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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.

I have an employee who for two years has obtained an intermittent-leave certification for leave of a continuous period of two weeks. I just ask her doctor for the amount of time she needs off, but I’m fairly certain she is taking this as a vacation based on her social media postings. What else can I require of her doctor?

The EEOC says religious-discrimination cases are a high priority, filing lawsuits on behalf of employees denied accommodations at an increasing clip. To add to the deluge, individual employees are also filing lawsuits, as are organizations organized to defend religious rights in the workplace. It’s a perfect storm for employers who may not have adjusted their standards for turning down religious-accommodation requests.

Lawsuits over pregnancy accommodations of all kinds are hitting the legal system less than three years after two bipartisan bills passed Congress and were signed into law. This month, two new lawsuits highlight the requirements of both laws and demonstrate that employers remain unsure of their obligations.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has once again extended the public comment period for its proposed rule, Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings. An informal public hearing was held this past summer, and the agency has received more than 40,000 comments thus far.

When leaders decide a reduction in force is unavoidable, HR plays a central role in ensuring the process is legally sound, fairly applied and handled with respect.

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.

What should an employer do when confronted with a demand to fire an employee over social media posts that may attract unwanted attention to their employer?

We were approached by a member of the public who claims an employee of ours made a social media post about the killing of Charlie Kirk, requesting that we fire him. The problem is he’s a former employee and not a current one, but apparently his social media footprint still lists him as our employee. What can we do?

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services will have even more authority regarding immigration enforcement, according to a final rule published by the Department of Homeland Security on Sept. 5. Essentially, the new rule will allow greater immigration enforcement by designating more agents authorized to conduct criminal investigations and arrests.