United States: Employee Benefits & Compensation

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed two bills that significantly modify the state's disability insurance and paid family leave programs. AB 2054 expands the definition...

On September 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2026-03 (Bulletin 2026-03), narrowing near-term enforcement of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) to three priority areas and confirming nonenforcement of the 2024 Final Rule's newer provisions pending litigation. The administration has also stopped defending that rule in court and promised a substantially revised proposal by December 31, 2026.

California's Legislature has significantly amended AB 692, the state's aggressive "stay-or-pay" law, delaying enforcement until 2027 and creating new exceptions for financial services and retention incentives. Employers now have additional time to restructure agreements, but must navigate revised requirements for training repayment, sign-on bonuses, and other arrangements that could require workers to repay money upon leaving employment.

In this episode of The Founder's Hour, hosts Laura Cicirelli and Eric Weiner are joined by Julie Levinson Werner, partner and Vice Chair of Lowenstein’s Employment practice, to discuss the legal and practical considerations founders face as they begin building a workforce.

California has passed Assembly Bill (AB) 2054, which expands the definition of “covered active duty” under Section 3302.1 of the Unemployment Insurance Code for purposes of eligibility for Paid Family Leave (PFL) benefits from the state.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division has withdrawn its controversial proposal to remove nine parts of longstanding Fair Labor Standards Act interpretive guidance from the Code of Federal Regulations. What does this reversal mean for employers who have relied on these decades-old interpretations, and how does the Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision reshape the legal weight of agency guidance going forward?

Effective December 8, 2026, covered New York construction employers generally must provide up to four hours of reporting pay when an employee reports for a scheduled shift but receives no work, and two hours of pay when a scheduled shift is canceled with less than 12 hours’ notice. Separate requirements apply to certain prevailing-wage construction projects.

After hearing arguments in April 2026, a Seventh Circuit panel declined to overturn a lower court ruling dismissing a union fund’s challenge to an Arkansas rule affecting pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). The case is Central States Southeast & Southwest Areas Health & Welfare Fund et al. v. McClain, Case Number 25-2727, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Since the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP Act) became fully enforceable in 2023, employers have been navigating federal requirements to provide nursing employees with reasonable break time and a private, non-bathroom space to express breast milk for one year after a child’s birth. Recent decisions indicate that courts are taking violations seriously.