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Quick Hits On November 4, 2026, the DOL OIG announced an audit of the effectiveness of OSHA’s actions to address workplace violence. It is the OIG’s first review of the issue since a September 2001 report found OSHA could do more on guidance, outreach, and recordkeeping. OSHA still has no workplace violence standard and relies on the General Duty Clause, so the audit’s findings could shape future enforcement and rulemaking.…

Quick Hits The  Ontario Superior Court of Justice read a “for cause” confidentiality provision together with a CEO’s termination clause and found that the parties objectively intended to comply with the Canada Labour Code, rather than isolating individual words. The court distinguished Ghazvini v. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Henderson v. Slavkin, finding that the clauses in those cases permitted termination without notice where the statute prohibits it, and…

Quick Hits The Fourth Circuit held that Title VII’s Section 702 religious employer exemption is limited to religious discrimination and accommodation claims and does not shield a religious organization from sex, race, or national origin discrimination claims, even when the employment decision is motivated by sincerely held religious beliefs. For lay employees who do not perform spiritual functions and are therefore not covered by the exemption for ministerial employees, the…

Quick Hits Unlimited PTO outside the United States does not eliminate the need to track minimum statutory leave, carryover, and payout-on-termination; rather, it adds a layer of complexity to it. In jurisdictions with already generous statutory leave regimes, unlimited PTO may create productivity and coverage challenges. Replacing a more generous contractual PTO entitlement with unlimited PTO is generally considered a detrimental change requiring employee consent. In some countries, employers looking…

Quick Hits DV-2026 visa processing and DV-2027 lottery registration have faced separate disruptions. DV-2027 registration remains closed, with no confirmed opening date. Diversity Visa Lottery Background Each year, the Diversity Visa program offers up to 55,000 immigrant visas to eligible individuals from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the United States. The process begins when individuals enter the lottery, and the State Department randomly selects entrants. Those selected…

Quick Hits In Commonwealth Department of Labor and Industry v. Accuserv Pharmacy, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania reversed a trial court’s ruling in favor of twenty employees who sued for unpaid overtime wages. The appellate court found the trial court erred in determining that a six-year statute of limitations applied to the employees’ claims. The three-year statute of limitations had been commonly accepted by practitioners and judges throughout Pennsylvania. In…

Quick Hits  Courts and labor authorities outside of the United States often look at how compensation is paid in practice, and local statutory entitlements can override the plan terms entirely. Bonus terms that are consistently applied year after year can become contractual entitlements that are difficult to change or withdraw. In some countries, such as China, offering actual equity can be impractical or restricted, and companies often use phantom equity…

Quick Hits New York’s Trapped at Work Act restricts the use of “stay or pay” agreements, which, as a condition of employment, require employees to reimburse an employer for certain expenses or costs if the employment relationship ends before a specified date. Repayment agreements that are not a condition of employment are permissible. The New York Department of Labor may issue fines ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 for violations of…

The agency’s April 2024 final rule implementing the statute was not as widely applauded. Now that the EEOC has formally announced plans to revise that rule, employers should expect a narrower regulatory definition of what the PWFA covers. Employers need to read beyond headlines declaring protections will be rolled back and not expect any slowdown in enforcement on behalf of pregnant and newly postpartum workers who require basic accommodations to…