Local Storage seems to be disabled in your browser.
For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Local Storage in your browser.
What is the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Poster?
The Industrial Welfare Commission regulates wages, hours and working conditions in California. The IWC wage orders are required postings to be displayed by all employers in California in an area where they can be easily viewed by all employees. This is a separate requirement from other regulated California, Federal, City and County postings.
Why do I need this poster?
Employers are required under State and Federal labor laws to display notices pertaining to the rights of their employees. In the State of California, Employers are required to post the appropriate IWC poster(s). IWC posters are specific to a business or industry. More than one may apply depending on the industry(s) served. Failure to display a required notice can result in hefty fines or employee lawsuits.
Ordering your IWC
IWC wage orders are industry specific notices. In order to select the most appropriate IWC, please reference this Index of Industries and Occupations and the Which IWC Classification provided by the State of California. The "who must post" summaries below are provided for general guidance only. It is important that you use the provided documents to determine which IWC order(s) are most appropriate for your business.
Who must post?
“Manufacturing Industry” means any industry, business, or establishment operated for the purpose of preparing, producing, making, altering, repairing, finishing, processing, inspecting, handling, assembling, wrapping, bottling, or packaging goods, articles, or commodities, in whole or in part; EXCEPT when such activities are covered by Order in the : Canning, Preserving, and Freezing Industry; Industries Handling Products After Harvest; Industries Preparing Agricultural Products for Market, on the Farm; or Motion Picture Industry.
Who must post?
“Personal Service Industry” means any industry, business or establishment operated for the purpose of rendering, directly or indirectly, any service, operation or process used or useful in the care, cleansing or beautification of the body, skin, nails, or hair, or in the enhancement of personal appearance or health, including but not limited to:
- beauty salons
- schools of beauty culture offering beauty care to the public for a fee
- barber shops
- bath and massage parlors
- physical conditioning
- weight control salons
- health clubs
- and mortuaries
Who must post?
“Canning, Freezing, and Preserving Industry” means any industry, business or establishment operated for the purpose of canning soups, or of cooking, canning, curing, freezing, pickling, salting, bottling, preserving, or otherwise processing any fruits or vegetables, seafood, meat, poultry, or rabbit product, when the purpose of such processing is the preservation of the product and includes all operations incidental thereto.
Who must post?
“Professional, Technical, Clerical, Mechanical and Similar Occupations” includes professional, semiprofessional, managerial, supervisory, laboratory, research, technical, clerical, office work, and mechanical occupations. Said occupations shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
- accountants
- agents
- appraisers
- artists
- attendants
- audiovisual technicians
- bookkeepers
- bundlers
- billposters
- canvassers
- carriers
- cashiers
- checkers
- clerks
- collectors
- communications and sound technicians
- compilers
- copy holders
- copy readers
- copy writers
- computer programmers and operators
- demonstrators and display representatives
- dispatchers
- distributors
- door-keepers
- drafters
- elevator operators
- estimators
- editors
- graphic arts technicians
- guards
- guides
- hosts
- inspectors
- installers
- instructors
- interviewers
- investigators
- librarians
- laboratory workers
- machine operators
- mechanics
- mailers
- messengers
- medical and dental technicians and technologists
- models
- nurses
- packagers
- photographers
- porters and cleaners
- process servers
- printers
- proof readers
- sales persons and sales agents
- secretaries
- sign erectors
- sign painters
- social workers
- solicitors
- statisticians
- stenographers
- teachers
- telephone, radio-telephone, telegraph and call-out operators
- tellers
- ticket agents
- tracers
- typists
- vehicle operators; x-ray technicians
- their assistants and other related occupations listed as professional, semiprofessional, technical, clerical, mechanical, and kindred occupations.
Who must post?
“Public Housekeeping Industry” means any industry, business, or establishment, which provides meals, housing, or maintenance, services whether operated as a primary business or when incidental to other operations in an establishment not covered by an industry order of the Commission, and includes, but is not limited to the following:
- Restaurants, nightclubs, taverns, bars, cocktail lounges, lunch counters, cafeterias, boarding houses, clubs, and all similar establishments where food in either solid or liquid form is prepared and served to be consumed on the premises;
- Catering, banquet, box lunch service, and similar establishments, which prepare food for consumption on or off the premises;
- Hotel, motels, apartment houses, rooming houses, camps, clubs, trailer parks, office or loft buildings, and similar establishments offering rental of living, business or commercial quarters;
- Hospitals, sanitariums, rest homes, child nurseries, child care institutions, homes for the aged, and similar establishments offering board or lodging in additional to medical, surgical, nursing, convalescent, aged or child care.
- Private schools, colleges, or universities, and similar establishments which provide board or lodging in addition to educational facilities;
- Establishments contracting for development, maintenance or cleaning of grounds; maintenance or cleaning of facilities and/or quarters of commercial units and living units; and
- Establishments providing veterinary or other animal care services.
Who must post?
“Laundry, Linen Supply, Dry Cleaning and Dyeing Industry” means any industry, business or establishment operated for the purpose of washing, ironing, cleaning, refreshing, restoring, pressing, dyeing, storing, fumigating, mothproofing, or other processes incidental thereto, on articles of fabrics of any kind, including but not limited to clothing, hats, drapery, rugs, curtains, linens, household furnishings, textiles, furs, or leather goods; and includes self-service laundries, self-service dry cleaning establishments, and the collection, distribution, storage, sale or resale at retail or wholesale of the foregoing services.
Who must post?
“Industries Handling Products After Harvest” means any industry, business or establishment operated for the purpose of grading, sorting, cleaning, drying, cooling, icing, dehydrating, cracking, shelling, candling, separating, slaughtering, picking, plucking, shucking, pasteurizing, fermenting, ripening, molding, or otherwise preparing any agricultural, horticultural, egg, poultry, meat, seafood, rabbit, or dairy product for distribution, and includes all the operations incidental thereto.
Who must post?
“Transportation Industry” means any industry, business or establishment operated for the purpose of conveying persons or property from one place to another whether by rail, highway, air or water, and all operations and services in connection therewith; and also includes storing or warehousing of goods or property, and the repairing, parking, rental, maintenance, or cleaning of vehicles.
Who must post?
“Amusement and Recreation Industry” means any industry, business or establishment operated for the purpose of furnishing entertainment or recreation to the public, including but not limited to:
- theaters
- dance halls
- bowling alleys
- billiard parlors
- skating rinks
- riding academies
- race tracks
- amusement parks
- athletic fields
- swimming pools
- gymnasiums
- gold courses
- tennis courts
- carnivals
- and wired music studios.
Who must post?
“Motion Picture Industry” mean any industry, business or establishment operated for the purpose of motion picture or television film production, or primarily allied with theatrical or television, motion picture productions, including but not limited to motion pictures for entertainment, commercial, religious or educational purposes, whether made by film, tape, or otherwise.
Who must post?
“Industries Preparing Agricultural Products for Market, on the Farm” means any operation performed in a permanently fixed structure or establishment on the farm or on a moving packing plant on the farm for the purpose of preparing agricultural, horticultural, egg, poultry, meat, seafood, rabbit, or dairy products for market when such operations are done on the premises owned or operated by the same employer who produced the products referred to herein and includes all operations incidental thereto.
Who must post?
“Employed in an agricultural occupation”, means any of the following described occupations:
- The preparation, care, and treatment of farm land, pipeline, or ditches, including leveling for agricultural purposes, plowing, disking, and fertilizing the soil;
- The sowing and planting of any agricultural or horticultural commodity;
- The care of any agricultural or horticultural commodity, as used in this subdivision, “care” includes, but is not limited to, cultivation, irrigation, weed control, thinning, heating, pruning, or tying, fumigating, spraying, and dusting;
- The harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including but not limited to, picking, threshing, mowing, knocking off, field chopping, bunching, baling, balling, field packing, and placing in field containers or in the vehicle in which the commodity will be hauled, and transportation on the farm or to a place of first processing or distribution;
- The assembly and storage of any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including but not limited to, loading, road siding, banking, stacking, binding, and piling;
- The raising, feeding and management of livestock, fur bearing animals, poultry, fish, mollusks, and insects, including but not limited to herding, housing, hatching, milking, shearing, handling eggs, and extracting honey;
- The harvesting of fish, as defined by Section 45 of the Fish and Game Code, for commercial sale;
- The conservation, improvement or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment;
Who must post?
“Household Occupations” means all services related to the care of persons or maintenance of a private household or its premises by an employee of a private householder. Said occupations shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
- butlers
- chauffeurs
- companions
- cooks
- day workers
- gardeners
- graduate nurses
- grooms
- house cleaners
- housekeepers
- maids
- practical nurses
- tutors
- valets
- and other similar occupations.
Who must post?
“Construction occupations” mean all job classifications associated with construction, including, but not limited to, work involving alteration, demolition, building, excavation, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, improvement and repair work by the California Business and Professions Code, Division 3, Chapter 9, §§7025 et seq., and any other similar, or related occupations or trades.
“Drilling occupations” mean all job classifications associated with the exploration or extraction of oil, gas, or water resources work, including but not limited to, the installation, establishment, reworking, maintenance or repair of wells and pumps by boring, drilling, excavating, casting, cementing and cleaning for the extraction or conveyance of fluids such as water, steam, gases, or petroleum.
“Logging occupations” mean any work for which a timber operator’s license is required pursuant to California Public Resources Code §§4571, 4586, including the cutting or 32 removal, or both, of timber or other solid wood forest products, including Christmas trees from timerlands for commercial purposes, together with all the work that is incidental thereto, including but not limited to, construction and maintenance of roads, fuel breaks, firebreaks, stream crossings, landings, skid trails, beds for the falling of trees, and fire hazard abatement.
“Mining occupations” mean miners, and other associated and related occupations (not covered by Labor Code Section et seq.) required to engage in excavation or operations above or below ground including work in mines, quarries, or open pits used for the purposes of exploration or extraction of non-metallic minerals and ores, coal, and building materials, such as stone, gravel and rock, or other materials intended for manufacture or sale, whether paid on a time, piece rate, commission, or other basis.
Who must post?
Applicability of Order.
Section 1(A) Any industry or occupation not previously covered by, and all employees not specifically exempted in, the Commission’s Wage Orders in effect in 1997, or otherwise exempted by law, are covered by this order. Currently the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement has not identified any occupations that meet the definition of “miscellaneous employees” in Industrial Welfare Commission Order 17-2001.
IWC Frequently Asked Questions
The "who must post" summaries above provide a starting point and general guidance in determining which IWC pertains to your business.
In order to select the most appropriate IWC, please reference this Index of Industries and Occupations and the Which IWC Classification provided by the State of California.
As with any questions about our products and services, if you're uncertain about which IWC poster applies to your business, please don't hesitate to contact our knowledgeable customer service team at 888-306-7377. They will be happy to assist you!
Just like other labor law postings, the Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders may be subject to updates in order to align with the latest labor laws and regulations. Therefore, it is crucial to consistently display the most current Wage Order that is applicable to your business. Our IWC Posters are kept up-to-date with the latest content provided by the Welfare Industrial Commission and the California Department of Labor.
No, neither the E-Update Service nor the Poster Replacement Solution includes the essential postings for meeting the Industrial Welfare Commission's posting requirements. The IWC Poster must be purchased separately.
Yes, the ePosterService for California includes the necessary notices to comply with the posting requirements laid down by the Industrial Welfare Commission.
