Compliance Stuff

On our May 28, 2026, Employment Law Webinar, HSB’s Matt Blake discussed one of the more nuanced intersections in employment law: the relationship between state workers' compensation systems and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For those who were unable to attend, these are the key takeaways: Two Laws, One Workforce Workers' compensation and the ADA create different frameworks for physical ailments that may coincide in the workplace. W orkers' compensation is addressed by state law; the ADA is federal. When the two conflict, the ADA governs, and state law cannot permit or require discriminatory conduct against a person who qualifies as disabled under the ADA . Critically, workers' compensation exclusivity provisions do not shield employers from ADA obligations. A Workers' Compensation Claim Is Not an ADA Disability, Necessarily The ADA has a three-pronged definition of disability: a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activi...

[co-author: Leah Shepherd] March is Women’s History Month, lending itself to a review of the lessons learned over the last three years since enactment of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). While the guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provides some insight, employers regularly face accommodation requests falling within areas of lingering ambiguity . There are, however, some recent enforcement actions that may provide some clarity for navigating unchartered waters. Quick Hits The PWFA mandates that covered employers provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions. Since the PWFA went into effect, the EEOC has initiated several lawsuits alleging violations, focusing on failure to accommodate, unlawful termination, and forced leave for pregnancy-related conditions . Most have resulted in settlements, while others remain pending. The EEOC received 2,729 charges of discrimination alleging violation of the P...

Artificial intelligence has become commonplace in recruiting, screening, interviewing, testing, promotion, and employee monitoring. Properly designed and governed, AI can streamline processes and improve consistency . However, in employment decision-making, AI can introduce legal and operational risks for the employer, even when the AI tools are built and operated by third-party vendors. Businesses should understand where and when liabilities may arise and use vendor contracts to mitigate and allocate those risks before deploying AI as part of employment decisions. Legal Risks in Using AI for Employment Decisions A legal risk in using AI as part of employment decisions is that AI tools can encode or amplify historical bias . Disparate treatment claims can arise where systems use or infer protected characteristics such as age, race, religion, sex, disability, or genetic information—either directly or through proxies like geography or graduation dates. Disparate impact claims can follow ...

KEY TAKEAWAYS: Employees with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodations even if they can perform the essential functions of their job without an accommodation. Ability to perform the essential functions of the job is relevant to a failure-to-accommodate claim, but it is not dispositive. In a recent Second Circuit decision from March,  Tudor v. Whitehall Central School District , the court clarified the broad scope of workplace accommodation protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Specifically, the court ruled that employees with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodations  even if  they can perform the essential functions of their job without one. In  Tudor,  plaintiff appealed a decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant on a failure-to-accommodate claim brought pursuant to the ADA. The lower court ruled that an employee’s...

  Rhode Island employers must keep up with new workplace laws enacted this year, including some that have already taken effect. The state not only joined a growing number of states that prohibit so-called “captive audience” meetings and became the first to provide explicit protections for employees managing the menopausal transition, it also added new onboarding notice requirements and hiked the minimum wage for 2026 . Here’s a quick guide to help you keep track of it all and prepare for the changes. Accommodations for Menopause-Related Conditions  (Effective June 24, 2025) Rhode Island just became the first state to explicitly enact workplace protections for women experiencing the menopausal transition . Gov. Dan McKee signed a  bill into law  on June 24 that extends the state’s existing law requiring workplace accommodations for pregnancy- and childbirth-related conditions to also cover menopause-related conditions. Under the new law, employers in the state wi...

 Introduction This is a follow-up to our May 9, 2023, alert regarding the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) which went into effect on June 27, 2023 . Congress required the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to issue regulations under the PWFA. The EEOC has done just that by issuing its final rule and interpretive guidance which goes into effect on June 18, 2024. This alert outlines employers’ duties under the new law, provides clarity on pregnant workers’ rights and protections, and guides employers on ways to minimize risk and liability under the PWFA. What is this law? Covered entities are required to make reasonable accommodations to qualified employees or applicants who have known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, absent an undue hardship to the business. Who is a covered employer or entity? The PWFA applies to both private and public sector employers that have 15 or more employees. It also applies to Congress, Federal a...

Does it seem like you are dealing with more mental health issues in your workforce? If so, you are not alone. Recent mental health claim statistics show an alarming increase in chronic illnesses since the pandemic. For adults between the ages of 35 and 44, mental illness diagnoses have increased from 48% in 2019 to 58% in 2023 , according to the American Psychological Association . In its most recent Strategic Enforcement Plan , the EEOC listed “workers with mental health related disabilities” as one of the categories of vulnerable workers on which they will focus their efforts to prevent harassment, retaliation and discrimination. With these types of issues on a dramatic rise, it is worth a reminder about an employer’s obligations under the ADA for mental health issues. What Does the ADA Require? As we know, the ADA requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to a qualified employee with a disability. For a condition to meet the definition of a disability under the statu...

  Formally published on April 19, 2024, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released the final regulations and interpretive guidance implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA).  It will be published in the Federal Register 60 days later (June 18, 2024).   The PWFA went into effect on June 27, 2023---the EEOC provides important clarifications and insights into how the EEOC will enforce the law.  It requires employers with at least 15 employees and other covered entities to provide reasonable accommodations to a qualified employee's or applicant's known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause undue hardship on the operation of the employer's business.   JacksonLewis  provides key PWFA requirements:   Under the PWFA, an employee has two ways to establish they are a “qualified employee”:   Like under the Americans with Dis...