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“Illegal” DEI started out relatively undefined. The EEOC and the Department of Justice have been refining its definition ever since. The problem: The government’s definition of DEI runs headlong into Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act, which are still good law, and against two Supreme Court decisions affirming employers’ voluntary DEI programs in narrow circumstances.

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.

The cap on nonimmigrant H-2A visas for the agriculture industry has been increased by the availability of over 64,000 additional visas for fiscal year 2026.

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.

The Biden administration nixed the program largely because it allowed employers to avoid penalties and the doubling of unpaid wages the FLSA allows the DOL to assess for violations if only they confessed to their mistakes and told the DOL. PAID is now back and open to employers who want to resolve FLSA problems as well as FMLA issues.

Chances are, at some point an employee is going to come to HR and tell you they believe they have been discriminated against, harassed or otherwise been treated unfairly. How you respond to that complaint can mean the difference between losing a lawsuit and all that entails or resolving the problem early and avoiding liability.

I have an employee who wants to take time off to have an IUD removed to prepare for pregnancy. She is under the impression we must provide a reasonable accommodation of time off for a doctor’s appointment. Is that the case?

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 shift makes it more likely that changes championed by Chair Andrea Lucas will move forward faster than many expected, with less deliberation by other commissioners and agency staff.