News

Action from the Department of Labor, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services makes it easier for employers to provide infertile employees with fertility coverage outside their regular health insurance coverage.

As the PUMP Act approaches its third anniversary, lawsuits are piling up. A recent big win for a new mother highlights what happens if employers don’t accommodate pumping and then punish that worker when she takes unauthorized pumping breaks.

Providing a harassment-free workplace is essential, and that includes keeping language respectful. But what happens if an employee uses an epithet that’s typically aimed at individuals who belong to the same protected class the speaker belongs to? Do they get a pass?

After almost ten months, it now appears that the Department of Labor’s senior leadership team is in place and can now move forward with what are anticipated to be substantial changes.

The line between personal opinion and professional risk continues to shrink—and HR teams are often the ones left holding the rope.

The Supreme Court has started the 2025–2026 term, and it looks to be an interesting one for employers. Here’s a breakdown of pending cases and issues.

Effective Sept. 30, the EEOC has closed its processing of cases where the basis for the complaint is an allegation that an employer’s practices or policies have a disparate impact on members of a protected class. These are cases where the employer isn’t accused of intentional discrimination, but the policy or practice impacts a protected class more than it impacts other applicants or employers.

Not everyone wants to spend their time deleting emails, blocking co-workers they don’t see eye to eye with or reading rants on message boards or “forward to all” emails. But employers sometimes don’t know when they can discipline over employees’ posts on and off company resources. Now, a federal appeals court has clarified some limits in a recent case.

HR professionals frequently encounter situations where “what is legal” and “what is right” do not align. At the 2025 HR Specialist Summit, Suzanne Lucas, the “Evil HR Lady,” tackled this challenge head-on and offered practical tools for navigating through these dilemmas.

The Department of Labor (DOL) has announced Project Firewall, a new enforcement program that will investigate whether employers are abusing visa programs that bring non-citizens into the country to work.