United States: Employee Rights/ Labour Relations

The National Labor Relations Board has reinstated the burden-shifting standard from General Motors LLC for evaluating whether employees lose NLRA protection when engaging in misconduct during protected activities. This decision reverses the 2023 Lion Elastomers II ruling and restores a framework that allows employers to discipline abusive conduct while navigating the tension between labor law protections and anti-discrimination obligations.

California's 2026 legislative session introduced sweeping workplace regulations targeting AI-powered decision systems, employee surveillance technologies, and stay-or-pay agreements. With most provisions taking effect in 2027 and automated decision requirements delayed until mid-2028, employers face critical compliance deadlines for updating policies on workforce monitoring, arbitration, leave administration, and harassment prevention training.

The District of Columbia City Council has enacted legislation that will significantly reduce paid leave benefits available to workers under the D.C. Universal Paid Leave Act, effective October 2026. The changes will decrease family leave from twelve to six weeks and medical leave from twelve to ten weeks, while also lowering the maximum weekly benefit from $1,190 to $1,100.

On October 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2026-1, formally withdrawing three opinion letters that served as the foundation for the so-called “80/20 Rule” governing tipped employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The DOL also confirmed that its current enforcement guidance does not impose a percentage-based limit on the time a tipped employee may spend performing related, non-tip-producing duties. Instead, the inquiry focuses on whether the employee’s duties are related to the employee’s tipped occupation.

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (the “FEHA”) proscribes various forms of employment discrimination, including discrimination based on religious beliefs. Among other things, the FEHA requires employers to provide a reasonable accommodation when an employee’s religious belief conflicts with their job requirements. On October 7, 2026, in Smith v. Burbank Unified School District, a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeal held that an unpaid leave of absence can be a reasonable accommodation for employees whose religious beliefs prevent them from complying with a mandatory vaccination requirement.

For decades, a New York employee’s personnel file belonged, practically speaking, to the employer. The employee might glimpse it during an exit interview or a lawsuit. Otherwise, it stayed locked away. That changed on September 9, 2026, when Senate Bill S3460 was signed into law, adding Section 210-b to the New York Labor Law and giving current and former employees the right to access their personnel records and to dispute what those records say.

The NLRB's Division of Advice recently cleared an employer of unfair labor practice charges after firing two employees who organized a political protest on company property. The decision hinges on whether the protest constituted protected concerted activity under the NLRA, with the agency finding the connection to workplace concerns too attenuated. In a significant footnote, General Counsel Crystal Carey signaled her intent to overturn recent precedent that protected activity with "an objective" the NLRA pr

There are currently 19 states that legally require employers to permit employees (and sometimes former employees) to view and/or obtain a copy of their personnel file. As of November 8, 2026, that number will increase to 20, when New York’s recently enacted Personnel Records Access Law goes into effect. The majority of states have no law requiring access to personnel files and there is no federal law that confers on current or former employees a statutory right to access their personnel files.

California and Illinois recently advanced state-administered labor relations models that operate outside the traditional framework of the National Labor Relations Act.