Public Service Announcement
Sharon Koehler
Stone Industry Consultant
Like most of the people I know in the stone industry, you likely are a good, law-abiding person who has a legit, licensed-to-do- business establishment with hard working, conscientious employees. You pay your employees on time. You pay your taxes and licensing fees. Your vehicles are kept in good repair. Your business gives the best customer service it can, and the business gets involved in community events whenever possible. All is good.
Then one day, someone walks through the door, demands to see your labor law posters because the state agency they are from has been tasked with cracking down on non-compliant businesses. And BAM, you are hit with a “fine,” given a list of what you need and an order form to purchase it.
You pay because you consider yourself to be an upstanding, law-abiding citizen. Plus, you certainly did not want to get in any further trouble with any government agency, local or otherwise. Guess what? You just got scammed!
These labor law poster scammers are no longer content to just send us urgent, threatening emails or snail mails. They no longer want to hide behind intimidating and menacing phone calls. Now they are brash enough to walk right into our offices and shops, conduct a fake audit and demand you pay up with your real money. No bueno!
The question is: How do you know if the email, letter, phone call or visit is a scam or legit? After all, there are real laws about labor posters and there are real, honest companies out there providing this service. How do you tell the difference?
Recently, the BBB posted some good advice on this problem on their website:
- Understand the laws about workplace posters.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) does require some notices to be posted in workplaces, but the DOL provides free electronic copies of the required posters. You should never have to pay for posters to be in compliance with DOL regulations.
- Get to know government regulations for your business.
If someone tells you your business hasn’t complied with any other state or federal regulations, check with official government sources to inquire about the requirements and how to meet them before you pay a third-party to handle the matter.
- Carefully inspect invoices and payment notices.
Before you pay any invoice or send money for an unsolicited service, find out if the company who initiated contact with you is legitimate. Look for an official business address and phone number and look over their website. If you can’t find any real contact information for the company, that’s a red flag. Do a search including the company name and the word “scam” to see if others have spotted a scam relative to the correspondence you received. Never pay an invoice without double checking that it’s for a service you authorized.
- Don’t give in to scare tactics.
Scammers love to scare victims into paying, so it’s important not to panic even if you’ve received a threatening letter. Think twice and do your research before you pay.
So, exactly how do you know if a poster company is legitimate or a fraud? There are several effective ways to tell:
- There will not be repeated, threatening phone calls.
If a legitimate company calls you and you refuse, it’s over.
- There will be no threatening emails or snail mails.
They may send you mail, but it will not be threatening or menacing.
- There will be reviews of the company on places such as Google, the BBB or Yelp.
- They will give you eco-friendly options for your posters.
- You should get FREE automatic updates when federal, state, or local changes occur.
- There should be a warranty included to cover your fines and costs if you are ever found to be non-compliant because they dropped the ball.
- Finally, there should be a friendly reminder when your plan is set to expire, and you need to renew—not intimidating or threatening phone calls.
One last thing you can do is to listen to yourself. If you think you are being threatened, you probably are. If you think you are being harassed, you probably are. If you think you are being bullied, you probably are. Humans have instincts for a reason. Listen to yourself. If it doesn’t seem right, then it probably isn’t.
What should you do if you are the victim of a labor law poster swindle? You need to report it to your local state Attorney General’s office. You also need to report it to FTC (Federal Trade Commission) at this link: ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Now, before you go thinking that big government can’t help, think again. In 2019, the FTC sent out over 232 MILLION dollars to victims of various fraud schemes. In 2020, in conjunction with the Texas and Florida Attorneys General offices, they sent out more than 1 MILLION dollars to victims of labor law poster frauds in these two states, alone. So, report it for yourself and for others who might end up in the same situation.
Please send your thoughts on this article to Sharon Koehler at Sharonk.SRG@gmail.com.