Salesmen trying to sell free posters

OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna is warning businesses to steer clear of salesmen who claim to be government officials threatening hefty fines if proprietors don’t immediately buy their workplace posters.

“Labor-law posters are available for free from state and federal government agencies,” McKenna said.

At least two Tacoma businesses have reported being approached by three men in dark suits claiming to be “with the government.”

According to McKenna’s office, the men told one store owner they were there to verify that all the required signs were posted. When the owner refused to let them into the employee breakroom, they said the business could be fined $5,000 to $17,000 for not having the right posters displayed.

“The men … then attempted to sell posters for $50 each from a business called Compliance4Less,” the attorney general’s office said in its warning.

Another Tacoma business owner reportedly bought posters from the men.

McKenna said that the recent increase in the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour – which must be posted by July 24 – has spurred a push by poster-sellers. But both the state Department of Labor and Industries and the federal Department of Labor have Web sites through which businesses can order free posters.

Compliance4Less, whose corporate motto is “Keeping you compliant,” sells its versions of the government posters online for $39.99. Businesses in New Jersey and Stockton, Calif., have also complained about the company’s sales tactics this year.

Efforts to contact Compliance4Less officials for comment were unsuccessful.