Tag: HR news

FLSA Brain Twister: How to Determine When Breaks are Compensable

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is complicated. So, the best way to learn is by posing a question, deconstructing the issues, and then answering them. Facts An employee works in a sprawling facility. She gets a 30-minute unpaid meal period. It takes between five and 10 minutes to walk to her car, same upon […]

SPARK Talent: Fanatics Three Keys to Leadership

Success in the workforce starts with your leaders. If those taking charge don’t have clarity and a focused direction, their talent will lag behind. But knowing exactly where you, your team, and your talent needs to go isn’t always simple, and sometimes, you need to bet on your success. Few know this better than Ericka […]

Responding to OSHA Investigation: What You Do in the First 24 Hours Matters

A serious workplace incident rarely ends with the incident itself. For many employers, the next challenge arrives when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) begins asking questions. The steps taken during the first 24 hours often shape the course of the agency’s investigation and can affect the company’s position in any resulting enforcement action […]

Supreme Court

What Employers Should Know About Recent TPS Changes

On June 25, 2026, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Mullin v. Doe, in which the Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with the termination of temporary protected status (TPS) designations for Haiti and Syria. Under the TPS statute, which was enacted in 1990, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary […]

Bias, Bots and Boundaries: Practical Tips for Avoiding Liability in AI Recruiting

Artificial intelligence can make recruiting faster, but legal responsibility does not disappear when technology enters the hiring process. That point is being tested in Mobley v. Workday, Inc., Case No. 3:23-cv-00770- RFL (N.D. Cal. 2023), a federal lawsuit pending in the Northern District of California, in which job applicants allege that Workday’s AI-based applicant-screening tools […]

5th Circuit Rules Employee With 27 Work Deficiencies Still Makes It to Jury

You read the headline right: Despite 27 workplace violations, a three-judge panel from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (the federal appeals court for Texas) decided the employee still gets to take her Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) claims to trial. Yes, it was by a 2-to-1 […]

Telework as a Reasonable Accommodation: Recent EEOC Guidance for Employers

Disability accommodation claims have long been among the most common workplace discrimination claims, but the recent increase has been unusually sharp. One major driver is telework as a requested reasonable accommodation. For employers managing return-to-office expectations, the practical question is whether there are lawful ways to evaluate, limit, modify, or deny telework requests when appropriate. […]

Union Contracts Are Becoming HR AI Playbook 

HR leaders should watch an unexpected source of practical AI policy: collective bargaining agreements. A July 2026 Axios review found that the NewsGuild-CWA had roughly 85 to 90 contracts with explicit AI provisions. Those workplace AI rules matter beyond unionized employers because they show how employee participation can become part of deployment rather than a […]

End of an Era? EEOC Votes to Scrap 60-year-old Demographic Reporting Requirements

On July 21, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to approve a draft notice of proposed rulemaking that would rescind the EEO-1 report and related demographic data reporting requirements, ending an obligation that has been a fixture of federal employment compliance for six decades. While the proposal must still navigate the notice-and-comment process […]

IT

Pay Attention to This Texas Distracted Driving Phone Sex Case

Distracted driving is a huge issue in the United States, causing large numbers of crashes and deaths every year. But what happens when distracted driving results in a crash from an on-the-job employee? Can the employer be held responsible? What can employers do to protect themselves? Distracted Driving Thomas Earl Roberts was a commercial tractor-trailer […]