Ogletree Deakins

Quick Hits The EEOC has proposed rescinding federal EEO reporting requirements, including mandatory annual EEO-1 filings. As of the publication date of this article, the proposed rule has not yet been formally published in the Federal Register and remains subject to public comment. Current reporting obligations remain in effect unless and until the EEOC issues a final rule; the EEOC would retain authority to seek relevant records during investigations. The…

Quick Hits On July 20, 2026, DHS rescinded the 2022 public charge framework and restored broad discretion for officers to weigh all pertinent factors when assessing whether an applicant is likely at any time to become a public charge. The rule takes effect September 18, 2026. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), an applicant for a visa, admission, or adjustment of status is inadmissible if, in the reviewing officer’s…

Quick Hits New York City’s final rules for the amended ESSTA align with new requirements that employers provide an additional thirty-two hours of unpaid protected time off immediately upon hire and at the beginning of each calendar year. The final rules clarify that “protected time off” includes both paid and unpaid time for various circumstances, such as caring for a disabled household member or attending legal proceedings related to benefits.…

In Decloedt v. Radnet Management, Inc., the California Second Appellate District affirmed the denial of an employer’s motion to compel arbitration, concluding that the plaintiff-respondent’s allegations of severe or pervasive sexual orientation harassment by a coworker fell squarely within the EFAA’s exemption from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). Quick Hits In Decloedt v. Radnet Management, Inc., the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, held that harassment on the basis…

Quick Hits The Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of race discrimination and retaliation claims, ruling the employee failed to establish a prima facie case or overcome the employer’s legitimate business reasons for the elimination of his position.  The court found no evidence of discriminatory animus, noting the employee was not replaced in a discriminatory manner during a company reorganization. Claims of “constructive demotion” were rejected, as the employee did not…

Quick Hits New York State lawmakers have passed a bill that would ban the enforcement of class action waivers in some circumstances and other waivers of workers’ rights under the Human Rights Law. The bill includes exceptions for bona fide settlements, post-employment agreements, and collective bargaining agreements, while also considering federal preemption under the Federal Arbitration Act. The bill has not yet been signed by the governor. On May 13,…

Quick Hits In EEOC v. SkyWest Airlines, Inc., the Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court’s ruling that Title VII plaintiffs do not need to take steps to reduce their damages for emotional distress. A Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport parts clerk sued SkyWest Airlines for sexual harassment and retaliation, and a Dallas jury awarded her $2 million in punitive damages and $170,000 for emotional harm, an award later reduced to statutory…

Quick Hits Employers with employees in Minnesota must designate and communicate their chosen accrual year for ESST or it defaults to the calendar year. Eligibility is based on a “good faith” determination that an employee will work at least eighty hours per year in Minnesota. Employees—not employers—control whether ESST is used. ESST used for a nonqualifying purpose is not protected and may be subject to discipline in accordance with the…

Quick Hits The Seventh Circuit held that the BIPA clarifying amendments, which limit plaintiffs to “at most, one recovery” per person per method of collection, apply retroactively to pending cases. The court found “the Illinois law of retroactivity is well established, allowing us to predict how the Supreme Court of Illinois would rule with a high degree of confidence.” Because the amendment addresses only the statutory damages available to plaintiffs—not…

Quick Hits Colorado’s law governing automatic renewal clauses in contracts now applies to businesses and individuals, rather than just individuals. Online automatic renewal contracts must have an online method of cancellation that does not obstruct a business’s or individual’s ability to terminate automatic renewal or continuous service, immediately. Businesses may still display retention offers or discounted pricing during the cancellation process, but the business must simultaneously and prominently display a…

Quick Hits Cal/OSHA is considering modifications to its proposed workplace inspection regulation after receiving oral and written comments following an April 1, 2026, public hearing. The proposed rule would define the roles of employer representatives and employee-authorized representatives during workplace inspections. Under the proposed rule, an “employee-authorized representative” may be a fellow employee, a third party, or a collective bargaining representative. The proposed rule would not alter the basic consent-and-warrant…

Quick Hits Oklahoma has amended its occupational safety and health citation rule to allow the ODOL to issue citations against public employers more than six months after an alleged violation when that violation arises from a fatality investigation or when third-party conduct caused the delay. The amendment takes effect July 11, 2026, and applies to state and local government employers covered by Oklahoma’s public employee occupational safety and health program.…

Quick Hits When reviewing a mass layoff notice, the focus must generally be on the purpose of the notification procedure. Stating a number of employees to be laid off that is slightly too high in the mass layoff notice does not automatically render the notice invalid. The Case The employee worked as a machine setup technician and operator for a key manufacturer and machine builder. The employer became insolvent in…

The Spring 2026 deregulation plan incorporates, for the first time, the regulatory plans of independent agencies, now subject to White House coordination following the Supreme Court of the United States’ June 29, 2026, decision expanding presidential removal power. Among the 702 targeted rules are environmental review requirements for energy projects, energy efficiency standards, rules that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and specific deregulatory actions relevant to the federal contracting…

Quick Hits A New York appellate court found that a pandemic-related office closure does not exempt nonresident employees from New York income tax on out-of-state earnings. The court found that the nonresident employee’s full income was taxable under the state’s convenience of the employer rule because the nonresident employee’s out-of-state remote work situation during the pandemic was not due to the employer’s necessity. The court further rejected constitutional claims to…

Quick Hits The German government’s governing coalition issued a reform package that includes labor and employment law proposals that would relax dismissal protections for top earners, provide tax benefits on severance payments for individuals who quickly take up new employment, and eliminate telephone-based sick leave certifications. The reform package would also allow fixed-term employment contracts without objective grounds for up to forty-eight months and to be extended up to six…

Quick Hits The New York Court of Appeals clarified that, pursuant to New York Labor Law § 220, contractors on public projects in New York must pay prevailing wages even if the contract does not promise to pay prevailing wages. The court found that any agreement in a public works contract to shorten the statute of limitations governing third-party claims for prevailing wages is not enforceable. Prevailing wages may apply…

Specifically, the EEOC identified ten actions it intends to pursue, including regulatory proposals to rescind the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP), eliminate the annual EEO-1 report, and withdraw long-standing interpretive guidance on affirmative action and national origin discrimination. The EEOC’s regulatory agenda, as released in its latest submission in the federal Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, is a statement of the agency’s intent, but is…

Quick Hits The EEOC released a draft strategic plan for FY 2026–2030 on July 1, 2026, with public comments due by July 19, 2026. The draft narrows or removes several priorities carried over from the current FY 2022–2026 plan, most notably around systemic enforcement, the agency’s own diversity-related workforce commitments, and AI in hiring. Employers may wish to review the draft now, since it signals how the Commission intends to…

Quick Hits Virginia Governor Spanberger vetoed SB 378/HB 1263 on May 14, 2026, blocking legislation that would have extended collective bargaining rights to approximately 500,000 public employees across the Commonwealth. The vetoed bill would have repealed Virginia’s collective bargaining ban, established a Public Employee Relations Board, required mandatory good-faith bargaining over wages, hours, and working conditions, and imposed binding arbitration upon impasse. Virginia’s existing framework, which allows individual localities to…

Quick Hits On June 22, 2026, the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights (MCCR) published its Elements of Proof Guidance, a comprehensive document setting forth the elements of proof the MCCR applies for claims of employment and other discrimination under Maryland State Government Article, Title 20. The guidance identifies thirty-five categories of employment discrimination claims—ranging from hiring, promotion, and discharge to harassment, retaliation, and genetic testing—and sets forth the specific elements…

Quick Hits The Supreme Court reaffirmed that the Fourteenth Amendment grants automatic citizenship to virtually all children born on United States soil (i.e., “birthright citizenship”). The ruling affirmed lower court rulings that enjoined an executive order by President Donald Trump, which sought to restrict U.S. citizenship conferred at birth to children with at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. The ruling preserves the…

Quick Hits The Supreme Court ruled that the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX allow states to designate school sports participation based on biological sex and that the laws do not unlawfully discriminate against transgender individuals. The Court found that Title IX does not require schools to make exceptions to biological sex-based sports to allow biological males who identify as female and who may have taken puberty-delaying medication or hormones.…

Quick Hits The Supreme Court ruled that the removal provision for Federal Trade Commission members violates the Constitution’s separation of powers. The Court’s overruling of a nearly ninety-year-old precedent could impact the president’s authority to remove leaders of other agencies, such as the NLRB and MSPB. The Trump v. Slaughter Decision In Trump v. Slaughter, No. 25-332, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 against a legal challenge by former FTC commissioner…

Quick Hits The DOJ issued an opinion finding that the EEOC’s guidelines on disparate impact liability under Title VII are unconstitutional, reasoning that they impose liability on employers based on disparate effects alone without regard to intent. The DOJ’s opinion emphasizes that the burden of proof regarding the unreasonableness of an employment practice and its causation of disparities lies with plaintiffs, rather than employers. The DOJ also found the EEOC’s…

Quick Hits The Ninth Circuit ruled the arbitration agreement was enforceable because it was limited to employment-related claims. The court clarified that the broad language of “including but not limited to” in the agreement did not render it overly expansive, as other language in the agreement indicated it was limited to employment contexts. The court distinguished the case from recent California court decisions that have declined to enforce agreements based…

Quick Hits By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court in Lau held that border officers may “parole” a returning LPR based on suspected “commission” of an inadmissibility offense—not based on a conviction or on “clear and convincing” evidence of the commission of an inadmissibility offense—at reentry. Paroled LPRs can be physically present in the United States but are not legally admitted, which can disrupt employment authorization and other benefits tied…

Quick Hits On June 25, 2026, GSA published a notice confirming that Executive Order 14398, applies to “all non-FAR based-contracts,” with GSA, including real property leases, concession contracts, and outleases. The clause turns on race- or ethnicity-based actions across five domains, not on whether a program carries a “DEI” label, so a review limited to programs branded as DEI may miss what the clause actually prohibits. The notice is a…

Quick Hits Side gigs supported by digital apps are becoming more common. State laws may regulate whether an employer can fire a worker for moonlighting. Most employees are considered at will, but some have job protections from a union contract or individual employment contract. It is becoming more common for employees to have side gigs, particularly in roles like food delivery, ridesharing, online tutoring, social media management, creating content as…

Quick Hits The updated pilot program bill’s requirements would apply only to accidents occurring within Alameda County and Santa Clara County. The bill would require the BOI to “immediately notify” the district attorneys’ offices in Alameda or Santa Clara counties upon learning of a fatal accident or an “incident in which there is a serious injury to five or more employees.” If enacted as proposed, AB 2321’s provisions would remain…

Quick Hits The Rhode Island General Assembly wrapped up its 2026 legislative session on June 11, 2026, after passing several bills impacting employers. New enactments address grocery store self-service checkouts and employee monitors, provide warehouse worker protections, and expand Rhode Island’s Fair Employment Practices Act to cover domestic workers. Lawmakers failed to pass some notable proposals, including bills that would have regulated AI use and electronic monitoring in workplaces, provided…

Quick Hits The South Carolina Supreme Court recently held that an employer was not liable on theories of negligent hiring, supervision, or retention regarding an employee who had already been granted criminal immunity under the state’s “castle doctrine” after fatally shooting a customer during a workplace confrontation. The court’s reasoning centered on a critical distinction: when an employee’s use of force is determined to be lawful and justified, there is…

The changes—part of a broader EU simplification push following a provisional agreement reached between the Parliament, Council, and Commission on 7 May 2026—push back key compliance deadlines, introduce an outright ban on artificial intelligence (AI) tools used to generate nonconsensual intimate imagery, and resolve a long-standing overlap in the rules governing AI used in industrial machinery. The EU Council still needs to sign off before any of this takes legal…

Quick Hits Regulatory inspections and investigations under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) take several forms, including proactive and reactive visits by Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MOL) inspectors who are empowered to enforce compliance with the OHSA and protect worker health and safety. MOL inspectors have broad enforcement powers, including entering a workplace without a warrant or prior notice. Beyond the obligations established by the…

Quick Hits A nonprofit has sued DOL under FOIA to compel disclosure of federal contractors’ 2021 and 2022 Type 2 EEO-1 data, the most recent reporting years targeted by such a request. The suit mirrors an earlier case in California, Center for Investigative Reporting v. U.S. Department of Labor, where the same type of FOIA request for contractor EEO-1 data led to disclosure of the 2016 through 2020 reports. The…

Quick Hits A number of states passed new laws in 2026 related to paid and unpaid leave, employment discrimination, child labor, noncompete clauses, and pay transparency, among other things. These new state laws will take effect on July 1, 2026, unless otherwise noted. See our article, “2026 Midyear State and Local Minimum Wage Increases,” for a roundup of changes to state minimum wage rates taking effect in mid-2026. Arkansas In…

Quick Hits USCIS will continue to accept adjustment of status filings based on the Final Action Dates for Filing Chart in July 2026. Visas are unavailable for the remainder of the fiscal year for EB-2 applicants from India. EB-4 Certain Religious Workers (SR) is showing priority dates again due to the program’s extension to September 30, 2026. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that it would continue to…

Quick Hits An MSA is a contract in which both the employer and the employee agree to end the employment relationship by mutual consent, often involving an additional payment from the employer in exchange for a release of claims. MSAs are particularly useful in jurisdictions with stringent termination laws and can help employers avoid prolonged disputes or litigation by securing releases of potential employment claims. A best practice for employers…

In doing so, the proposed rule appears to flip the old presumption on its head, allowing the existence of the prior presumption to serve as evidence of discrimination against those who were excluded from it. Quick Hits The proposed rule replaces the old eligibility framework with a new test requiring applicants to show that a governmental or private entity discriminated against or was biased against their racial, ethnic, or cultural…

Quick Hits The European Union has provisionally agreed to delay the implementation of high-risk AI regulations in employment decisions until December 2, 2027. Subject to formal adoption, the agreement would delay the requirements for “high-risk” systems, which include those intended to be used to make decisions affecting employment terms, promotion, termination, task allocation, and monitoring or evaluating workers’ performance. Although the revised deadline is expected, employers may still want to…