Workplace Laws and Regulations

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The Employment Rights Bill (ERB), the UK government’s flagship legislation for employment law reform, is continuing its passage through the parliamentary process to become law. Having grown and developed since first introduced in October 2024, yet more amendments were tabled on 7 July 2025. These come less than a week after the government published its roadmap providing an indicative timetable for consultation and implementation of the ERB (read more on our employment law watch blog) and will be debated during July.

To the extent the amendments are government-backed, they stand a good chance of going through. These include new provisions restricting the use of confidentiality provisions for silencing harassment and discrimination, amendments to soften the fire and rehire provisions, and an extension of bereavement leave rights to cover miscarriage.Continue Reading UK Employment law reform – further amendments to the Employment Rights Bill

When labour came into power last summer, they promised employment law reform as a priority. Dubbed the biggest shake-up of employment rights for a generation, the Employment Rights Bill (ERB) is now reaching the tail end of the parliamentary process and is anticipated to be on the statute book by autumn.

Once the ERB is passed, most provisions will not come into effect straight away. Instead, it provides a framework for the updated legal position, and there will be a need for consultation and further law to deliver much of the detail required and to bring the new measures into effect. 

On 1 July 2025, the government published its roadmap, giving an indication of what we can expect to happen and when. Employers will not be hit with everything all at once, or quickly, with a phased approach instead. Although the roadmap provides a helpful insight into planned timeframes, the future employment law landscape remains uncertain. Where proposals remain subject to further consultation, it remains unclear what direction they will take, with businesses and trade unions in disagreement about a workable way forward. It remains possible that some of the provisions never do become law, either being dropped along the way or never implemented.Continue Reading UK employment law reform roadmap published – buckle up for the ride

The ever-evolving U.S. legal landscape surrounding non-compete agreements has changed yet again, with Florida becoming the latest state to adopt sweeping changes to its statutory non-compete framework. Indeed, the Contracts Honoring Opportunity Investment Confidentiality and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act, which the state legislature passed in April 2025 but took effect on July 1, 2025, represents perhaps the most significant shift ever in Florida non-compete law. Employers in the Sunshine State should immediately begin assessing the impact that the new law will have on workplace relations, including existing and future restrictive covenant agreements.

What changes with the CHOICE Act?

While many states rely on judge-made law to determine whether and to what extent non-compete agreements and other restrictive covenants are enforceable, Florida has long maintained a statutory framework for assessing such issues. Specifically, under Florida Statute § 542.335, courts evaluate the existence of a legitimate business interest and the reasonableness of such restrictions as to time, geography, and line of business. Though this assessment requires an individualized, case-by-case analysis, courts in Florida have, under this statute, often found that non-compete agreements barring competitive activities for up to two years post-employment are enforceable.Continue Reading Florida’s CHOICE Act represents a seismic shift in non-compete law

On May 1, 2025, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed the Dignity and Pay Act (the Act). The Act, which takes effect on July 1, 2025, prohibits the previously lawful practice of paying individuals with disabilities less than minimum wage in certain circumstances.

Previously, Georgia law permitted the Georgia Commissioner of Labor to grant employers an exemption to pay “certain classes of persons…at rates below the minimum rate because of overriding considerations of public policy to allow employment of certain persons with disabilities and others who cannot otherwise compete effectively in the labor market.” The Act repeals that law and further prohibits employers from using certificates issued under 29 U.S.C. § 214(c) by the United States Department of Labor that permit the same practice for federal minimum wage purposes for individuals “whose earning or productive capacity is impaired by age, physical or mental deficiency, or injury.”Continue Reading Georgia enacts Dignity and Pay Act prohibiting subminimum wage for workers with disabilities

Effective July 1, 2025, the current Virginia statutory restriction on non-competition agreements for “low-wage employees” will expand to cover all non-exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This amendment, enacted through SB 1218 and signed into law on March 24, 2025, prohibits employers from entering into, enforcing, or threatening to enforce non-compete agreements with any employee classified as non-exempt under the FLSA, regardless of their earnings level.

Previously, Virginia’s non-compete ban, codified at Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:8 and effective since 2020, applied only to employees earning less than the Commonwealth’s average weekly wage (currently $1,463.10 per week or $76,081.14 annually). The new amendment broadens the definition of “low-wage employee” to include all employees entitled to overtime pay, thereby covering a larger segment of the workforce.Continue Reading Virginia expands non-compete restrictions to cover all non-exempt employees

On June 1, 2025, New Jersey officially joined 13 other states participating in the wage transparency trend. Governor Phil Murphy signed the New Jersey Pay and Benefit Transparency Act (NJPBTA or the Act) this past November, requiring employers with 10 or more employees in the state to disclose compensation and benefits information on postings for new “job postings and transfer opportunities” in New Jersey. The particulars of the Act have been discussed in greater depth in a previous blog post.

For applicable employers, any postings for New Jersey positions published on or after June 1, 2025, must include:

  • the hourly wage or salary, or a range of the hourly wage or salary for the position; and
  • a general description of benefits and other compensation programs for which the employee would be eligible.  

Continue Reading New Jersey pay transparency: How employers can remain compliant

On Thursday, June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously vacated a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which held that plaintiffs claiming anti-heterosexual workplace discrimination must provide extra evidence related to “background circumstances,” because it improperly imposed higher standards on majority-group plaintiffs alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).

In Ames v. State of Ohio Department of Youth Services, a former Ohio Department of Youth Services employee alleged that she was denied a promotion in favor of a lesbian woman before being demoted and replaced by a gay man, who were both allegedly less qualified than she was. The employee then brought claims under Title VII. When the State of Ohio Department of Youth Services moved for summary judgment, the U.S. District Court for Southern District of Ohio dismissed these claims on the grounds that the employee did not present sufficient evidence to show “‘background circumstances support[ing] the suspicion that the defendant is that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority’ to establish the first prong of the prima facie case.”Continue Reading Justices reject higher standard for majority-group plaintiffs asserting Title VII claims

Employment law, whether shaped by legislation or litigation, is often driven by trends. For instance, in the mid-to-late 2010’s, lawmakers across the U.S. enacted numerous bills concerning paid time off for employees, such as for sick and family leave. A more recent trend involves regulatory and legislative efforts to limit or even outright ban non-compete agreements.

In New York State, the most significant employment litigation trend over the past several years has revolved around frequency-of-pay claims under Section 191 of the New York Labor Law (NYLL). This trend emerged from a radical 2019 appellate court decision that broke from more than a century of judicial precedent.

On May 9, 2025, however, Governor Kathy Hochul approved an amendment to the NYLL that should largely put an end to the flood of frequency-of-pay lawsuits.Continue Reading BREAKING: New York amends labor law to stymie flood of frequency-of-pay lawsuits

California is one step closer to becoming one of the first states to adopt anti-discrimination regulations regarding employer use of automated-decision technology to make employment-related decisions.

Since May 2024 the California Civil Rights Council (CRC), a branch of the Civil Rights Department, has made multiple revisions to California’s employment discrimination regulations to address employers’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) automated-decision systems to make employment-related decisions such as hiring, promotion, pay and benefits. The purpose of the proposed regulations is to affirm that California’s anti-discrimination laws protect employees and candidates from discrimination caused by the use of automated systems, and to define circumstances in which the use of automated systems can result in unlawful discrimination. The proposed regulations also address the use of automated systems for background checks and medical or psychological inquiries, and how that use can violate anti-discrimination laws. Additionally, the proposed regulations impose recordkeeping requirements that obligate employers to retain records that may relate to or disclose the employer’s use of automated systems to make employment decisions, including applications, personnel records, membership records, employment referral records, selection criteria, and automated-decision system data.Continue Reading California Civil Rights Council makes final revisions to regulations that address use of AI systems in employment-related decision-making

The workplace accommodation process associated with employee health conditions can be one of the trickiest HR issues for U.S. businesses to navigate. For employers in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, a federal appeals court may have just added a further layer of complexity.

On March 25, 2025, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals joined a split of federal circuit courts in concluding that employees may qualify for a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) despite being able to perform the essential duties of their job without an accommodation. Moving forward, the Second Circuit will now consider the ability to perform essential functions as probative evidence of whether an accommodation should be granted rather than dispositive.Continue Reading New York Federal Appeals Court shifts standard for assessing workplace accommodations