Everything Employers Need To Know About the EEOC’s Updated “Know Your Rights” Poster

By Brian J. Mills, Joseph A. Kroeger, and Delilah R. Cassidy

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently released an updated poster that employers with 15 or more employees must display in the workplace.

What’s Changed?
The latest “Know Your Rights” poster replaces the “EEO is the Law” poster, which had maintained its prominence in workplace breakrooms across the country since 2015. Both versions summarize the job discrimination laws the EEOC enforces and explain the process for filing an EEOC charge, but the updated poster focuses on readability—utilizing bullet points, white space, and simple language. It also includes a QR code linked to the EEOC’s website on how to file a charge.

The “Know Your Rights” poster’s substantive updates include:

• Noting harassment is a prohibited form of discrimination; 
• Clarifying that sex discrimination includes discrimination based on pregnancy and related conditions, sexual orientation, or gender identity; and 
• Providing information about equal pay discrimination for federal contractors.

What’s Required?
The “Know Your Rights” poster must be prominently displayed in the workplace, and it should be where notices to applicants and employees are customarily posted—typically a break room or locker room.

With the recent shift towards remote work, many workplaces look different. The EEOC encourages employers to post an additional notice on a website or otherwise make it available to employees. For some employers, like those with fully remote employees or without a brick-and-mortar worksite, uploading the “Know Your Rights” poster may be required.

Whether digital or physical, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the poster must be accessible to applicants and employees with disabilities. The posted location must be accessible to those with mobility-limiting disabilities. For persons with a disability limiting their seeing or reading abilities, the notice must be in an accessible format such as reading it aloud or providing an audio file. The EEOC website has an English screen-readable electronic format for employers.

What If I Don’t Comply?
Even though the EEOC has yet to announce a compliance date, it encouraged covered employers to make the switch as soon as possible. When the time does roll around, noncompliance could come at a cost of up to $612 per location, plus it could be considered a sign of “bad faith” in a claim for discrimination. In some circumstances, it may even extend the time to file a lawsuit.

Where Can I Find the Poster?
The updated “Know Your Rights” poster is available on the EEOC website at no cost in a variety of formats. The updated version posted initially by the EEOC on October 19 was removed and has since been replaced by a newer version. If you downloaded the first version, be sure to check the bottom right corner to confirm it says “(Revised 10/20/22).” The physical and digital versions are available in English and Spanish with more translations to come. Links to the current versions are included below.

For Printing and Physical Posting

• English Version
• Spanish Version 

For Electronic Posting

• English Version
• Spanish Version