• HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Non-prescribed music therapy didn’t qualify for FMLA leave

09/27/2026
When a child has a serious health condition, an otherwise eligible employee who is that child’s parent can take FMLA leave to care for the child. But before a child is deemed to have a serious health condition, the child must be under treatment by a health care provider or participate in a treatment program…. View Article

New employer DEI worry – state enforcement

09/27/2026
Here’s a new worry for employers already struggling to comply with federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) rules. States are also moving in on the action, with state attorneys general also going after employers for their perceived illegal DEI practices. Take, for example, the lawsuit brought by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier against Starbucks. That… View Article

NY soon requires employers provide Narcan at work

09/27/2026
On December 13, 2026, New York state employers will be required to provide access to an opioid antagonist such as naloxone (Narcan) as part of their first aid program. Narcan quickly reverses an opioid overdose. The new requirement is part of New York’s Labor Law section 27-f, which applies to all employers in the state… View Article

Latest HR fad: Using AI to set salaries

09/27/2026
In a month that’s seen increasing discomfort with the potential unintended consequences of the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence (AI), a recent HR AI deployment trend is in the news. Reports indicate that in a year when salaries are expected to grow slower than the inflation rate, HR departments are turning to AI to help… View Article

Running FMLA concurrent with state leave

09/21/2026
Question: “We have employees who are eligible for FMLA leave and also state leave. Should we always run FMLA concurrently?” H.B., Virginia Answer: Yes. In fact, the DOL has taken the position in a recent opinion letter that you are required to do so when you know the underlying reason for the leave also qualifies… View Article

Safety risk not enough to justify denied accommodation

09/21/2026
Accommodation laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) require employers to make accommodations unless doing so would create an undue hardship for the employer. So does the religious discrimination provisions of Title VII. And increasingly, the definition of what constitutes an undue hardship has tightened. For example,… View Article

For employers with Salvadoran TPS workers, confusion reigns

09/21/2026
This summer, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can legally terminate temporary protected status (TPS) – an immigration classification that allows individuals from countries designated as unsafe for their return – when it sees fit. That opened the way for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to eliminate TPS for a long list… View Article

EEOC takes to social media soliciting anti-American cases

09/21/2026
Late last year, EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas took to social media site X and posted a video inviting white men who believed they had been discriminated against to contact the EEOC. Now, Lucas has expanded these efforts to a different group and to LinkedIn as well as X. The September 14 posts feature Lucas asking,… View Article

Judge orders jury trial in SHRM service dog case

09/21/2026
In a case that may test the limits of how far employers must go to offer alternative reasonable accommodations, a federal judge has ordered a jury trial against the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The conventional legal wisdom has long been that if there are multiple reasonable accommodations possible, the employer may pick the… View Article

Another day, another DOJ DEI settlement

09/21/2026
A few weeks ago, we reported on a settlement between Deloitte and the Department of Justice (DOJ) over whether the company’s DEI efforts were illegal under the False Claims Act. In that case, Deloitte certified that it did not discriminate when it accepted a federal contract. DOJ said because Deloitte worked to diversify its workforce… View Article