Employment & Labor, EEOC, & NLRB Regulatory Law Laws National L

The most significant pending question is the Supreme Court’s forthcoming ruling on whether Humphrey’s Executor — the 1935 precedent permitting Congress to insulate independent agency members from at-will removal — should be overruled. That asymmetry is operationally significant for any business using significant numbers of contractors, subcontractors, or staffing agency workers. Unlike the Trump administration’s 2020 NLRB joint employer standard — which requires direct and immediate control — the DOL’s proposed FLSA rule takes a broader view, examining indirect or potential https://life-connected.com/how-to-get-the-best-health-insurance.html control, economic dependence, and the totality of the business relationship. The DOL’s April 2026 proposed rule on joint employer status — covering the FLSA, FMLA, and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act — is the most broadly applicable regulatory development of the year for large employers. Employment lawyers across the ideological spectrum have noted that the ruling resolves a procedural question — who must show what at the threshold pleading stage — without changing the substantive standards that determine whether discrimination actually occurred or what defenses employers can raise.

• This year-end update provides insight into the most consequential developments for employers, focusing on the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) shifting authority, new standards for employer liability, heightened scrutiny of artificial intelligence (AI), and a wave of new state and local mandates.
• In a concurrence joined by Justice Gorsuch, Justice Thomas questioned whether the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework itself — the foundational analytical structure used in most employment discrimination cases — remains a useful tool or should be reconsidered.
• The EEOC sent letters to 500 of the largest employers in the United States questioning their Title VII compliance and flagging potentially “illegal” DEI initiatives — a signal that the agency views many diversity hiring and promotion programs as discriminating against majority-group employees.
• Several developments that haven’t yet resolved will define employment law’s trajectory through the end of the year and into 2027.
• Employers operating across multiple jurisdictions indeed face an increasingly fragmented compliance environment, where circuit splits, emerging technologies, and expanding worker‑protection laws create both uncertainty and operational risk.
• The DOL’s April 2026 proposed rule on joint employer status — covering the FLSA, FMLA, and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act — is the most broadly applicable regulatory development of the year for large employers.

The developments that actually matter for workers and employers most of the time — the doctrinal shifts, the regulatory reversals, the state-by-state legislative churning — move through the legal system with little fanfare, and then arrive on HR desks and employment lawyers’ caseloads as sudden new realities. Within the first year, the mayor must designate a responsible agency; within the next year, that agency must publish a standardized reporting form; and within one year after publication of the same, covered employers must submit their first annual report. On December 4, 2025, the city council overrode a mayoral veto and enacted laws requiring private employers with 200 or more employees in New York City to submit annual pay-data reports modeled on the former federal EEO-1 Component 2 (pay band) framework.

The Sixth Circuit created yet another circuit split related to employer liability for third-party harassment in its Bivens v. Zep, Inc. decision. In contrast, other circuits require a showing of case-specific harm, meaning this ability to “pause” Board enforcement is largely limited to Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Second, even with a restored quorum, Article II disputes are poised for Supreme Court review, so further shifts remain likely.

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This new episode highlights a few of the biggest L&E developments from the Summer of 2025, including from the DOL and EEOC, and on such hot topics as DEI-related discrimination, the FTC’s non-compete proposal, and AI laws. In today’s episode, I talk about the L&E developments and trends that employers should be watching as we begin 2026. In this first part of my new mini-series “What’s Now With . . .”, I am joined by my Cozen colleagues Dan Johns and Kelly Kindig to talk about What’s Now (new) With . In this second part of my new mini-series “What’s Now With…”, I am joined by my Cozen colleague Tamara Hinton to talk about What’s Now (new) With . Today, I am joined by Jonathan Berry, the new Solicitor of Labor for the United States Department of Labor, to discuss Solicitor Berry’s new Enforcement Memo that identifies a significant shift in policy and priorities for this DOL administration. In this third part of my new mini-series “What’s Now With…”, I am joined by my Cozen colleague Mariah Passarelli to talk about What’s Now (new) with .

Bankruptcy Authority

In Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote for a unanimous Court, holding that majority-group plaintiffs are not required to demonstrate “background circumstances” to establish a prima facie case of employment discrimination under Title VII. And is not intended or written by us to be used and/or relied on as written tax advice for any purpose including, without limitation, the marketing of any transaction addressed herein. As organizations prepare for 2026, it is essential to reassess compliance frameworks, monitor ongoing legal developments, and proactively address potential exposure.

Recent Employment, Labor, EEOC & NLRB Regulatory Law News

Civil penalties apply for noncompliance, and the city will publish the names of employers that fail to report. A designated agency will use the aggregated data to conduct citywide pay-equity studies and publish recommendations for employers to address pay disparities. Departing from EEOC guidance and other circuits that use a negligence standard, the court held that an employer is liable for harassment of an employee by a client or customer only if the employer intended for the harassment to occur or was substantially certain that it would occur. If confirmed, Mayer and Murphy would restore a three-member quorum, enabling the Board to resume issuing decisions.

The ruling deepens a circuit split on the scope of executive power over independent agencies, and its ultimate resolution is expected to be determined by the Supreme Court based on its conflict with other appellate readings of longstanding Supreme Court precedent on independent agencies. Employers with multijurisdictional footprints should address these changes to refine and update compliance roadmaps for 2026. Federal agency authority faced significant constitutional challenges, while states and cities accelerated their own legislation on pay transparency, paid leave, and https://www.faststartfinance.org/examples-of-short-term-rental-agreements/ hiring practices. This new episode highlights a few of the biggest L&E developments from the Summer of 2025, including from the DOL

Programs carefully designed to be legally defensible under prior EEOC guidance may now draw scrutiny from the same agency that issued that guidance. The rule was blocked by a federal district court in August 2024, appealed, and then the FTC quietly dropped its appeal in September 2025. Meanwhile, Acting General Counsel William Cowen rescinded over 25 guidance memoranda previously issued by Abruzzo on topics including electronic surveillance of employees, non-compete agreements, and enhanced remedies in unfair labor practice settlements.

Tax Authority

• As Littler’s analysis notes, well-documented inclusion initiatives that don’t rely on protected characteristics in individual employment decisions remain defensible under Title VII.
• In this first part of my new mini-series “What’s Now With . . .”, I am joined by my Cozen colleagues Dan Johns and Kelly Kindig to talk about What’s Now (new) With .
• Challenging employee leave and accommodation requests, and how employers might consider potential solutions to those challenges.
• The Sixth Circuit created yet another circuit split related to employer liability for third-party harassment in its Bivens v. Zep, Inc. decision.
• Non-compete enforcement has fractured between an abandoned federal rulemaking and a patchwork of increasingly aggressive state laws.

In today’s episode, I talk about the L&E developments and trends that employers should be watching as we begin 2026. In this episode, I discuss important labor and employment developments, including the EEOC’s new technical guidance on remote work as I am joined by Claudio Martinez Santistevan, a lawyer from the Mexico-based law firm of De La Vega & Martinez Rojas to discuss Mexico’s perspectives on the first few months of President Trump’s second term and how this administration’s initiatives are viewed. Today’s episode provides the latest update on the ping-pong court decisions involving President Trump’s DEI Executive Orders, and the noteworthy response to the EEOC’s new guidance on DEI-related discrimination and harassment.