Employment Law and Labour Law

On Sept. 9, 2026, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law S3460, which grants employees the right to access their personnel records and requires employers to notify employees when negative information...

New York employers face significant new compliance obligations as two recently signed bills create expansive personnel record access rights and construction industry pay requirements. With several additional employment law bills awaiting the governor's signature—many taking effect immediately upon enactment—organizations must prepare for sweeping changes to workplace documentation, severance practices, and AI impact reporting.

Pennsylvania's Department of Labor & Industry has launched a proactive enforcement initiative targeting home care agencies for wage and hour violations. With approximately 40% of state wage complaints coming from home care workers, agencies face increased scrutiny over unpaid overtime, travel time compensation, and recordkeeping practices that may not capture all compensable work activities.

California lawmakers have advanced legislation that would prohibit employers from using automated systems as the sole basis for terminating or disciplining workers. The bill, which awaits the governor's signature, represents one of the most comprehensive state-level attempts to regulate AI in workforce management, requiring human oversight of algorithmic decisions and mandating transparency about which digital tools influence employment outcomes.

New York State Legislature has passed a bill that would require employers to provide employees with a minimum 21-day review period and 7-day revocation window for separation agreements involving the release of claims. The proposed "No Severance Ultimatums Act" extends procedural protections similar to those under federal age discrimination law to all covered severance agreements, regardless of employee age, and awaits Governor Hochul's signature.

The widespread adoption of remote work has disrupted longstanding assumptions regarding which state’s employment laws govern a particular worker.

A recent California lawsuit alleges that AI-based employee selection tools discriminated against workers on protected leave and those with disabilities during a reduction in force. The case highlights critical legal risks for employers deploying AI in high-stakes employment decisions, particularly around how AI systems handle productivity metrics for employees who are absent or working under accommodations.

When workforce reductions happen in multiple waves across related corporate entities, how does federal law treat them in the aggregate? The recent Ubisoft layoffs at Red Storm Entertainment in North Carolina illustrate critical compliance questions under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act that every employer must understand before implementing workforce changes.

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.

Employers increasingly rely on AI-enabled recruiting tools to streamline hiring, but these technologies introduce new litigation risks under employment discrimination laws and emerging AI regulations. Understanding the legal landscape, discovery implications, and governance strategies is essential for organizations implementing AI-assisted hiring systems.

A California federal court ruled that plaintiffs cannot avoid arbitration simply by labeling their claims as "sexual harassment." The decision requires plaintiffs to plausibly allege conduct that actually constitutes sexual harassment under governing law before the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act applies. This ruling establishes important limits on attempts to circumvent arbitration agreements through strategic claim labeling.

On August 21, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of the Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published a Final Rule on Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. The Final Rule goes into effect on September 21 and eliminates several established disability-related requirements instrumental to federal contractors and subcontractors’ compliance programs.