Worldwide: Employment and HR

Memorial Hermann Health System, a Texas nonprofit hospital system, has settled a suit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) relating to 401(k) plan fees and fund choices.

As the SECURE 2.0 Act deadline for mandatory catch-up contributions for some plan participants looms, many retirement plan sponsors are beginning to amend their plan documents to meet its requirements.

Employers face strategic decisions about whether to adopt Trump Account Contribution Programs (TACPs) following new DOL guidance clarifying their ERISA status. This analysis examines how TACPs compare against existing family-friendly benefits like dependent care FSAs, 529 plans, HSAs, and student loan assistance, providing a framework for total rewards committees to evaluate demographic fit, competitive positioning, and budget trade-offs.

On July 21, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that Section 8 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) does not authorize the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to require employers to record work-related mental illnesses.

If your company’s drug-testing policy still turns on what you “reasonably believe” is a safety-sensitive position, it will soon be out of date. House Bill 3127, now signed into law, overhauls the employment provisions of the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana and Patient Protection Act (Title 63, Section 427.8) and becomes effective November 1, 2026.

Unfortunately, answers to these questions are jurisdiction and fact dependent. Although cannabis remains unlawful under federal law, a growing number of states and local jurisdictions protect at least some forms of lawful off-duty cannabis use.

Healthcare employers face renewed judicial scrutiny and increased state skepticism when implementing arbitration agreements for their workforce. This discussion explores strategic approaches to designing...

In a significant decision that will affect the scope of representative actions under the WHL and PWA, the New Jersey Appellate Division held that representative actions under the WHL and PWA do not require class certification under Rule 4:32-1—significantly expanding the ability of workers to bring representative actions under New Jersey law.

California's Labor and Workforce Development Agency has issued significant modifications to its proposed PAGA regulations, lowering thresholds for high-frequency filers and replacing the "vexatious filer" designation with a "non-compliant filer" standard. The revised rules also introduce new settlement flexibility and employer verification responsibilities that will apply to both pending and future PAGA cases.

A federal district court ruling in Tennessee has determined that fully remote employees do not establish a "single site of employment" under the federal WARN Act, creating uncertainty for employers navigating workforce reductions in an increasingly remote-first business environment. With lower courts divided on this issue and no appellate guidance yet available, the legal landscape for WARN Act compliance in distributed workforces remains unsettled and fact-dependent.

As companies like Cisco, Amazon, and Meta announce layoffs while simultaneously reporting record profits, a troubling pattern emerges: are these workforce reductions truly driven by AI automation, or is something else at play? This analysis examines the phenomenon of "AI-washing" and explores whether artificial intelligence is genuinely replacing workers or simply serving as a convenient justification for cost-cutting measures that free up capital for future technology investments.

Welcome to our July update, where we highlight some of the latest developments in employment law. In this edition, we consider two recent cases. We also summarise recent and forthcoming changes in employment legislation...