Documentation can protect your decisions—or undermine them. The difference comes down to a few simple habits. Here’s how to document discipline in a way that holds up.

Halloween has passed, Thanksgiving is upon us and between now and the end of the year is when questions about holiday pay abound. Here are some frequently asked questions you’ll be hearing in the next several weeks.

The U.S. job market took a sharp turn in October. Employers announced more than 153,000 job cuts—a 175% increase from the same month last year and the highest October total since 2003.

• What’s new for W-2 reporting. Understand the OBBBA’s changes to W-2 reporting and how to adjust your processes.
• Need more time? The IRS now offers a new form to extend the deadline for distributing forms to employees and contractors.
• E-filing requirements. Understand the IRS’ rules for filing original and corrected returns.
• IRIS explained. FIRE is retiring after 2025 1099 forms are filed. Learn about the IRS’s 1099 e-filing solution, IRIS.
• 1099 best practices. Follow these 8 steps to ensure 1099 compliance and avoid IRS penalties.
• Safe harbor for minor errors. Take 6 crucial steps to activate this protection for de minimis math mistakes.
• Mandatory health benefits reporting. Ensure compliance to avoid dual penalties from the IRS (one of which cannot be waived).
• Cross-department collaboration. Work seamlessly with other teams to meet the new e-filing rules and avoid compliance gaps.
• Data security. Learn 10 effective ways to safeguard employees’ personal information on year-end forms.
• Looking ahead to 2026. Prepare for upcoming IRS changes and stay ahead of the curve.
• Remote employee reporting. Discover a simple strategy to get timely responses from remote employees on their work locations.

The proposed bills include one that would make it harder to file unfair labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board. Another would punish unions for trying to organize undocumented immigrants. Here’s a summary of the proposals.

Here’s what you need to do before claiming that approving religious accommodations would create an undue burden.

• How to communicate clearly to boost performance and earn employees’ respect.
• Motivate those who report to you, not from a “management down” but from a “leadership up” perspective.
• Master remote leadership and establish an achievement mindset.
• Coach appropriately to address uncomfortable workplace situations in real time.
• Hold all team members to the highest performance and conduct standards.
• Create and sustain a culture based on trust, open communication and transparency.
• Ask the right questions that help you mentor any employee.
• How to administer progressive disciplinary action appropriately and, when necessary, structure terminations that will withstand legal scrutiny.
• Avoid rookie mistakes that can lead to hard feelings—or even legal trouble.

Last month, we told you about a federal appeals case that ruled that an employer may not be liable for third-party sexual harassment that occurs off-premises even if the harasser is a client or customer. Now, another federal court has ruled that an employer isn’t liable for third-party harassment on the premises, either.

We have an employee who is off work recovering from a work-related injury (workers’ comp). They won’t be cleared for work at the time of our holiday party, but are asking to attend. Is it appropriate to let them? We’d love for them to come but are wondering about further injury/liability.

The New York City Council amended its Earned Safe and Sick Time Act in late October to provide workers with new time-off benefits. This includes 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick time for eligible employees for an expanded number of reasons.