United States: Employee Rights/ Labour Relations

California's new Senate Bill 951 amends the Cal-WARN Act to require employers to disclose when mass layoffs or relocations are substantially caused by artificial intelligence or automated technology. What specific information must employers now include in their notices, and how will these technology-driven workforce reductions be tracked and reported by state agencies?

Many space and defense jobs require a federal security clearance. If the government denies, delays, or revokes a clearance, an employee may be unable to continue in that role; the employer may reassign or terminate the employee. If the cleared individual is an officer of the company, revocation could jeopardize the company’s eligibility to perform cleared work. A subsequent employment claim may allege discrimination or retaliation in the clearance process or in the employer’s response.

The National Labor Relations Board has reinstated the General Motors standard for analyzing when employee offensive conduct loses protection under the National Labor Relations Act, replacing the Biden-era Lion Elastomers decision. This shift returns to a burden-shifting framework that focuses on employer motive rather than context-specific tests, potentially making it easier for employers to discipline workers for inappropriate language or behavior.

New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection secured a landmark $131.5 million settlement with DoorDash, marking the largest worker settlement in the city's history and the largest involving food delivery workers nationwide. The agreement provides over $115 million in direct compensation to more than 260,000 delivery workers who were underpaid, unpaid, or paid late, while establishing a comprehensive three-year compliance monitoring program.

U.S. employers face mounting challenges in labor relations, from AI-driven workforce disruptions and multigenerational dynamics to aggressive union tactics and work stoppages. Littler's 2026 Labor Survey Report reveals how 665 executives across industries are adapting their employee engagement and labor relations strategies amid regulatory uncertainty and evolving workplace pressures.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on policies designed to protect and increase benefits for low-income workers, and some of the Mayor’s core priorities relate to income inequality and affordability concerns for City residents. Recently, the Mayor has taken steps to empower employees and has sought to send a message to the business community that the City will endeavor to protect workers’ rights.

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?

California has enacted three new laws governing employer use of artificial intelligence and automated tools in layoffs, workplace monitoring, discipline, and termination. These laws are separate from the California Consumer Privacy Act’s automated decisionmaking technology (ADMT) rules and apply more broadly to employers and public entities that are not covered by the CCPA. CCPA covered employers may need to integrate compliance with ADMT and Risk Assessment requirements (for sensitive personal information processing activities and automated decisionmaking technology).

Starting January 1, 2027, California employers will be required to disclose when a mass layoff is caused by the employer’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) or other automation technology.