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The Littler Annual Employer Survey 2021 (PDF)

23 pages. "Employers planning for a transition to a post-pandemic workplace are faced with a host of novel issues – and addressing a disconnect with employees about what the future of work and the return to physical workspaces looks like is at the top of the list."

Health Care Reform: What are Key Considerations for Employers?

Excerpt: The new law will impose significant new responsibilities on employers nationwide that could, over time, fundamentally alter the nature of employer-sponsored health care and the employer-employee relationship. As employers look ahead to understand the implications of this sweeping legislation, we have provided questions and answers below to some of the most pressing issues they are likely to face. Additionally, Littler Mendelson is committed to educating employers about this legislation. To this end, we will be providing additional publications relating to how these new rules affect the following[.]

New York City Amends Sick Time Law to Require New Unpaid Leave and Permit New Covered Uses

"The amended ESSTA requires employers to make available the additional 32 hours of unpaid safe/sick time immediately at hire, as well as to 'frontload' it at the start of each new benefit year. The unpaid safe/sick time may be used immediately by employees upon receipt. Further, under the amended ESSTA, if an employee communicates to their employer that they need time off for a purpose covered by safe/sick time, the employer must provide paid safe/sick time unless the employee has no such time available or the employee specifically requests to use other leave in lieu of paid safe/sick time."

New York Mandatory Employee Retirement Program to Be Implemented After Years of Delays

"New York Secure Choice ... mandates and facilitates the creation of Roth IRAs for private-sector employees who do not have access to a qualified retirement plan through their employers. Beginning in March of 2026, New York will require most private-sector employers to register for the Program or certify their exemption from the Program."

California Expands Paid Family Leave Eligibility to 'Designated Persons'

"PFL wage replacement benefits claims filed on or after July 1, 2028 will be available for employees who take time off work to care for a 'designated person' with a serious illness ... Employees will have to identify their 'designated person' at the time they request benefits and attest under penalty of perjury to either: [1] how the individual is related by blood to the designated person; or [2] how the individual's association with the designated person is the equivalent of a family relationship."

California Again Expands Reasons Employees Can Use Job-Protected Paid Sick and Safe Time, Unpaid Leave

"This year's amendments ... effective January 1, 2026 ... allow employees to use leave if they or a family member are a victim of certain crimes and are attending judicial proceedings related to that crime ... [T]he amendments -- effective on October 1, 2025 -- revise the paid leave law to incorporate by reference covered uses that already exist under the unpaid leave law:"

How Do Alaska's Final Paid Sick Leave Rules Differ from the Proposed Rules?

"[F]or employees who work at two or more rates the Department now allows both the previously proposed 'weighted average' method (for the workweek) and the 'rate in effect' method (for the shift).... Different standards apply depending on whether an employer has 15 or more, or 14 or fewer, employees. The final rule uses 'full-time equivalents (FTEs)' rather than 'employees.' ... A new rule ... requires an employer to establish a 'year' that is consecutive 52-week period. If it does not, the default year is the calendar year."

Denial of Gender-Affirming Care Does Not Qualify as Sex Discrimination, Eleventh Circuit Holds

"This decision directly departed from the court's 2-1 ruling by a three-member panel in 2024, which held that such an exclusion was, on its face, a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It also conflicted with other recent federal court opinions that have construed the exclusion of gender affirming care as unlawful." [Lange v. Houston County, Georgia, No. 22-13626 (11th Cir. Sep. 9, 2025)]

California Court of Appeal Rules on Who Is an 'Exempt' Employee for Paid Sick Leave Rate-of-Pay Purposes

"In concluding that the definition of 'exempt' was not as limited as the DLSE (and plaintiff's counsel) argued, the court observed that 'California courts ... consistently use the phrase 'exempt employees' in the private employment context to mean those not entitled to overtime wages under California wage and hour law.' Considering 'exempt' a 'term of art,' the panel next found that the legislature knew what it was doing when, in the rate of pay context, it did not limit its scope to only [executive, administrative, and professional (EAP)] employees." [Hirdman v. Charter Communications, LLC, No. D084304 (Cal. Ct. App. Aug. 4, 2025)]

Citing Legal Challenges, DOL to Overturn Biden-Era Independent Contractor Rule

"Citing to five separate legal challenges to the [2024 Rule] and its intention to 'reduce unnecessary burdens on employers and employees,' the Trump DOL aims to retool its independent contractor rule. This announcement ... comes on [the] heels of the Trump DOL announcing on May 1, 2025 that it would no longer enforce the 2024 IC Rule."