Compliance Stuff

Seyfarth Synopsis: Late last week, the EEOC identified ten new rulemaking items that could significantly affect employer compliance obligations. The agenda entries include plans to eliminate EEO reporting requirements, rescind the UGESP, revisit regulations implementing the PWFA, and withdraw several longstanding interpretive guidance documents. While existing requirements remain in effect pending further action, the agenda provides a clear roadmap of the Commission's planned activities. While most of the country was preparing for the Independence Day holiday weekend, the EEOC identified ten new rulemaking initiatives in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The initiatives suggest a broad review of agency-created compliance requirements, reporting obligations, recordkeeping frameworks, and interpretive guidance that are consistent with the themes reflected in the EEOC’s recently issued National Enforcement Plan (NEP), as previously summarized here . Th...

The lesson from the PocketOS database deletion is not that agentic AI is dangerous. It’s about governance and controls. You have probably seen some version of the headline by now: “AI Agent Deletes Company’s Entire Database in 9 Seconds.” It is a compelling story. But the headline, while technically accurate, obscures the far more important lesson buried in the details. So what actually happened? PocketOS, a small SaaS company that makes software for car rental businesses, was using a popular AI-powered code editor running on Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 model. The AI agent was tasked with resolving a routine issue in a staging environment. When it hit a credential mismatch, the agent decided on its own initiative to “ fix” the problem by deleting a volume on Railway, the company’s cloud hosting provider . The agent found a password in an unrelated file and used it to execute a deletion command. Because of permissions made available to the agent and the way access to the infrastructure...

Since 2019, Congress has enacted three major pieces of legislation impacting retirement plans, significantly changing the retirement landscape. The legislation contained a number of amendments to the Internal Revenue Code and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, as amended, that impact employer-sponsored retirement plans (e.g., 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, defined benefit plans, and even Puerto Rico plans). In a nutshell, the legislation we’re talking about includes: SECURE Act (1.0) .  Signed into law on December 2019, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act was by far the most significant overhaul of the retirement plan landscape since the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Click  here  and  here  for more information. CARES Act.   The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020.  T he CARES Act included provisions that provided a much-needed lifeline fo...

Seyfarth Synopsis:  As we close out 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law an amendment to the New York Labor Law, entitled the New York Trapped at Work Act, which bans “employment promissory notes ” and similar stay‑or‑pay clauses used as a condition of employment. The statute took effect  immediately  on December 19, 2025. New York’s  Trapped at Work Act  (the “Act”) prohibits employers from requiring workers or job applicants to sign agreements that obligate repayment if the worker leaves before a stated time period, including provisions characterizing repayment as reimbursement for training . These agreements are now deemed unconscionable, contrary to public policy, and unenforceable. What’s Prohibited Under the Act, employers may not require, as a condition of employment, any “employment promissory note” or agreement that (i) requires payment to the employer if the worker leaves before a specified time, or (ii) labels repayment as reimbursement for emp...

[co-author: Selene Malench]* A rapidly shifting landscape of humanitarian protections presents ongoing compliance challenges for employers. As the latest example, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of Haiti, Burma (Myanmar), and South Sudan while a federal court has temporarily blocked the termination of TPS for Syria. TPS Terminations: Haiti, Burma (Myanmar), South Sudan Haiti Back in July, we  covered litigation developments  from a US District Court decision that extended TPS for Haiti until February 2026. On November 26, 2025, DHS published a  notice  ending TPS for Haiti. At the time of writing, the official Federal Register has not been published  yet , b ut the termination is set to take effect on February 3, 2026. The termination will affect around 330,000 nationals from Haiti. Burma (Myanmar) On November 25, 2025, DHS published a  notice  ending TPS for...

Seyfarth Synopsis : Thirty days into the Federal government shutdown, few personnel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) are available and operations have been slashed. However, this does not mean that employers can put aside all EEOC-related concerns until the government opens again. New charges continue to be filed—though employers remain in the dark about the content or volume of potential claims—and deadlines continue to apply. While this pause may feel like a temporary reprieve, it is important for e mployers to stay alert and consider how their charge activity will be impacted by a continued shutdown. The EEOC’s Contingency Plan The EEOC published a  contingency plan  to be implemented in the event of a shutdown. Per the plan, nearly 93% of its workforce has been furloughed, and the EEOC has suspended all “nonessential” functions, significantly curtailing its operations. These “nonessential” functions include investigations into discrimination ch...

Seyfarth Synopsis:   While we viewed the EEOC’s Fiscal Year 2024 as “ sluggish ,” the Commission entered FY 2025 with a hefty budget, a brimming pipeline of charges, and a Democratic majority of Commissioners, suggesting a robust year of EEOC-initiated litigation was on the way. The EEOC’s fiscal year closed today , and what promised to be an watershed year was anything but.  The Trump Administration’s swiftly implemented leadership changes, budget cuts, and dramatic shift in priorities led to a roller-coaster for field staff and employers alike. Ultimately, the EEOC filed just 93 lawsuits in FY 2025, marking a ten-year low in Commission litigation activity. Despite a notable pullback in litigation activity, a close analysis of FY 2025 filings can help employers identify the EEOC’s priority areas and understand what to expect going forward. In previous administrations, the EEOC’s litigation arm was extraordinarily active, filing as many as 300 merit lawsuits in a given year. T...