Workforce Trust & Safety
Real-world incidents and liability cases that illustrate what happens when workforce risk goes unmanaged negligent hiring verdicts, criminal incidents involving employees or contractors, and employer safety failures.
State Legislatures Accelerate Healthcare Workplace Violence Laws in 2026
An Epstein Becker Green analysis documents that Missouri, Utah, Virginia, and Kentucky all introduced or advanced healthcare workplace violence legislation in early 2026, joining more than 20 states that have enacted laws requiring hospitals to implement violence prevention plans, risk assessments, training, and incident reporting systems. Missouri's HB 3401 would require hospitals to form workplace violence prevention committees and mandate post-incident services to affected employees, while Utah's HB 380 would require hospitals to track and report all incidents quarterly. The legislation comes alongside a pending federal bill, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, which remains under consideration in the 119th Congress.
Source: Epstein Becker Green / National Law Review | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Harvard Graduate Student Union Strike Enters Third Week, Harvard Raises Wage Offer
The Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers strike entered its third week the week of May 5, with approximately 4,000 graduate student workers continuing to withhold teaching and research duties. During the week, Harvard raised its wage offer and expanded benefits, including fully subsidizing preventive dental insurance for Ph.D. students and adding a new parental benefit stipend, but the two sides remain far apart on wages, protections for noncitizen workers, and independent arbitration in harassment and discrimination cases. The union and Harvard are scheduled for additional bargaining sessions through June 23, 2026.
Source: Harvard Crimson / Harvard Magazine | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
COMPLIANCE & EMPLOYMENT LAW
Federal and state employment law changes that affect hiring and workforce management covering EEO guidance, drug testing policy shifts, I-9/E-Verify updates, wage and hour developments, and fair chance legislation.
California Pay Data Reports Due May 13 — Final Days to Comply
California employers must submit their 2025-cycle pay data reports to the Civil Rights Department by May 13, 2026. The reports cover pay band and hours-worked data by establishment, job category, race, ethnicity, and sex, and are used by the state to identify pay disparities. The California Civil Rights Department has made preliminary guidance for the 2025 reporting cycle available, including updates to some job categories. Employers who miss the deadline face civil penalties.
Source: Fisher Phillips | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
ICE I-9 Substantive Violation Reclassification: Multi-State Employers Assess Exposure
Following ICE's March 2026 fact sheet update reclassifying common Form I-9 errors as substantive violations subject to immediate fines, employers with multi-state and decentralized workforces are actively auditing their I-9 compliance programs. Penalties for reclassified errors range from $288 to $2,861 per form, with no cure period for violations previously treated as technical. Legal analysts note that employers who conduct an internal audit, identify violations, and fail to remediate them may face an inference of knowing non-compliance during future inspections.
Source: Holland & Knight / Morgan Lewis | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Mental Health Awareness Month: Employer Obligations for Workplace Crisis Response
Fisher Phillips flagged May as Mental Health Awareness Month in its May 2026 employer checklist, recommending that HR teams and managers be trained on legal obligations when employees are in crisis. The guidance covers the ADA's interactive process requirements, FMLA leave eligibility for mental health conditions, and the employer's duty to assess and respond to direct threats under the ADA without engaging in unauthorized medical inquiry. The checklist includes eight practical steps for responding to serious employee situations while maintaining compliance.
Source: Fisher Phillips | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
FTC Orders Rollins to Void Non-Competes for 18,000 Workers, Issues Industry-Wide Warning
The Federal Trade Commission reached a consent order with Rollins, Inc., parent of Orkin and other pest-control brands, on April 15, 2026, requiring the company to stop enforcing non-compete agreements against more than 18,000 employees nationwide and to notify current and former workers that their agreements are void. The FTC alleged that Rollins' blanket non-compete policy, applied uniformly to all employees regardless of role, restricted worker mobility, suppressed competition, and deterred small business formation. Alongside the Rollins order, the FTC sent warning letters to 13 additional pest-control companies and has now brought enforcement actions in pet cremation, building services, and pest control, signaling a broad industry-by-industry approach to non-compete enforcement.
Source: OnLabor | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Data Privacy & Tech in Hiring
Emerging regulation around AI hiring tools, algorithmic fairness, biometric data, and candidate privacy covering federal guidance rollbacks and the growing patchwork of state-level AI employment laws.
AI Hiring Bias Litigation Expands: FCRA and Transparency Claims Emerge as New Theory
A Bricker Graydon analysis published this month documents how AI hiring litigation in 2026 is expanding beyond Title VII discrimination claims to encompass FCRA transparency violations, with the Eightfold AI class action representing the most prominent example. Courts have allowed claims in Mobley v. Workday to proceed on the theory that an HR technology vendor can be treated as an agent performing hiring functions, meaning both the employer and the tool provider may face liability. The analysis notes that the 'vendor's tool' defense is eroding rapidly as courts signal that employers retain responsibility for AI-driven outcomes.
Source: Bricker Graydon Employment Law Report | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Colorado AI Act Enforcement Stay Creates Compliance Uncertainty Through Summer 2026
With Colorado's Anti-Discrimination in AI Act enforcement stayed pending the xAI federal lawsuit and the state legislature having adjourned May 13 without passing amendments, employers using AI in hiring decisions face an unresolved compliance landscape through at least summer 2026. Legal counsel continue to advise preparation for the June 30 effective date while litigation proceeds. California, Illinois, and New York City AI hiring laws remain fully in force regardless of the Colorado outcome, meaning multi-state employers retain compliance obligations.
Source: Human Resources Director / HR Dives | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Hiring & Employment Fraud
Emerging and evolving fraud targeting employers; synthetic identity fraud, deepfake interview candidates, credential misrepresentation, and coordinated fraud schemes — drawn from law enforcement, fraud research, and industry data.
Total Corporate Victims of North Korean IT Worker Fraud Now 479, Ukrainian Laptop Farm Operator Sentenced
A New York State Bar Association analysis published May 6, 2026 reports that the total number of U.S. corporate victims of the North Korean IT worker scheme now stands at 479 companies, up from the 300+ figure cited in June 2025 DOJ enforcement actions. In February 2026, Ukrainian national Oleksandr Didenko was sentenced to five years in prison for operating an identity-rental service and laptop farm that helped North Korean operatives secure remote employment at approximately 40 U.S. companies. The piece notes the FBI urges employers to conduct live video verification, cross-check resumes against online profiles, and restrict remote-access tools on corporate devices.
Source: New York State Bar Association | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Job Scams Rising Across Europe: 1 in 3 Recruiters Hit by Identity Theft
Euronews reported on May 9, 2026 that LinkedIn research conducted on 4,000 respondents in the UK and Germany found that nearly one in three recruiters experienced identity theft aimed at circumventing candidates, with AI and deepfake tools making job scams harder to detect. The research found that 43% of Gen Z job seekers in the UK said they nearly fell victim to job scams, and 31% reported actually being scammed. The most common tactic involves asking victims for upfront fees for background checks, visa applications, or equipment as part of a fictitious onboarding process.
Source: Euronews | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Industry-Specific Incidents
Vertical-specific news across Transportation, Healthcare, Childcare, Youth Sports, Food Service, Retail, Light Industrial, Education, and more including sector regulators like DOT/FMCSA and CMS.
US Department of Labor highlights safe construction practices during 2026 National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is encouraging construction employers and workers nationwide to participate in the 13th annual National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction, taking place May 4-8, 2026. The nationwide event focuses on preventing falls, the leading cause of fatalities in the construction industry, and reinforces the importance of planning, training, and hazard awareness to protect workers.
Source: US Department of Labor | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Utah Bans Post-Employment Noncompetes for Healthcare Workers Effective May 6, 2026
On March 24, 2026, Governor Spencer J. Cox signed the Healthcare Worker Post-Employment Amendments, House Bill 270 (the “Amendments”) into law. Effective May 6, 2026, the Amendments prohibit any “healthcare noncompete agreement,” which is defined as an: “agreement between a person and a healthcare worker within which the healthcare worker agrees that, after the day on which the healthcare worker no longer works for or with the person, the healthcare worker will not engage in a service that the healthcare worker may provide under the scope of the healthcare worker’s license: (a) for a restricted period of time; or (b) within a specific geographic area.”
Source: Epstein Becker Green | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Gig & Contingent Workforce
Regulatory and legal developments specific to non-traditional workforce arrangements, independent contractor classification rulings, platform liability, staffing agency regulations, and gig worker rights.
MIT/Yale Study: Automation Targeted Workers with 'Wage Premiums,' Drove 52% of Income Inequality Growth
A paper published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics by MIT Professor Daron Acemoglu and Yale Professor Pascual Restrepo, reported by OnLabor on May 9, 2026, finds that automation accounts for 52% of the growth in income inequality from 1980 to 2016, with 10 percentage points arising directly from companies implementing automation to replace workers receiving above-market compensation. The study found the largest wage effects within automation-affected groups fell on workers in the 70th to 95th percentile of the salary range, a counterintuitive finding given assumptions that automation primarily displaces lower-wage workers. The research has direct implications for how gig and staffing firms evaluate their workforce automation strategies.
Source: MIT News | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
