Illinois labor department reminds employers to display safety and health posters

The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) is reminding all public sector employers in the state to prominently display the agency’s Job Safety and Health poster at the workplace.

"Our primary goal is keeping job sites safe and protecting the health and well-being of working people across the state. Employers must display this poster in a place where workers will see it regularly to ensure this important safety information is available," said Michael Kleinik, Illinois department of labor director.

There are specific rights afforded to employees to protect them on the job and to maintain a safe and healthy workplace. The poster provides a summary of employees' rights and employers' responsibilities, including:

• the right to notify employer or the IDOL about workplace hazards
• the right to see IDOL citations issued to employer
• provide employees a place of employment free from recognized hazards
• comply with the occupational safety and health standards issued under the OSH Act

Previously, a federal court asked a Northbrook, Illinois-based company to pay $95,000 in lost wages to a former employee who reported safety concerns before he was fired by the employer.

Earlier Louisiana employer CSX Transportation was also charged for the same retaliatory action against a former employee.

Here’s the full list of safety and health posters required in the workforce:

• Your Rights Under Illinois Employment Laws Poster
• Victims' Economic Security and Safety Act Poster 
• Job Safety and Health Poster
• Federal OSHA Safety Poster
• Reporting Public Sector Fatalities, Hospitalizations, Amputations or Loss of an Eye and Spanish
• Employee Classification Poster
• Day and Temporary Labor - English, Spanish, and Polish.

More information is available on the IDOL website.

In June, San Francisco started requiring all its 35,000 municipal workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when a vaccine receives federal approval.