News

Heading into the Valentine’s Day holiday is always a good time for HR professionals to dust off their company’s fraternization policies, and to remind your managers and employees of these guidelines.

Back in late 2025, the NLRB laid out a new rule on when employers may ban workers from carrying and using recording devices, including phones and other smart devices like Apple watches. That new rule told employers that banning recording via a handbook rule was presumptively an NLRA violation, and employers have a heavy burden to prove their handbook rule is legal.

If you’ve had to create lunchroom rules based on what employees are bringing to eat or heating up in the microwave, it’s time to rethink that strategy. An employer recently paid $200,000 to a couple whose discrimination lawsuit began with a co-worker’s complaint about allegedly “pungent” Indian food and deteriorated from there.

Employment and labor disputes continue to rank among the most common and fastest-evolving areas of exposure for U.S. employers, even as overall litigation volumes fluctuate. Risk is not disappearing; it’s changing shape, and policies that once felt settled now require closer scrutiny and tighter execution.

The legislature is considering amending the law to clarify that it doesn’t cover tuition reimbursement agreements for college or credentialing classes that the employee can use independently or with another employer.

It may be time for employers to do some contingency planning should civil unrest hit locally. Here’s what employers can do.

Federal telework policies moved back into the spotlight after the Office of Personnel Management updated its guidance to emphasize in-person work as the default for most federal employees. While the revisions align with the Trump administration’s January 2025 return-to-office orders, the guidance also outlines practical guardrails that HR teams outside the government can use as benchmarks when reviewing their telework frameworks.

With winter weather in full force, it’s time to review the FLSA’s rules for working from home, if you haven’t already.

Many employers want more employees back in the office, but few want to relive the backlash that followed earlier return-to-office mandates. Instead of issuing rigid requirements, organizations are increasingly relying on quieter, less confrontational approaches that nudge behavior without sparking open resistance. For HR teams, these strategies can be effective, but only when applied thoughtfully and equitably.

It’s fine to have a more casual dress code if that suits your company’s culture and industry; however, it’s still a good idea to have a dress code in place. Be sure that your dress standards are inclusive of all cultures, religions and gender identities.