2025 Legal & Regulatory Trends and Developments

There have been a host of developments of which employers need to be aware as they plan for 2025 and beyond. On the employment practices side, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released its Strategic Enforcement Plan for Fiscal Years 2024 –2028, establishing the EEOC’s subject matter priorities for the next few years. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act – prohibiting employers from discriminating against an employee based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions – went into effect in June 2023.

Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court redefined how employers should evaluate religious accommodation requests, setting a new standard for undue hardship. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed decades of precent that limited the scope of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by determining that Title VII plaintiffs are no longer required to plead an “ultimate employment decision” to properly allege a disparate treatment claim, and rather can survive a motion to dismiss by pleading adverse actions with respect to “terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.”

President Trump’s second presidential term may cause seismic shifts throughout government, including at the Department of Labor. One area of focus will be DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, where regulatory and enforcement priorities are likely to change in several areas important to employers and employees, such as overtime pay, independent contractor classification, and child labor.

Employers must review their employment policies and procedures to ensure that they comply with the most recent developments in employment as well as wage and hour laws and regulations.

Participants in this webinar learned about:

• The EEOC’s Strategic Enforcement Plan for 2024 –2028
• Requirements in the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
• Developments in religious accommodation requirements
• The evolving test for Title VII claims in the 5th Circuit
• Anticipated changes to DOL Wage and Hour Division’s regulatory and enforcement priorities
• Expectations concerning Wage and Hour’s child labor initiative