When a reduction in force moves from discussion to action, the biggest risk isn’t the decision itself—it’s how it’s carried out.

Thanks to cooperation between the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Education (DOE), state plans now often include career and technical education programs in addition to traditional college education.

For the second time in one year, an employer has been sued because it fired a Black employee when it changed its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices, allegedly to avoid being sued by the Trump administration for maintaining what the EEOC now sees as illegal reverse discrimination.

All goals-oriented interview questions should be business related, broadly defined.

Union organizing activity in the United States has been on an upswing, and HR professionals who wait until a union card campaign is underway to think about their response are already behind.

• Why accurate, up-to-date job descriptions are essential for every worker and a supervisor’s best friend—and how to draft them.
• Getting buy-in during performance reviews so that employees know exactly what’s expected and what comes next.
• How to set realistic, objective job goals for every position, including for struggling employees.
• How to exclude impermissible factors from evaluations and recalculate goals based on missed work due to FMLA leave or disability accommodations.
• Why HR needs to compare prior worker PIP plans to the proposed PIP to assure fairness and consistency.
• Creating an individualized PIP based on not reaching performance review goals or other workplace problems like tardiness and behavioral problems.
• Why HR needs to be involved from day one and should always perform a final review before discharge to guard against supervisor bias.

If you’re like many workplaces with a wide range of generations represented among employees, you may be hearing language that’s at once new and unfamiliar but feels vaguely uncomfortable in a way you may not be able to put your finger on exactly.

Oakland, Portland and Olympia have passed laws expanding antidiscrimination protections to nontraditional family structures—multigenerational households, multiple-family households and even polyamorous families. Employers operating in any of these West Coast cities should note the new coverage, which often spreads from cities to broader statewide protections within a few years.

• Understanding the difference between meeting content and meeting context—and why both matter.
• Identifying common behaviors that derail meetings and how to address them in the moment.
• Practical language to redirect conversations without shutting people down.
• The different types of meetings and how to match structure to purpose.
• Setting clear expectations that keep meetings focused and productive.
• How leaders shape meeting culture through tone, presence and consistency.

Federal officials have already signaled a more aggressive approach, with a focus on workplace enforcement and faster processing. For employers, that means a higher likelihood of interaction with immigration authorities—and higher stakes when it happens.