Best free resources for workplace law

There are many resources that lawyers rely on to keep them up to date on the latest developments in workplace law and business practices. And because costs associated with labor are so significant, company executives and HR professionals, too, join lawyers in creating a big market for newsletters, databases, and commentary on workplace law. That demand has created quite an industry in fee-based resources.

So it might surprise you to learn that some of the best resources on workplace law are free. Here are some of the highlights.

The single best resource on federal workplace laws is U.S. Department of Labor's Website, www.dol.gov, provides resources on all of the laws that the Department enforces. The site is indexed by subject, wages, benefits, unemployment insurance, etc. It's also indexed by audience: workers, employers, job seekers, veterans, and more. The DOL enforces the largest variety of federal laws governing the workplace.

One division of the Department of Labor deserves special mention, even though it is not technically a source of legal information, and that is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov. This is a great place to go to find workplace statistics.

For workplace safety issues, consult the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, www.osha.gov. That, too, is a separate agency within the Department of Labor.

The best resource for federal equal employment opportunity laws is the Equal Employment Opportunity's website at eeoc.gov. In addition to links to the laws the EEOC enforces, the EEOC has posted its guidance publications.

Although a relatively small percentage of the private workforce is represented by a union, the National Labor Relations Act, which governs collective bargaining, also governs almost every workplace in the country and protects workers even if they do not join unions. The best resource on this law is the National Labor Relations Board, nlrb.gov.

State laws are a little more difficult to track down, but Cornell University and the Legal Information Institute have collected links to state laws at Wex, a collaborative database: topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/table_labor.

For newsletters, a great site for analysis and commentary on the employer side is the Employment Law Information Network, www.elinfonet.com, and on the employee side is Workplace Fairness, www.workplacefairness.org.

Happy research!