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It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law, especially given the rapid pace at which the new administration has been moving on initiatives impacting the workplace and beyond. For the latest changes and a compliance action plan, here’s a quick review of some critical developments and a checklist of the essential items you should consider addressing in May and beyond.
| _____ | Check out the Fisher & Phillips First 100 Days Report for employers. The first 100 days of any new administration set the tone for what’s to come — and in 2025, that tone has been unmistakable: bold, fast-moving, and deeply consequential for employers. They created this special report —a snapshot of where things stand, where they’re headed, and what your organization should be doing to keep pace. |
| _____ | Stay tuned for more guidance on “disparate impact” claims. For decades, employers could face liability for policies and practices that didn’t intentionally discriminate but had a “disparate impact” on a group of job applicants or employees based on a protected characteristic, such as race or sex. The president is now aiming “to eliminate the use of disparate impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible,” according to an April 23 executive order. Here’s what you need to know about this development and how it may impact your practices. |
| _____ | Prepare for EEO-1 reporting to begin. This year’s collection of EEO-1 reports could begin in less than a month – and will likely not allow employers to categorize workers as “non-binary.” Private employers with at least 100 employees and federal contractors with at least 50 employees should prepare to sort company data by employee job category, as well as by sex and race/ethnicity, to turn over to the EEOC between May 20 and June 24. While these dates are not yet set in stone, the compliance window will be here before you know it. |
| _____ | Safeguard your corporate leaders against rising security threats. Executives are increasingly at risk of becoming targets of violent acts or cyberattacks such as doxing or social engineering, and your organization must think ten steps ahead to ensure the safety of your people and the future of your business. Here’s an overview of executive protection programs and four key steps to help you build yours. |
| _____ | Consider alternatives to the H-1B visa for hiring foreign nationals. You may be disappointed if your candidate was not selected for an H-1B visa in the recent cap lottery – but not all hope is lost. If you employ foreign nationals, the good news is that you can explore certain short-term, long-term, and even some lesser-known solutions. Here are 11 alternatives your organization can use to retain top talent and critical staff, even if your candidate was not selected last month in the FY 2026 H-1B cap lottery. |
| _____ | Review your accommodation request process. A federal appeals court recently clarified that an employee may qualify for a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) even if they can perform essential job functions without such an accommodation. The 2nd Circuit’s March 25 decision in Tudor v. Whitehall Central School District reinforces that the ability to perform essential job functions is relevant – but not decisive – in ADA failure-to-accommodate claims. Here’s what employers need to know about this case. |
| _____ | Slay summer hiring. As the weather gets warmer and you shift your focus to seasonal hiring, you’ll want to be sure to connect with Gen Z applicants, many of whom are college and high school students in search of summer jobs. Here’s your guide to hiring Gen Z this summer. |
| _____ | Prepare for new state sick leave requirements in 2025. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a sharp increase in state-level legislation and ballot initiatives mandating employer-provided leave options for employees with strong voter support. Missouri’s new paid sick leave law took effect May 1, but there is still time to learn more here about how your company can manage this patchwork of state laws. |
| _____ | Track additional state law developments. With so many changes at the federal level, don’t forget to stay updated on state and local developments, too. For example: Now that we’re less than a year away from Colorado having the nation’s most stringent set of laws regulating the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace and elsewhere, some lawmakers are asking whether it’s better to take a step back and cool the jets. Click here to learn about a new bill that was introduced on April 28. Speaking of AI rules, California’s privacy regulator intends to advance sweeping new rules that would govern AI tools used for automated decision-making purposes – but Governor Newsom just stepped in and signaled concern that these rules could stifle innovation and drive AI companies out of the state. A California appellate court handed employers a wage and hour win on April 21 by ruling that meal period waivers prospectively signed by non-exempt employees are enforceable if certain criteria are met. A new law in Florida will make it the most enforcement-friendly state in the country for non-compete and garden leave agreements. Here is what employers should know about the CHOICE Act and three steps you can take to prepare. Ohio has taken a major step toward modernizing workplace compliance after finalizing a new law in April that will allow employers to post certain mandatory labor law notices electronically, as long as they are accessible to all employees. An April 1 decision in Massachusetts offers a textbook example of how employers can work with their trial counsel to limit their financial exposure – even after a trial loss – through thoughtful litigation strategy. |
After months of negotiations, landmark legislation was unveiled that proposed substantial changes to the U.S. immigration laws.
The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (filed April 16, 2013) lays out a 13-year path to citizenship for most of the 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally, allocates billions of dollars to be spent on border security, creates new legal guest worker programs for low-income jobs and farm labor, mandates the use of E-Verify for most companies hiring new workers and expands overall immigration to the U.S. by 50% in the next 10 years.
The bill proposes ways to clear up green card backlogs, raises the cap for H-1B workers and creates a new “W-visa” program for lower skilled workers.
Aspects of the bill that would impact the workplace include the following:
Mandatory E-Verify
All employers would be required to use the E-Verify electronic employment verification system, phased in over a 5 year period. Large employers with more than 5000 employees would be phased in within two years.
Every non-citizen would be required to carry a “biometric work authorization card”.
Enhancements to the E-Verify system would include a photo-matching tool and the capability for employees to “lock” their Social Security numbers in the system to prevent others from using them. In order for the non-citizen to be cleared for a job, the picture on the card presented by the employee to the employer will have to match the identical picture the employer has in the E-Verify system. Employers would be required to certify that the photograph presented in person matches the photograph in the system.
Legal Immigration
The bill addresses what’s been one of the biggest programs with the current system. Beyond employment- based visas, the bill would create an entirely new category of “merit-based” visas. A merit-based visa, created in the fifth year after the bill becomes law, would award points to individuals based on their education, employment, length of residence in the U.S., and other considerations. Individuals with the most points would earn one of the 120,000 visas that will be available per year. The number would increase by 5% annually if demand exceeds supply in any year where unemployment is less than 8.5%.A maximum cap of 250,000 merit-based visas is proposed.
Under this system, the DHS would allocate merit-based immigrant visas beginning Oct. 1, 2014, for employment-based visas that have been pending for 3 years, family based petitions that were filed prior to enactment and have been pending for 5 years, and to long term immigrant workers who have been lawfully present in the country for more than 10 years. It is this category that those who are in the country illegally now would be funneled into after a decade as legalized residents.
Currently, only about 14% of green cards granted are employment based. That percentage could increase to as high as 50% under this proposal. The bill also emphasizes the need to shift immigration resources toward high-skilled immigrants. It creates a start up visa for foreign entrepreneurs who seek to emigrate to the U.S. to launch their own companies.
The bill exempts the following categories from the annual numerical limits on employment-based immigrants: derivative beneficiaries of employment-based immigrants; aliens of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics; outstanding professors and researchers; multinational executives and managers; doctoral degree holders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields; and physicians who have completed the foreign residency requirements or have received a waiver.
The bill also redistributes 40% of the worldwide level of employment-based visas to high skilled workers and those who have earned a master’s degree or higher in STEM fields from an accredited U.S. institution. The bill increases the percentage of employment visas for skilled workers and other professionals to 40%, maintains the percentage of employment visas for certain special immigrants to 10% and maintains visas for those who foster employment creation to 10%.
Married children over 30 years of age and siblings of U.S. citizens would no longer be eligible for a family preference in the visa application process and the bill would eliminate the 55,000 Diversity Visa Program recipients awarded by lottery each year that go largely to immigrants from Africa and Eastern Europe.
Those who were or are selected for diversity immigrant visas for fiscal years 2013 or 2014 would still receive their visas.
H-1B Reforms
The plan calls for a sizable increase in high-skilled visas, fees for employers that hire large numbers of foreign workers, and institutes a ban on those companies applying for additional H-1B visas in the future.
The legislation would increase the current number of H-1B visas from 65,000 to 110,000. The current 20,000 visa exemption for U.S. advanced degree holders would be amended to a 25,000 visa exemption for advance degree graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from U.S. schools.
Provisions designed to keep high-skilled hiring from hurting U.S. tech workers include “H-1B dependent employers” paying significantly higher wages and fees than normal users of the program and prohibiting companies whose U.S. workforce largely consists of foreign guest workers from obtaining additional H-1B and L visas. In 2014, companies will be banned from bringing in any additional workers if more than 75% of their workers are H-1B or L-1 employees.
New Visa on the Block
The bill creates a new visa for lower-skilled workers in the service sector, construction and agriculture. The program begins April 1, 2015 and would be initially capped at 20,000 and would rise to 75,000 by 2019.
The spouse and minor children of the W visa holder will be allowed to accompany or follow to join and will be given work authorization for the same period of admission as the principle visa holder.
Immigrants would apply at the U.S. embassies and consulates in their home countries and the visa would be valid for 3 years. If visa holders are unemployed for 60 days or more, they would be required to leave the United States. The workers must be paid the prevailing wage and cannot be employed in areas where unemployment is above 8.5%. Employers cannot fire American workers 90 days before or after the hiring of guest workers.
Agriculture Program Revised
A new agricultural guest worker visa program would also be established. A portable, at-will employment based visa (W-3 visa) and a contract based visa (W-2 visa) would replace the current H-2A program.
As many as 337,000 new three-year visas would be available for farm workers. After five years, an annual visa limit based on market conditions would be set.
The bill would allow current undocumented farm workers to obtain expedited legal status. Undocumented farm workers who “have made a substantial prior commitment to agricultural work in the U.S.,” show that they have paid all taxes, have not been convicted of any serious crime, and pay a $400 fine would be eligible to adjust to legal permanent resident status.
Spouses and minor children would receive derivative status.
Next Steps
Hearings have been scheduled before the Senate Judiciary Committee to review the bill and a committee vote is expected in May. The bill would then go on to the full Senate.