Jenny Kiesewetter is a practicing ERISA and employee benefits attorney who partners with HR teams on a wide range of workplace compliance matters — from benefit-plan obligations to day-to-day HR policies and regulatory requirements. Her guidance helps employers spot risks early, navigate regulatory change, and make informed decisions that support both employees and the organization.

HR teams felt the shifts in 2025 as compliance demands kept evolving. The ten developments below shaped how employers handled risk, policy decisions, and everyday workflows.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) intensified its focus on national origin discrimination and hair-based bias as more states adopted Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act protections against discrimination tied to natural hair texture and protective hairstyles. Enforcement actions picked up speed when employers dismissed cultural remarks or appearance-related comments as minor issues.

Courts simultaneously tightened standards for employer responses to harassment from customers and external parties. The Sixth Circuit ruled that vendor relationships and customer dynamics do not excuse employer inaction. When an employer reasonably knows that customer behavior is fostering a hostile environment, it must take substantive action. This development prompted organizations to upgrade reporting systems, train managers on proper escalation procedures, and build stronger accountability language into vendor contracts.

HR Takeaway

• Add examples of national origin and hair-based discrimination to training and discipline templates.
• Clarify how to report vendor or customer misconduct.
• Teach managers to escalate and document concerns.

New overtime thresholds in 2024 and evolving court decisions complicated wage-and-hour compliance. Employers rushed to revisit job classifications, monitor remote work hours, and manage renewed joint-employment exposure from staffing models and parent-company involvement.

HR Takeaway

• Audit exempt classifications by job role and location, and document the basis for each exemption.
• Clarify timekeeping rules for remote and hybrid employees.
• Review staffing, franchise, and PEO relationships to understand control and liability.

Paid sick leave, paid family leave, and additional protected leave categories grew nationwide. More cities and states introduced time off for pregnancy loss, mental health needs, and domestic violence situations.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act established stronger standards for pregnancy accommodations and reduced burdensome documentation requirements. Employers faced the challenge of aligning multiple federal, state, and local leave mandates.

HR Takeaway

• Maintain a leave matrix and a clear approval process.
• Rewrite policies so responsibilities are easy to understand.
• Train supervisors to route accommodation requests directly to HR.

States tightened noncompete rules, demanding stricter compliance with notice, consideration, and drafting requirements. Courts pushed for narrower agreements tied to real business reasons.

Some states, like Florida, extended enforcement windows specifically for noncompetes, creating a messy patchwork of state-by-state differences.

HR Takeaway

• Update contract templates and eliminate outdated non-competes.
• Rely on confidentiality, non-solicitation, and IP agreements for protection.
• Add compliance checks to offer letters and onboarding.

Pay transparency became standard practice in many workplaces, moving beyond voluntary initiatives as more jurisdictions began enforcement. Employers had to post salary ranges, document pay decisions, and address equity gaps revealed by new reporting requirements where applicable.

HR Takeaway

• Finalize job architecture and establish salary ranges for all roles.
• Review pay equity and build multi-year correction plans.
• Train managers to explain ranges, criteria, and advancement paths.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) raised the bar on workplace safety practices, particularly around heat illness prevention, workplace violence, and hazard communication.

Employers faced tougher scrutiny of their documentation, training consistency, and whether written policies matched actual conditions on the ground.

HR Takeaway

• Align written safety programs with actual onsite practices.
• Update workplace violence plans for high-risk roles.
• Track required safety training with the same rigor used for harassment training.

I-9 compliance became stricter as remote verification options narrowed. Employers using temporary alternative procedures had to return to in-person review unless they qualified for a limited E-Verify exception.

The biggest change came when DHS ended the 540-day automatic extension for employment authorization documents (EADs). Renewals filed on or after October 30, 2025, no longer provide interim work authorization, raising reverification risks. New visa fees and changing selection criteria added pressure for employers sponsoring workers or hiring in volume.

HR Takeaway

• Encourage employees to file renewals early and build renewal timelines into your compliance calendar.
• Prepare managers for potential work interruptions.
• Review I-9 processes to confirm re-verification steps, alternative procedures, and communication protocols.

Workplace monitoring spread across more tools and platforms, creating new privacy, compliance, and cybersecurity challenges for HR. Additional state laws set rules for data retention, permissible uses, and notice requirements. Cyberattacks increasingly targeted HR systems due to the sensitive employee data they hold.

HR Takeaway

• Publish monitoring policies and limit data collected and retained.
• Restrict HR data access based on sensitivity level.
• Add cybersecurity training for HR teams.

Remote and hybrid work pulled employers into new jurisdictions, sometimes without realizing it. Each location carried its own wage, leave, tax, unemployment, workers’ compensation, and retirement plan requirements.

HR teams moved from case-by-case workarounds to sustained multi-state compliance planning.

HR Takeaway

• Map employee work locations and update policies to reflect them.
• Maintain multi-state handbooks and postings.
• Track state retirement requirements and correctly enroll employees.

10. Algorithmic and AI Governance Moves Center Stage

The HR landscape is undergoing structural change — not just cyclical fluctuations. Skilled labor shortages, increased contractor usage, evolving court interpretations, and accelerated HR tech adoption are reshaping how work gets done, how risk is managed, and how organizations attract and retain talent.

Organizations with proactive HR leadership will be best positioned to navigate 2026 confidently and sustainably.

Year-end brings fresh compliance considerations as employers prepare for another busy regulatory cycle. The issues taking shape for 2026 call for proactive planning, clearer governance, and tighter coordination between HR, legal, and operations.

Anti-discrimination and DEI programs face increased legal and political scrutiny. HR must balance inclusive practices with shifting compliance standards while managing more workplace conflict around political expression.

HR Takeaway

• Review DEI programs with legal support to ensure alignment with current laws.
• Update conduct rules to address political expression neutrally.
• Coach managers on redirecting conflict and consistently applying standards.

Pay transparency shifts into active enforcement. Regulators expect accurate ranges, structured job frameworks, and documented equity reviews. Employees come to conversations armed with benchmarks and expect clear answers.

HR Takeaway

• Finalize job architecture and salary ranges.

• Document equity reviews and build multi-year remediation plans.
• Train managers to confidently discuss pay, mobility, and equity.

AI regulations accelerate, requiring employers to document how AI tools affect employment decisions. Regulators expect risk assessments, transparency notices, and human oversight.

HR Takeaway

• Build an AI governance process with defined testing and review steps.

• Require detailed fairness and documentation support from vendors.
• Provide a human review path for automated decisions and clearly communicate it.

Even with the DOL suspending enforcement of its March 2024 independent contractor rule, misclassification remains a top concern for 2026. States continue adopting ABC tests (a strict three-part standard that presumes employee status unless all criteria are met), and regulators will zero in on contractor-heavy industries.

Job titles and contract language will not shield employers when workers operate like employees. Agencies will examine who controls the work, how embedded the role is, and whether the worker depends on the company for income. Risk escalates quickly when those factors point toward employee status for both independent contractors and gig workers.

HR Takeaway

• Audit contractor engagements and flag roles that function like employees.

• Require HR review before anyone is classified as a contractor.
• Convert high-risk roles before a regulator forces the issue.

2026 brings higher minimum wages and stronger safety expectations. OSHA plans to maintain pressure on heat illness prevention, workplace violence programs, and mandatory training. Employers with teams across multiple states will feel these changes first and most frequently.

HR Takeaway

• Build 2026 budgets around state-specific wage floors, salary thresholds, and benefits limits.

• Track wage changes, leave expansions, benefits adjustments, and OSHA requirements on a unified compliance calendar.
• Identify roles near wage or exemption lines and prepare early communication plans.

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The information contained in this site is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.