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With each change in administration, there’s a change in how federal agencies operate. When President-elect Trump takes office Jan. 20, expect rapid change at the U.S. Department of Labor.

President-elect Trump has vowed to begin mass deportations of undocumented immigrants as soon as he takes office. Executing such a sweeping plan will likely require the deployment of dozens if not hundreds of National Guard units. Depending on the outcome of legal challenges that are almost certain to be filed, military-reserve units could be called to service, too.

I work in HR for a construction firm in Illinois. I heard that there was a national ban on noncompete agreements, but I am unclear on when or if that happened. I am also unclear what rules apply in Illinois.

In the name of organization, HR professionals and managers alike have been known to accidentally discard a document, whether paper or electronic, that they shouldn’t have. So in your quest to clean out overflowing file cabinets or email inboxes for the new year, take your time and follow these guidelines.

An employee’s refusal to perform an assigned task often frustrates or flusters a manager. The next time such a situation occurs, seize control by doing the following.

Judge Trevor McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Dec. 11 said “tenure protections” for ALJs are unconstitutional. McFadden’s opinion could hamstring the NLRB’s ability to conduct its business of enforcing the National Labor Relations Act.

Discriminating against applicants and employees because they serve or have served in the military is illegal. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act protects service members from discrimination in the workplace and requires employers to reinstate employees who are called to or volunteer for active-duty assignments.

Wearables in the workplace are mostly perceived as benign management tools, although some complain they represent a dystopian step toward Big Brother surveillance. Now the EEOC has weighed in with a fact sheet warning that wearables could enable or perpetuate workplace discrimination and suggesting how employers can mitigate liability.

It’s a new HR year and we’re here with some important lessons from the top four employment lawsuits of 2024. Don’t repeat these employer mistakes.

When performance-improvement plans work, everyone wins. But when PIPs are used to justify terminations, they sometimes cause more problems than they solve. Poorly applied, they create legal liability.