The graphic assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk while speaking at Utah Valley University in September 2025 led to an immediate uproar on social media. Posts from Kirk opponents purportedly celebrating (or at least not mourning) his death led to public backlash from right-wing leaders. The controversy has left employers struggling to deal with public pressure against workers who publicly commented Read More

Amazon recently announced 14,000 layoffs, but company executives are not blaming the downsizing on financial performance or the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI). Instead, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy attributed the layoffs to a “mismatch in company culture.”  The CEO’s statement has concerned HR professionals. If HR has erred in hiring as many as 14,000 people, as some claim, then HR and the hiring process Read More

Over 75% of Tesla shareholders recently approved Elon Musk’s latest pay package, potentially worth $1 trillion. If Tesla achieves certain milestones under his tutelage over the next decade, Musk, who already tops the record books as the world’s first person to be worth $500 billion, could become the world’s first trillionaire. Despite the hoopla, however, experts warn that the monster pay package could have an Read More

Various tariff cases before the U.S. Supreme Court may lead to greater volatility in labor and employment matters, depending on how the Court rules. Rulings upholding the tariffs may adversely affect compensation, labor demand, and employee morale.  On the other hand, some employers might benefit from the increased costs that tariffs can impose on foreign competitors, leading to higher sales and more competitive Read More

A California appellate court has found that the Atlanta Falcons are exempt from the state’s workers’ compensation law. As a result, the Falcons are not responsible for former NFL player Wayne Gandy’s workers’ compensation claim.  Several years after his 2009 retirement Gandy, a 15-year NFL veteran, filed a workers’ compensation claim against the Falcons, the Los Angeles Rams, the St. Louis Rams, the Pittsburgh Read More

The U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Brittany Panuccio as a commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is highly significant because it restores the quorum needed for many EEOC actions. The EEOC requires a simple majority vote to approve actions, but for most of the year, EEOC actions have been hobbled by only two sitting commissioners. With the addition of Panuccio, that number rises to Read More

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has hit a 10-year low in the number of suits filed during FY2025. The EEOC filed 93 suits in FY2025, one of the lowest numbers in the past 30 years. In contrast, the EEOC filed 71 suits in just one month of FY2023.  Following the typical pattern, the EEOC’s FY2025 suits were primarily filed under Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Read More

Pay transparency is increasingly becoming a business requirement. Many states require job postings to include salary ranges, and state laws mandating pay transparency are only expanding. Due to the increasing requirements concerning pay transparency, employers need to not only be aware of their duties under pay transparency laws but also move toward practices that embrace them. As a result, employers must recognize Read More

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently considered the legal standard that employees must meet to sue their employers for harassment by customers. Although most courts have applied a negligence standard, the Sixth Circuit imposed a higher intent-based standard. The case is Bivens v. Zep Inc., 6th Cir., No. 24-2109 (Aug. 8, 2025). Zep Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of cleaning products to Read More

In early September, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers executed their largest immigration raid at a single worksite in U.S. history. ICE detailed about 475 workers at the Hyundai Motor battery plant outside of Savannah, GA. More than 300 of the workers detained by ICE were South Korean nationals, who were present for a joint venture between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution to manufacture electric Read More