Compliance Stuff

Workplace investigations are a balancing act. On one side is the employer’s obligation to promptly and thoroughly investigate alleged misconduct. On the other is the respondent’s expectation of fairness, and particularly the right to be informed about the allegations against them so they can meaningfully respond. Get that balance wrong, and employers risk claims of procedural unfairness, labor violations, or compromised investigations. Get it right, and investigations are more defensible, more effective, and more likely to withstand scrutiny. The questions employers routinely face are deceptively simple: how much notice is a respondent entitled to, and when must it be provided? The answer, as with many employment law issues, is “It depends.” The scope and timing of notice vary significantly based on the workplace setting, whether the employee is represented, and whether special statutory protections apply. Notice as a Baseline Principle As a general matter, respondents in workplace inv...

Effective Jan. 1, 2026 , Granite State employers with at least 20 employees must provide employees with up to 25 hours of unpaid leave to attend medical appointments associated with childbirth, postpartum care, and their infant’s medical appointments within the first year of the child’s birth or adoption. This new leave obligation appears in a broader piece of legislation,  HB 2 , an act “relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures,” which was signed into law on June 27, 2025. Subject to the 25-hour limit, covered employers may not deny employees’ leave requests to attend their “own medical appointments for childbirth, postpartum care, or the employee’s child’s pediatric medical appointments within the first year of the child’s birth or adoption.” The law allows an employee to substitute any accrued vacation time or other appropriate paid leave for unpaid childbirth-related leave. Employees must provide reasonable notice to the employer prior to the leave and make a ...