rev. Stat., 3d ed., 1901, p. 2098, sec. 68, as amended by ch. 505, Acts of 1907, and p. 2120, sec. 209, as amended by ch. 506, Acts of 1907 (22d An. Rept. Com. of Labor, pp. 907, 931). 'Idem, p. 2089, sec. 2, as amended by ch. 550, Acts of 1904. |