HR and future of work · Industry brief

California AB 1803, signed in September 2026, expands harassment prevention training requirements effective January 1, 2028, mandating that covered employers include anti-hate-speech training alongside existing sexual harassment prevention training. The law requires practical guidance on recognizing, reporting, and confronting workplace speech that vilifies or incites hatred based on protected characteristics, though training addressing unlawful harassment and abusive conduct may satisfy the requirement without adding hours to existing two-hour supervisor and one-hour employee mandates. Recent Department of Labor opinion letters address wage-and-hour compliance at workday boundaries, including rulings on meal-period walking time, mid-day home-to-office travel, and work performed before traveling to client appointments. Pending Massachusetts legislation (H.5023) would establish detailed annual harassment prevention training requirements for employers with 25+ employees, including interactive training and industry-specific examples, while New York's A368A requires signed acknowledgments of harassment prevention policies in English and employees' primary languages, retained for six years. EEOC enforcement actions in October 2026 announced four harassment settlements totaling $930,000 requiring training alongside policy revisions, with cases emphasizing need for reporting procedures that work in practice and manager training on recognizing and responding to concerns.

A proposed $30.8 million class settlement in Gillyard v. Federal Express Corp. (W.D. Wash. No. 24-01666) highlights significant compliance risks from outdated handbook provisions. FedEx faced litigation from approximately 23,000 groundworkers who challenged the company's anti-moonlighting policy, which prohibited employees from working for competitors, suppliers, or contractors. Plaintiffs argued the policy violated Washington's restrictions on outside-employment restraints (RCW 49.62.070) and noncompetition covenants for lower-wage workers (RCW 49.62.020), with over half the settlement fund allocated to moonlighting-related claims. The case underscores that employers with operations in Washington and other states with expanding employee-mobility protections should audit handbook provisions governing secondary employment, conflicts of interest, and competitive activities to ensure policies are narrowly tailored to legitimate business concerns rather than blanket prohibitions, and that legacy policies remain aligned with evolving state law.

PosterElite is being integrated into the isolved HCM platform to expand labor law compliance services. The integration will help HR professionals address compliance requirements across minimum wage, overtime pay, workplace safety, employee benefits, paid sick leave and labor law posters while meeting Department of Labor, EEOC, OSHA, FLSA and FMLA standards. The solution aims to support white-labeled compliance offerings that reduce regulatory risks and improve record-keeping for employers navigating evolving state employment laws.