Massachusetts: DIA Updates Mandatory Workplace Poster and Notice Requirements

By Erica E. Flores - Skoler Abbott P.C.

August 27, 2024

The Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents (“DIA”) recently updated its mandatory workplace poster and related employer notice requirements. Employers must complete and post the new poster no later than September 16, 2024. Here is what you need to know.

New Poster Provides Plain Language Instructions

Past versions of the DIA’s workplace poster required employers to identify their workers’ compensation insurance carrier, policy number, insurance agent, and related contact information, but did not offer injured workers any explanation as to what they could or should do with that information.  The recently updated version fills that hole by instructing injured employees to immediately notify their employer’s designated contact person if they have been injured on the job, to notify their medical provider that their injury was work-related, and to give their medical provider the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance information.  The poster also advises employees that they may file an Employee’s Claim form (Form 110) with the DIA if their employer fails to do so.  (As a refresher, employers are required to file an Employer’s First Report of Injury form (Form 101) within seven (7) calendar days after an injured employee’s fifth (5th) day of full or partial disability from work due to a work-related illness or injury.  If an injured employee is not disabled for at least five days, employers can, but are not required to, file a “medical only” claim on Form 101.  Forms 101 can only be filed electronically via the employer’s online DIA account.)

Finally, the new DIA poster tells employees that they can obtain additional information about their rights and eligibility for workers’ compensation benefits by contacting the DIA directly.  In addition to listing the DIA’s telephone number and website, the poster includes a QR code that, when scanned, will take employees directly to the DIA’s website.

Fine Print Refers to Employee Protections

Another noteworthy change made by the DIA is the addition of a notice in fine print at the bottom of the poster.  It reads as follows:

This Notice must be filled out and posted where employees can read it pursuant [to] M.G.L. c. 152, sections 21, 22, 30, and 75b (2). Employers may not retaliate, discriminate (in accordance with any applicable state or federal laws which includes immigration status), or provide false information about the workers’ compensation process to their employees. This notice must be updated, posted and redistributed when there are changes to the information.

Although ostensibly directed to employers, this notice could result in more employees becoming aware that they are legally protected from discrimination or retaliation in connection with a work-related injury or subsequent workers’ compensation claim.

Compliance Deadline

In its written announcement, the DIA advised that employers must fill out and post the new poster in their workplace no later than September 16, 2024.  It must be posted in a visible location that is utilized and accessible to all employees.  If there is no such place, employers must distribute the new poster to employees electronically or by mail.

The new poster is available in English and eight other languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Vietnamese and Arabic.  All versions are accessible online here.

Unemployment Brochure and Poster Also Updated Recently

Incidentally, the DIA is not the only Massachusetts agency to have updated its employer notice requirements this year.  Back in January 2024, the Department of Unemployment Assistance (“DUA”) updated both its workplace poster and the brochure employers must give to separating employees, apparently without making any type of announcement at all.  The only substantive changes to both the DUA poster and the brochure appear to relate to how and when employees can apply for unemployment by telephone.  The current versions of both documents, and all available translations, are accessible on the Commonwealth’s website here.

Takeaways

Employers are required to post a variety of employee notices in their workplaces and are responsible for making sure those posters are up to date.  The notice laws don’t typically carry substantial penalties for non-compliance, but some do.  More importantly, technical violations of these laws can lead to wide-ranging investigations by the Attorney General or other regulators that could reveal bigger, much more expensive, problems.

If you think you may be missing something or want to make sure that your posters are not outdated, consider reaching out to your employment counsel.  They can walk you through all of the current notice requirements, make sure that you are posting everything you are supposed to be posting and in an appropriate place, and answer any questions you may have.

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