United States: Employee Rights/ Labour Relations

The Department of Labor's OFCCP has published three coordinated final rules that fundamentally reshape federal contractor affirmative action obligations. These rules eliminate regulatory requirements for women and minorities under Executive Order 11246, significantly narrow disability-related affirmative action requirements under Section 503, and make minor adjustments to veteran protections under VEVRAA. Federal contractors must now navigate a dramatically altered compliance landscape that removes longstan

Employers operating adult family homes in Washington may need to make immediate changes to their pay and timekeeping practices. In a significant July 9, 2026, decision, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that live-in caregivers cannot be excluded from key protections under Washington’s Minimum Wage Act (MWA), potentially reshaping wage-and-hour compliance for the industry.

The three states reflect an emerging labor relations model that gives rideshare drivers collective bargaining rights without requiring that they be treated as employees under the National Labor Relations Act.

Forced labor import restrictions are proliferating globally, requiring companies to implement comprehensive human rights due diligence programs that go far beyond documentary compliance. The Sime Darby Plantation case demonstrates how substantive remediation—including worker reimbursement, recruitment reform, and governance restructuring—enabled a major palm oil producer to successfully...

In this partner spotlight, Andrew Melzer, New York Partner and Wage & Hour Practice Group Co-Chair at Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, sits down with firm Chairman David Sanford to trace a career rooted in a commitment to public interest and civil rights law. Andrew begins with a formative early experience: working on proceedings against Swiss banks that had appropriated accounts belonging to Holocaust victims and helping to restore assets to families

Illinois legislators are moving to expand the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act to include neural data—information drawn from brain activity, spinal cord signals, and nerve pathways.

A federal court in New Jersey has struck down the state's requirement that cannabis businesses sign labor peace agreements and enter collective bargaining agreements with unions as a condition of licensure. The ruling, which follows similar decisions in Oregon, California, and New York, holds that these state-mandated union requirements are preempted...

The Ninth Circuit has ruled that simply sending arbitration agreement emails to employees is insufficient to establish mutual assent under California law. In Rickes v. Thermo Fisher Scientific, the court found that employers must demonstrate affirmative employee engagement—such as clicking through acknowledgments or checking boxes—rather than relying on passive opt-out frameworks and unopened emails to enforce arbitration agreements.

Illinois will soon restrict employers from requiring driver's licenses in job postings unless driving is essential to the role. Starting January 1, 2027, covered employers must justify this requirement with a brief explanation of business necessity or face penalties from the Illinois Department of Labor.