Check your labor-poster letter
If a letter arrived this spring threatening fines for missing labor-law posters from a company you have never heard of, do not pay it. The Montana Secretary of State confirmed this week that the letters are a scam, and issued a cease-and-desist against the company sending them.
Here is the five-minute version of what to do instead.
One. Throw the letter in the recycle bin. It is not a government notice. It is a company in Washington, D.C. trying to collect a fee against a fear.
Two. Go to the Montana Department of Labor and Industry website at erd.dli.mt.gov. Look under Labor Standards for the current poster requirements. Most required posters are free to download and print yourself, including the Montana minimum wage, workers' compensation, and unemployment insurance posters.
Three. If you have one or two employees, post them somewhere visible in the work area. If you are a solo operator with no employees, most posters do not apply to you. The state's own guidance tells you which ones do.
Four. If you are still uncertain, call the Department of Labor and Industry directly at (406) 444-2840. They will tell you what you actually need, for free, without an invoice attached.
That is the week's Planting Chart. Five minutes of checking the actual source against a letter designed to look like one. The time you save is the fee you did not pay, and the confidence you build by knowing where the authoritative source actually lives.