Navigating 2026 Employment Laws: What Every Employer Needs to Know

As 2026 begins, employers are facing one of the most wide-ranging shifts in employment law in over a decade. New federal and state initiatives are reshaping wage rules, overtime eligibility, protected leaves, religious and disability accommodations, arbitration enforceability, pay transparency, workplace postings, and worker-protection requirements—all at once.

Simultaneously, minimum wage increases and evolving interpretations of employee rights require updated policies, revised notices, and more intentional training for managers.

This webinar provides HR professionals, executives, and employment-law practitioners with a clear and practical roadmap for navigating these developments with confidence.

Why You Should Attend

Compliance is no longer something employers can handle “once a year.” The legal landscape for 2025 demands active attention, careful documentation, and timely updates.

Learning Objectives

• Avoid high-risk pitfalls that commonly trigger litigation.
• Update handbooks, notices, and agreements the right way.
• Respond to new accommodation and leave obligations.
• Prepare for new wage rules and the continued rise in worker-protection requirements.

If you’re responsible for compliance, HR, employee relations, operations, or risk management, this program is essential.

Areas Covered

1. Introduction

• The major employment-law themes driving 2026.
• Why this year requires a proactive compliance refresh.

2. Federal Employment Law Updates

• New overtime salary thresholds (exempt + HCE).
• Triennial automatic threshold updates—what they mean.
• Federal guidance affecting disability & religious accommodations.
• Federal leave-law developments and benefit-continuation rules.

3. Protected Leaves of Absence & Benefits

• Interaction of federal/state leave rights.
• Benefit-continuation requirements during protected leave.
• Practical issues: intermittent leave, hybrid work, return-to-work documentation.

4. Disability & Religious Accommodations

• Expanded interpretations under ADA and Title VII.
• Accommodating mental-health, neurodiversity, and religious-practice requests.
• When remote work becomes a reasonable accommodation.
• Managing undue hardship assessments properly.

5. Minimum Wage Increases & Compensation Rules

• State and local minimum-wage hikes across the country.
• Pay-transparency requirements in job postings and promotions.
• Wage-hour compliance for hybrid/remote employees.

6. Arbitration Agreements & Contract Developments

• The current legal limits on mandatory arbitration.
• State laws restricting “pay-or-stay” agreements and repayment contracts.
• Updates on the enforceability of confidentiality and severance provisions.

7. Worker Protections & Required Notices

• Newly required workplace postings for 2025.
• Worker-education mandates (e.g., anti-harassment, leave rights, safety).
• Enhanced whistleblower protections.

8. Steps to Compliance for 2026

• How to update policies, handbooks, and contracts.
• Ensuring your HRIS, ATS, and payroll systems reflect new wage/leave rules.
• Manager training essentials for 2026.
• Documentation best practices.

9. Conclusion

• Summary of required employer actions.
• How to prioritize updates in Q1.
• Final recommendations for a proactive compliance posture.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this program, participants will be able to:

• Identify the most important federal and state employment-law changes for 2025.
• Implement updated policies, handbooks, notices, and agreements required for compliance.
• Strengthen accommodation, leave-management, and wage-hour practices to reduce risk.
• Prepare managers and HR staff for the evolving compliance landscape.

Who Should Attend

• HR Professionals
• Compliance Officers
• Business Owners & Executives
• Operations Managers
• Legal & Employee Relations Leaders

Speaker(s)

Don Phin, Esq.

Don Phin is a California employment law attorney. Since leaving his litigation practice more than twenty years ago, he has consulted with hundreds of companies to help improve their employment practices. He has presented in person over 600 times to CEOs, HR, and other executives on what works in leadership and employee relations. Don has written numerous books and built HRThatWorks, an online HR compliance and strategy program, used by 3,500 companies and sold to ThinkHR in 2014. In addition to consulting and speaking, Don does executive coaching, expert testimony, and workplace investigations. Streetwise from the Bronx (you can still hear the accent), Don moved to San Diego when he was 20 to work on a tuna boat and never came back. Today Don lives in sunny Coronado, California.

CEUs

The use of this seal confirms that this activity has met HR Certification Institute’s® (HRCI®) criteria for recertification credit pre-approval.

Credits: 1.0

Compliance Prime is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for the SHRM-CPSM or SHRM-SCPSM. This program is valid for PDC(s) for the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit www.shrmcertification.org

Credits: 1.0

Unlimited Webinars

Access Unlimited Webinars

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Why You Should Subscribe?

Unlimited Live and On-Demand Courses

Watch all live or recorded webinars (up to 120 minutes long). Get instant access to a library of more than 500 high quality courses presented by best-in-class presenters.

CEUs: PAYROLLORG, CPE, SHRM and HRCI Credits

Fulfil your recertification requirements by earning CEUs from PAYROLLORG, CPE, SHRM and HRCI.

Free Access to Course Materials

Each program comes with Additional Course Materials, which you can download and read anytime.

Additional Discounts

Get flat 20% discount on Premium Product Category like, Long Hour Webinars.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Call Now At

888-527-3477

Email Us At

help@complianceprime.com