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2025 has proven to be a tough year for employers seeking to create an equitable workplace. With the new administration challenging the legality of some DEI policies, employers have had to make changes. The ABA was ready with suggestions.

When compliance, culture, performance and development all compete for space on the same calendar, the year can quickly become crowded or lopsided. A strong 2026 plan doesn’t start with picking courses; it starts with mapping the year’s natural rhythms, regulatory deadlines and awareness months so training lands when it’s most timely and relevant.

We want to encourage our staff to perform volunteer work and therefore want to begin offering PTO for doing so. Can we limit the kind of volunteer work we will allow PTO to be taken for?

Every year, employers must remind employees of policies regarding paid or unpaid time on a holiday. If you haven’t already done so, with Christmas and other observances approaching, now’s the time to send those messages.

Sometimes business is booming. Other times, not so much. We appear to be heading into a downturn, and that means you may have to make some hard decisions, including terminations of some long-time employees. Is there a way to do so compassionately? According to lawyers at Littler participating in a recent webinar, the answer is yes. Here’s how to do so.

If all three bills are enacted and signed by the president, all employers would soon be able to offer comp time in lieu of overtime, the Department of Labor would be limited in which employees it considers tipped employees and the DOL’s PAID program would become an official part of the FLSA.

Generally, employers can require employees to treat customers with respect and consideration. But can they really require workers to fake it?

If you haven’t required supervisors to get HR involved in the approval process, you should. A supervisor’s informal accommodation can backfire otherwise, making it very hard to revoke the accommodation. That’s what happened in one recently filed lawsuit.

Here’s what EEOC commissioner Kalpana Kotagal predicts for 2026.

We tend to think of national origin discrimination as discrimination against employees from countries other than America. The EEOC’s latest initiative, however, is aimed at national origin discrimination against American citizens.