Ogletree Deakins

Quick Hits New York’s “Trapped at Work Act” bans “stay or pay” agreements that require repayment of training costs if employees leave employment. The law applies to all workers, including employees and independent contractors, classifying repayment agreements for training costs as unconscionable and unenforceable. Employers may want to revise documents and agreements to ensure compliance, particularly regarding tuition assistance and training distinctions. The “Trapped at Work Act” (Article 37, N.Y.…

Quick Hits On December 15, 2025, New Jersey issued rules codifying disparate impact liability under the Law Against Discrimination (LAD) across various sectors, including employment, by clarifying that neutral practices with a disproportionately negative effect on protected classes could violate the law unless proven necessary for a legitimate business interest. The rules clarify a burden-shifting framework for disparate impact claims, requiring complainants to demonstrate impact and employers to provide empirical…

Quick Hits Rather than simply amending the Labour Code, the Polish government plans to implement EU Pay Transparency Directive 2023/970 in a standalone piece of legislation. Employers will be obliged to go through a process of job evaluation, consisting of four core basic criteria. The plan will also see the introduction of a “Job Evaluation Tool.” A failure to comply with the changes may result in a fine of up…

Quick Hits The IRS recently declared it will not enforce tax and reporting requirements for state paid family and medical leave (PFML) benefits in 2026. Thirteen states and Washington, D.C., have enacted state-run paid family and medical leave programs. Under Revenue Ruling 2025-4, amounts paid to an employee under a state’s PFML program should be included in an employee’s gross income and are wages for federal employment tax purposes. However,…

Quick Hits The enhanced premium tax credits for individual health insurance from state-run exchanges or the federal exchange under the ACA will likely expire as Congress adjourns for the rest of the year without passing a measure to extend them. Employee demand for employer-sponsored health benefits will likely surge in 2026 if ACA premiums become unaffordable. It is unclear if Congress will pass a bill to revive the subsidies in…

Quick Hits On December 16, 2025, President Trump issued a proclamation restricting the entry of foreign nationals from select countries, effective January 1, 2026, citing national security and public safety concerns. The proclamation affects nationals of newly designated countries who are outside the United States on January 1, 2026, and do not possess a valid visa, although it does not prohibit the issuance of new visa stamps. Exceptions to the…

Quick Hits USCIS will continue to accept adjustment of status filings based on the Dates for Filing Chart in January 2026. EB-1 applicants born in India and China will advance on final action dates and dates for filing. Most EB-2 applicants will advance on final action dates and dates for filing. EB-3 shows little movement with respect to final action dates and dates for filing. EB-5 Unreserved applicants born in…

Quick Hits The Illinois Department of Human Rights unveiled draft rules for implementing Illinois’s new ban on AI discrimination in employment, clarifying potential notice and recordkeeping obligations for employers regarding their use of AI. The draft rules would apply broadly to all employers under the Illinois antidiscrimination law and would necessitate notice whenever AI is involved in covered employment decisions, regardless of whether it leads to unlawful discrimination. Under the…

Quick Hits In Edwards v. Shelby County, Tennessee, the Sixth Circuit recently held that an employee’s night blindness may qualify as a disability that would require a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. Night blindness is not automatically a disability but may constitute one, depending on the individual’s functional limitations, consistent with the ADA’s fact-specific inquiry. This decision reinforces the ADA’s broad protections after the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA). Background on…

Quick Hits The U.S. Senate confirmed President Trump’s nominations of James D. Murphy and Scott Mayer to the NLRB, and Crystal S. Carey to be the NLRB’s general counsel. The confirmations restore a quorum of three members on the NLRB, enabling the Board to function and decide cases. Carey’s appointment is expected to shift enforcement policies at the NLRB in line with the Trump administration. Despite having a quorum, the…

Quick Hits Two Texas produce associations filed suit against OSHA, challenging the constitutionality of its general safety standards. The plaintiffs argue that OSHA’s broad mandate lacks the necessary intelligible principle required by the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit seeks to invalidate OSHA’s general safety regulations, potentially impacting federal workplace safety enforcement. That motion mounts a frontal attack on the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s (OSH Act) core delegation for general safety…

Quick Hits The UK Employment Rights Bill has been described as “the biggest upgrade in employment rights for a generation.” The scope of the bill covers permanent and agency workers, maternity and bereavement leave, statutory sick pay, flexible working, whistleblowing protections, collective redundancy, trade union reform, outsourcing, and seafaring. On 1 July 2025, the government published a roadmap for the delivery of the Employment Rights Bill. Its purpose was to…

Quick Hits The U.S. Department of Justice recently published a final rule eliminating liability for disparate impact discrimination for organizations that receive federal money. Intentional discrimination, including disparate treatment based on race, color, or national origin, remains unlawful under Title VI. The rule took effect immediately. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in any program or activity…

Quick Hits The Washington State minimum wage for nonexempt employees sixteen years of age and older will increase 2.8 percent over the 2025 rate to $17.13 per hour in 2026. In order to qualify as an overtime-exempt worker, an employee must be paid at least 2.25 times the minimum wage rate, or $80,168.40 annually, regardless of the size of the employer. Several localities, including Seattle, Bellingham, Burien, Everett, Renton, SeaTac,…

Quick Hits The New York City Council enacted two new pay data reporting laws, requiring large employers to submit annual reports detailing pay data by race, ethnicity, and sex. The designated agency will collect demographic information modeled after the former federal EEO-1 Component 2 reports and will have the authority to modify reporting requirements, including options for different gender identities. Employers face penalties for noncompliance, including written warnings and fines,…

Quick Hits In its 2025–26 term, the Supreme Court of the United States will decide the constitutionality of President Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship. Oral arguments are expected to take place in the spring of 2026; the Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling by summer 2026. Although the executive order is on hold pending the Supreme Court’s decision, USCIS has issued guidance outlining how the order would…

Quick Hits Technological advancements enable employees to work remotely for foreign companies without relocating, as illustrated by a recent ruling from a German regional labor court. The Rhineland-Palatinate Regional Labor Court ruled that the German Unfair Dismissal Protection Act does not apply to an employee working from home in Germany for a Spanish company, emphasizing the principle of territoriality. The decision highlights that exceptions to the territoriality principle in dismissal…

Quick Hits The demand for hybrid and remote work arrangements remains strong among employees. Paying remote workers less than in-person workers for performing the same work could increase the risk of discrimination claims. Reducing pay for exempt employees who work remotely could jeopardize their exempt status in certain situations. Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed a wave of telework, this type of arrangement remains very popular among many workers.…

The OSHA Form 301 Incident Report captures the who, what, where, when, and how for each recordable case. Employers typically assemble the required information from supervisor reports, employee statements, timekeeping records, medical work‑status notes, workers’ compensation first reports of injury, equipment logs, and job descriptions. Quick Hits The OSHA Form 301 Incident Report requires detailed documentation of each recordable case, including the sequence and mechanism of injury or illness, and…

Quick Hits On November 19, 2025, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal of a PAGA action in Brown v. Dave & Buster’s of California, Inc., holding that a prior settlement barred the plaintiff’s claims under the doctrine of claim preclusion. The court found that the settlement in a 2019 action, which covered the same alleged Labor Code violations, constituted a final judgment on the merits and involved the…

Quick Hits On November 18, 2025, the California Court of Appeal affirmed penalties against Anton’s Services for misclassifying workers and failing to comply with prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements on public works projects. The court’s decision highlights the strict enforcement of California’s Prevailing Wage Law, emphasizing the necessity of correct worker classification and adherence to apprenticeship statutes. The ruling clarifies that judicial review of administrative wage and penalty assessments is…

Quick Hits The EEOC, the DOL, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are coordinating efforts related to national origin discrimination and anti-American bias. As part of Project Firewall, the DOL and EEOC plan to share data, align enforcement tools, and facilitate referrals addressing discriminatory hiring and potential H‑1B program abuses. Given this coordination, employers may see…

Quick Hits California and New York are implementing stringent measures to curb “stay or pay” contracts. A Florida appellate court ruled the state’s open carry ban unconstitutional, allowing open carry throughout the state. Maryland issued final regulations for its mini-WARN Act, which includes provisions for remote employees. New pay transparency laws in New Jersey, California, Delaware, and Washington require employers to disclose pay and benefits information in job postings, with…

Quick Hits The European Union’s “Equal Treatment Framework Directive” (Directive 2000/78/EC) also protects employees, who are not themselves disabled, from discrimination by association on grounds of disability, such as parents who care for a child with a disability and are disadvantaged as a result. In such cases, employers must provide reasonable accommodation, such as adjustments to working hours or to the workplace, insofar as doing so would not cause a…

Quick Hits The California Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that a car dealership’s “flag bonus pay” system for service technicians complies with California’s “no borrowing” rule. The court distinguished this compensation structure from the previously unlawful “piece rate basis” system because it paid a guaranteed hourly rate for all clocked hours (independent of productivity) that fully satisfied minimum-wage and rest-break requirements, plus a true productivity bonus on top. The…

Quick Hits The NYDFS recently issued guidance that provides detailed best practices to mitigate risk throughout the TPSP life cycle: due diligence, contracting, ongoing monitoring, and termination. The guidance indicates that NYDFS will scrutinize policies and procedures related to TPSPs, especially where covered entities outsource cybersecurity compliance. Companies may want to revisit vendor management policies, contracts, and oversight procedures, including with respect to AI platforms. NYDFS has identified covered entities’…

Quick Hits Jurisdictions such as California, New York City, Colorado, Illinois, and the European Union (EU) variously require (or plan to require) and encourage bias testing, notices, transparency, and, in some cases, public summaries. AI involvement can create substantial legal risk, even when humans make the final decisions; AI-influenced scores, rankings, or screens can still be treated by regulatory authorities as decision-making, triggering validation, bias-testing, notice, and transparency duties—with “cutoff”…

Quick Hits Effective January 1, 2026, New York State will raise the minimum wage to $17.00 for downstate employees and $16.00 for upstate employees Along with the minimum wage increases, there will be adjustments to the cash wage and tip credits for tipped service employees, as well as revised meal and uniform credit rates to reflect the new wage structure. The minimum salary thresholds for the executive and administrative employee…

Quick Hits USCIS will continue to accept adjustment of status filings based on the Dates for Filing chart in the December 2025 Visa Bulletin. The December 2025 Visa Bulletin shows some advancement from last month’s bulletin for employment-based categories for the final action dates. All employment-based categories for dates for filing remain unchanged, except for fourth preference for Certain Religious Workers and fifth preference unreserved. The final action dates for…

Quick Hits The IRS and Treasury Department recently published guidance to clarify how employees may calculate their tax deduction for tips and overtime pay for the 2025 tax year when they have limited information. The guidance shows examples of common situations, such as a bartender with reported and unreported tips, a self-employed travel guide who received tips on digital payment apps, and a law enforcement employee who is paid overtime…

Quick Hits The EEOC issued a one‑page technical assistance document and updated its national origin landing page, both making clear that Title VII protects all workers—including Americans—and clearly stating potential business rationales do not justify national origin discrimination or anti-American bias. Job ads preferring visa statuses, disparate treatment in applications, assignments, or pay, and unlawful harassment or retaliation are identified as top risk and enforcement areas in the ongoing effort…

Quick Hits President Trump has nominated labor and employment M. Carter Crow as the new general counsel of the EEOC, a position that has been vacant since January 2025. Crow’s Senate confirmation process will likely take several weeks to months, but if confirmed, Crow would be positioned to carry out the Trump administration’s discrimination and harassment enforcement priorities. The nomination comes weeks after the U.S. Senate confirmed another commissioner, restoring…

Quick Hits The elective deferral limit for 401(k) and 403(b) plans will increase to $24,500 for 2026, and the catch-up contribution limit will increase to $8,000 for most employees but will remain at $11,250 for employees who achieve ages sixty to sixty-three during 2026. The limitation on compensation that can be taken into account under tax-qualified retirement plans will increase to $360,000 for 2026. The threshold for determining highly compensated…

Quick Hits On October 30, 2025, the Federal Labor Court of Germany ruled that probationary periods in fixed-term contracts must be proportionate to the duration and type of work, with no rigid limits. The Federal Labor Court upheld a four-month probationary period for a one-year fixed-term contract, considering it is proportionate due to a sixteen-week training plan. The Federal Labor Court clarified that even if a probationary period is deemed…

Quick Hits Starting no later than January 3, 2028, the FAMLI program will provide most Maryland employees up to twelve weeks of paid leave for certain family and medical reasons, with a possible additional twelve weeks for parental bonding, per benefit year. After several legislative delays to the program’s effective date, the MDOL has now reissued proposed regulations to implement the FAMLI program. The proposed Claims chapter offers additional key…

Quick Hits With the EEOC’s quorum restored, employers can expect more high-profile investigations, broad data requests, and pattern-or-practice litigation targeting hiring, promotion, compensation, DEI programming, and accommodations. Employers may want to consider conducting adverse impact and pay studies to identify and remove barriers to equal employment opportunity. Employment decisions that are made based on objective job-related criteria buttressed by ample documentation will likely be strongest and most defensible; it therefore…

Quick Hits The Delaware Supreme Court is reviewing a case on whether noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements remain enforceable after the forfeiture of equity units due to violations of the noncompete agreement by a former executive. The Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that because the executive’s equity units were automatically forfeited under the agreement when he was terminated for cause, the restrictive covenants lacked the necessary consideration at the time the…

Quick Hits Generally, employers aren’t required to cover weight loss drugs in their health plans. More employers are voluntarily covering weight loss medications to recruit and retain talent. Demand for weight loss drugs is growing among workers. The medications are expensive—typically about $617 to $766 per month, according to the Employee Benefits Research Institute. In most cases, employers are not legally required to cover GLP-1 drugs in their health plans.…

Quick Hits Workers who are Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist will mark religious celebrations in December 2025. Employers must grant valid religious accommodation requests unless it would impose a substantial burden on the business. In considering time off requests, employers balance business demands with legal obligations. Employees might ask for time off or breaks for religious observances or to complete prayers at designated times. Typical religious accommodations during the holiday…

Quick Hits The comment period on the Education Department’s proposed Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS) to IPEDS closed on October 14, 2025, drawing thousands of comments by universities, higher education associations, community and technical colleges, career schools, graduate and professional programs, civil rights and policy organizations, researchers, and individual citizens. Commenters recommended limiting ACTS to truly selective institutions and treating graduate/professional programs separately. Institutions anticipate risk-based reviews tied to…