HR in Five
A daily five-minute podcast covering the top five HR stories each weekday. Topics include employment law, labor market trends, benefits, compensation, and workplace technology. Designed for HR professionals and leaders to stay informed quickly.
Episodes
Green Card Freeze Hits Big Tech
Labor Department suspends Microsoft, Adobe from PERM program. HR Dive reports the U.S. Department of Labor suspended several large tech employers from the permanent labor certification program, putting debarment risk on any green-card sponsor's checklist. (HR Dive)
DHS proposes $70,000 fee for initial OPT participation. A proposed Department of Homeland Security fee would reprice the Optional Prac
EEOC Moves to Scrap Its Conviction-Record Guidance
EEOC moves to rescind 2012 criminal-record guidance. HR Dive and Bloomberg Law report the EEOC is moving to withdraw its 2012 arrest and conviction record guidance, but attorneys say background-check practice should stay put. (HR Dive, news.bloomberglaw.com)
Employers pay above planned ranges for AI skills. More than half of employers in a new study report offering higher salaries than planned to
A $14 Floor, and the Court Steps Back
Labor Department sets $14 contractor minimum wage. HR Dive reports the Department of Labor is raising the federal contractor minimum wage to $14 an hour, a floor that sits below the $15 rate applied under the prior administration. (HR Dive)
Supreme Court declines disability bias, vaccine employment cases. HR Dive reports the justices have so far refused to take up several employment law questions
Labor Board Restores GM Standard, EEOC Sues Over "Only H1B"
NLRB restores General Motors test in Lion Elastomers. The Board says the General Motors standard again governs discipline for misconduct during protected activity, which may reopen conduct policies and pending cases written to the prior rule. (nutter.com)
EEOC targets staffing firm over 'only H1B' job message. HR Dive reports the commission is treating citizenship-preference language in job postin
September Payrolls Miss, EEOC Moves to Drop Demographic Data
September payrolls rose 29,000, below August gain. The latest employment report puts September job growth at 29,000 against August's 133,000, a cooler hiring benchmark to hold next to Q4 headcount plans. (Advisor Perspectives, CryptoRank, Investing.com)
EEOC proposes eliminating workforce demographic data reports. The EEOC voted 2-1 to advance a proposal scrapping workforce demographic data report
California Signs AI Workplace Laws, EEOC Sues Harvard
Newsom signs package of AI worker protections. California has enacted a set of AI bills its governor frames as a worker-and-consumer framework, the rules multi-state employers will likely configure to first. (HR Dive)
Employment tribunal claim deadline doubles to six months. The filing window for UK employment tribunal claims moves from three months to six, extending how long an employer's exposur
DEI Training Suit Advances, Florida Hits $15
Ninth Circuit revives DEI training hostile-environment claim against Seattle. A federal appeals court allowed a hostile-work-environment suit over Seattle's mandatory DEI sessions to proceed, shifting scrutiny to how such training is designed and run. (HR Dive)
Florida becomes 18th state with a $15 minimum wage. More than a third of US states now set a floor of at least $15 an hour, widening the p
Payroll Software Breached Again, and 23,000 Fired and Rehired
Google warns ShinyHunters is back inside Oracle PeopleSoft. Google's security team reports the group breached PeopleSoft again after earlier fixes, so employers running it for payroll may need to reopen a closed response. (HRD Canada)
Glasgow City Council to dismiss and rehire 23,000 staff. Personnel Today reports the council will move about 23,000 employees onto new contracts after an equal pay d
EEOC Limits Enforcement, DoorDash Pays $131.5M
EEOC narrows enforcement for Christian employers group. Metro Weekly reports the EEOC agreed to limit enforcement of certain gender-identity discrimination claims against a Christian employers group, a signal of where the agency is drawing the line between anti-discrimination duties and religious objections. (Metro Weekly)
DoorDash to pay US$131.5m over delivery worker pay. HRD Canada reports Door
Bereavement Leave Gets a 2027 Date
Bereavement leave rights to commence April 2027. The government has set an April 2027 commencement date for new bereavement leave rights covering pregnancy loss, giving HR teams a fixed runway to rewrite policy. (Personnel Today)
Judge dismisses former Purdue diversity chief's bias claims. A court rejected all three comparators the executive offered, illustrating the evidentiary bar for showing si
Starbucks Settles Florida DEI Suit, Nationwide Limits
Starbucks settles Florida DEI suit for $1 million. Starbucks has agreed to pay $1 million and drop race- and sex-based preferences in employment decisions nationwide, per HR Dive and HR Grapevine USA, a state enforcement action that reaches past one employer's programs. (HR Grapevine USA, HR Dive)
IBM study: employees report AI eroding critical thinking. IBM's global CHRO survey reports 60% of emp
Amazon Lifts Wage Floor to $20; EEOC Warns on Pregnancy Notes
Amazon raises minimum starting wage to $20 an hour. Amazon adds $1 an hour for full-time core-operations staff, per HR Dive, a new floor other large hourly employers may be measured against. (HR Dive)
EEOC: leave pregnancy-risk assessments to medical professionals. In two conciliated cases, the EEOC says employers should not second-guess a doctor's note on pregnancy-related limitations, per HR Div
Gartner Says a Third of AI Job Cuts Will Be Reversed
Gartner: over-aggressive AI cuts now forcing costly rehires. A new Gartner report says employers that trimmed headcount too deeply for AI are paying to rehire, a caution for automation-based workforce plans. (HRD Canada, Computerworld)
California bill would ban emotion-reading AI at work. California lawmakers passed a bill barring employers from using AI to track employee emotions or neural data,
Amazon Sued Over Pregnancy Accommodations
Four women sue Amazon over pregnancy accommodations. A lawsuit filed yesterday alleges Amazon denied pregnant warehouse workers bathroom breaks and seated work, the same accommodation requests HR teams field daily. (Ars Technica, HRD Canada)
DOL says 14-minute walk to break area may not trigger FLSA violation. The Labor Department addressed walking time and other wage-and-hour edge cases in three
EEOC subpoenas a city's DEI training records
EEOC asks court to compel San Francisco DEI records. The EEOC is seeking a court order for the city's diversity-training documents, putting DEI paperwork inside the discovery perimeter of a bias investigation. (news.bloomberglaw.com)
Volkswagen restructuring plan reaches 100,000 job cuts by 2030. HR Executive reports Volkswagen has agreed to reductions that would total 100,000 positions by the end
NLRB's Top Lawyer Names Her Targets
NLRB counsel targets Biden-era labor rulings. The NLRB's new general counsel has named more than a dozen Biden-era Board decisions she intends to challenge, putting employer-side precedent back in play. (Mondaq Business Briefing)
Tribunal backs Next in equal pay appeal. The Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that market forces can be a legitimate aim, a finding Personnel Today reports as a landmark
Benefits Costs Spike, Payrolls Beat, VW Cuts 50,000
Marsh reports steepest health benefits cost rise since 2003. Marsh says next year's health benefits costs will climb at the fastest rate in 24 years, setting a harder baseline for renewal pricing. (HR Executive)
August hiring beats expectations as economists still call market fragile. August job numbers came in above forecasts, but an economist quoted describes the labor market as fragile, a mixed
Uber's Third Restructuring, and a Court Trims the NLRB
Uber cuts 3,300 jobs, tightens office rules. HR Executive reports Uber's third 2026 restructuring cuts 10% of staff while reinforcing in-office attendance, a pairing HR leaders may see cited in their own RTO debates. (HR Executive)
Second Circuit declines to enforce Starbucks NLRB order. A federal appeals court refused to enforce a Board order on Starbucks dress-code rules, narrowing how far curre
ADP Misses, Uber Cuts 3,300
ADP: private payrolls added 38,000 jobs in August. August private hiring came in below the 48,000 economists expected, giving talent teams an early read on where hiring plans are loosening. (Finance & Commerce, AzerNews, FXStreet)
NLRB asks full DC Circuit to rehear authority ruling. The Board is seeking en banc review of a panel decision narrowing its rulemaking power, leaving employers uncer
States Push Back On EEO-1 Rescission
States challenge EEOC move to end demographic reporting. Eight state and local civil rights agencies are pushing back on ending EEO-1 collection, the dataset many employers use as their pay- and representation-audit baseline. (StateScoop, The Portland Tribune)
Amazon Teamsters call strike at largest US warehouse. The union says workers at Amazon's DJT6 site in Riverside will walk off in an unfair-
3.3% Merit Budgets, California's Neural Data Bill, and an EEOC Cause Finding at Cisco
US salary budgets set to rise 3.3% in 2027. HR Dive reports employers are planning average base pay increases of 3.3% next year, giving comp teams a benchmark for 2027 merit cycles. (HR Dive)
California AI emotion-surveillance bill reaches Newsom's desk. HR Dive reports a bill limiting workplace emotion-inference AI and neural data collection now awaits the governor's signature, putting HR tech pr
The Payroll Baseline Just Moved
BLS revision trims US job growth estimate modestly. The government reported Friday that employment grew slightly less than previously estimated through March, resetting the baseline HR teams use for headcount and comp planning. (The Daily Star, The Times of India, newKerala.com)
NLRB regains quorum, positioned to revisit precedent. Barnes & Thornburg reports the Board has new Senate-confirmed
EEOC Commissioner Defends Enforcement, Workday's AI Revenue
EEOC Commissioner Disputes 'Maximalist' Enforcement Label. Commissioner Brittany Panuccio says the agency has been fair in enforcing antidiscrimination law, per Bloomberg Law, giving employers the EEOC's own account of its posture. (news.bloomberglaw.com)
Agencies Field Questions On Wellness Program Surcharges. DOL and other agencies have addressed wellness-incentive surcharge questions, and an at
Health Costs Climb, The Times Sues the EEOC
Employer health costs projected to rise 9.5% in 2027. HR Executive and HR Dive report a fourth straight year of near-double-digit projected cost growth, putting 2027 benefits design and budgeting on HR's agenda. (HR Executive, HR Dive)
New York Times sues EEOC over White-worker bias records. Bloomberg Law reports the Times is seeking EEOC enforcement documents while defending the agency's own disc
A Second H-1B Fee, and Uber's 825 Million Euro Robo-Firing Fine
Federal agencies to propose second H-1B fee. HR Dive reports a new H-1B fee would stack on the existing $100,000 payment, raising per-hire sponsorship costs employers cannot yet budget with certainty. (HR Dive)
Dutch regulator fines Uber €825 million over automated driver deactivations. The Dutch Data Protection Authority found serious infringements in Uber's automated suspension and deactivation
Contractor Affirmative Action Rules Finalized, AI Note-Takers on the Hook
Three final rules rescind contractor affirmative action requirements. HR Dive reports the federal government finalized three rules rolling back affirmative action obligations for contractors, resetting what employers must collect, report, and audit. (HR Dive)
Judge says Otter.ai assistant may be third-party recorder. A federal judge in California ruled Otter's meeting assistant could be treated as
Trump Accounts Get Rules, Ninth Circuit Narrows a Union Defense
IRS proposes rules for Trump Accounts. Proposed IRS regulations outline how Trump Accounts would be set up and administered, giving benefits and payroll teams their first concrete look at the mechanics. (HR Dive)
Ninth Circuit limits union defense in NLRB jurisdictional disputes. The en banc appeals court held unions cannot invoke a work-preservation liability shield against NLRB order violations,
Ontario Narrows Early Dismissals
Court ruling may narrow Ontario tribunal dismissals. HRD Canada reports a court decision could limit early dismissals of human rights complaints, raising the documentation burden on HR teams. (HRD Canada)
ILO report counts 67 million unemployed young people. A new ILO report cited by HRD Canada puts global youth unemployment at 67 million amid reported AI disruption, a signal for early-career hiri
Canada's Wage Parity Clock, and a Looser UK Causation Test
Federal equal-treatment wage rules push employers toward pay audits. HRD Canada reports new federal equal-treatment wage rules put the onus on employers to document pay decisions, making a pre-enforcement audit the practical first step for HR and compensation teams. (HRD Canada)
UK Supreme Court lowers causation bar in part-time worker case. Personnel Today reports the UK Supreme Court held that p
A $4.7M RSU Ruling, and HR's Shrinking Share
OCA orders Meta to pay US$4.7 million in stock units. An appeals court ruled Meta owes a terminated employee equity that would have vested during the notice period, per HRD Canada, a decision equity-carrying employers may read against their own termination language. (HRD Canada)
Survey points to declines in some HR roles. New survey data shows which HR functions are shrinking, per HRD Canada, offe
A Million Fewer Workers, and a New NLRB Majority
US labor force shrinks by over one million. Morningstar reports the labor-force participation rate has slid to its lowest level since the pandemic, making hiring difficulty partly a supply problem. (Morningstar)
Senate confirmations restore NLRB Republican majority. HR Dive reports the National Labor Relations Board now has a three-member Republican majority, which an Ogletree Deakins post says ca
Tech Layoffs Climb as the July Jobs Report Misses
Tech job cuts rise as overall layoffs slow. Challenger, Gray and Christmas reports year-over-year increases in technology sector job losses even as layoffs slow elsewhere, and points to AI as a possible factor. (HR Dive)
U.S. loses jobs in July as unemployment rate falls. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a July job loss against economist expectations of growth, resetting the baseline HR tea
Labor's Record Low, and the EEO-1 Countdown
BLS: labor's share of output hits record low. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported workers' slice of the economy fell to a new low in the second quarter, setting the backdrop for wage-setting talks. (Daily Sabah, Market Screener)
Employers tighten benefits as medical costs climb. HR Executive reports rising medical spend is pushing employers to reassess benefits design, with clear fixes harder
DEI Moves Into the Rules, and OpenAI Pays $3.2M
DOJ memo puts disparate-impact theory in play. Dentons reports federal DEI policy has moved from executive orders into rulemaking and a DOJ memo on disparate-impact theory, which employers use as the basis for adverse-impact testing. (dentons.com)
OpenAI to pay $3.2 million in discrimination settlement. HRD Canada reports OpenAI will pay $3.2 million to settle US claims it preferred workers holdin
Openings Slip, and the Labor Force Shrinks
June JOLTS Shows Openings Thinning in Healthcare, Leisure. The BLS June Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, as reported by Tech Times, records the sharpest declines in healthcare and leisure, giving workforce planners a sourced read on where hiring demand is softening ahead of fall. (Tech Times, Tech Times)
Also moving today:
Study: Managers can’t explain AI-driven pay and work changes (HR Exe
Labor Board Ruled Unconstitutional, Then Left Standing
Texas judge rules NLRB structure unconstitutional, lets work proceed. A federal judge found the labor board's structure unconstitutional but declined to halt its activities, leaving employers to track how pending board cases and orders are affected. (HR Dive)
EU AI Act deadline reaches HR's own AI tools. The EU AI Act's August 2 deadline applies directly to HR technology, and new data cited in the
BLS Firing Draws Bipartisan Pushback; NLRB Backs Whole Foods on BLM Dress Code
Former BLS leaders criticize firing of agency commissioner. Ex-Bureau of Labor Statistics leaders and non-partisan economic groups say President Trump's dismissal of Commissioner Erika McEntarfer undermines the credibility of federal data that HR teams key comp and hiring plans to. (RocketNews | Top News Stories From Around the Globe)
NLRB rules Whole Foods could bar BLM messaging. The National La
Visa Blames AI for 2,600 Cuts, Porsche Buys a Decade
Visa cuts 2,600 jobs, citing AI efficiency. HR Executive reports Visa is eliminating 7% of its workforce, giving HR leaders a live example of how large employers frame AI-driven restructuring. (HR Executive)
Porsche to cut 5,000 jobs by 2035. HRD Canada reports Porsche will reduce headcount by 5,000 under a new restructuring package the company describes as a socially responsible reduction. (HRD C
DEI Records Head to the EEOC
Court orders Northwestern Mutual to produce DEI data. A Wisconsin federal judge rejected the insurer's bid to narrow EEOC information requests in a promotion-bias charge, per HR Dive, a signal that DEI program records can fall inside discovery. (HR Dive)
UK Supreme Court: Home Office must state fine reason. The Supreme Court ruled the Home Office must specify how an employer breached right-to-work
The Frozen Track for Federal Bias Claims
Union sues EEOC over halted federal class complaints. The AFGE alleges in a Tuesday lawsuit that the EEOC has stopped processing class-style discrimination complaints from federal employees, a claim that, if upheld, would affect how systemic bias cases are resolved across the federal sector. (Reuters, Federal News Network, AccessWDUN)
Uber cuts 10% of customer service staff, citing AI. Uber says i
Peak Office Use Tops Pre-Pandemic, and a $5M Accommodation Bill
CBRE: peak office attendance reaches 80%. CBRE reports peak-day office use has topped pre-pandemic levels, giving workplace teams an external benchmark for attendance and space decisions. (HR Dive)
9th Circuit: prior shots don't bar religious exemption. The 9th Circuit held that a worker's earlier vaccinations do not defeat a religious exemption request, narrowing the grounds reviewers can cite in
AI Hiring Suits, a Dropped Penn Subpoena, and the EEOC's Real Docket
Workday, Meta suits test AI hiring liability. Two lawsuits are helping define when employers are liable for AI-informed personnel decisions, a question growing as the tools spread across HR. (Employee Benefit News, HR Executive)
Administration drops subpoena for Penn employees' names. The EEOC agreed to withdraw a demand for the names of Jewish people at the University of Pennsylvania, a walk-back
The EEOC Votes to Scrap the EEO-1
EEOC Votes to Propose Ending EEO-1 Demographic Reporting. The commission advanced a rulemaking on July 21 that would unwind a longstanding federal reporting requirement, but the filing obligation remains in force during the comment period. (Law and the Workplace, Jezebel, ArkansasOnline)
D.C. Circuit Rejects NLRB Successor-Bar Doctrine. A federal appeals court set aside a Board-made rule on inheri
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