Workforce Bulletin

As featured in #WorkforceWednesday®: This week, we look at the potential restoration of a quorum at the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”), the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) deregulatory initiatives, and lessons from a high-profile workplace incident at a Coldplay concert.

Meet Haley Morrison, a Portland-based litigator at Epstein Becker Green with a thriving California practice.

In this one-on-one interview, Haley sits down with fellow Epstein Becker Green attorney George Whipple and shares how her client-first approach—prioritizing resolution over courtroom battles—has saved businesses time, money, and relationships.

Ever since Colorado enacted the nation’s first law requiring employers to disclose salary compensation and employee benefits in job postings, a wave of states and multiple municipalities have followed suit.

While each jurisdiction generally requires employers to provide an estimated pay range on job postings or advertisements, the laws often vary with respect to their coverage and the scope of the information employers must disclose. This blog summarizes the latest pay transparency requirements that have already taken effect in 2025 or will take effect later this year.

On July 23, 2025, the president signed three AI-related Executive Orders (“E.O.s”) to accompany the recently released White House’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan (“AI Action Plan”). These E.O.s seek to add clarity to, and drive forward, federal policy in the AI space.

While they all relate to AI, the E.O.s otherwise vary considerably in subject matter: “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure”; “Promoting the Export of the American AI Technology Stack”; and “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government.”

As we noted in our July 24 blog, the White House is clearly determined to outpace other countries so that the U.S. benefits from any gains provided by AI through building AI infrastructure and bolstering AI-related exports. The Center for Data Innovation, from its perspective, stated in a press release that the actions pursued by the executive orders will advance U.S. goals of global AI dominance and enable the U.S. to better compete with China.

New York State enacted the first state law requiring all employers to provide leave for reasons related to COVID-19 in March 2020.

The extra paid sick days and “COVID-19  quarantine benefits,” however, are scheduled to end on July 31, 2025, when New York becomes the last U.S. jurisdiction to roll back COVID-era leave entitlements.

As one of the first states heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, New York pioneered a paid benefit to employees impacted by the virus. The budget bill (which was also responsible for enacting the statewide Paid Sick Leave law) passed in the early weeks of the 2020 lockdown, requiring New York employers to provide protected, paid sick leave to employees who are under a mandatory quarantine or isolation order due to COVID-19 and cannot work remotely, separate and in addition to other paid sick and safe leave benefits required under New York Law. The amount of mandated paid leave varied based on the size of the employer, requiring up to 14 days of paid leave from the largest employers.

The long-awaited White House Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan (“AI Action Plan”) is here, setting forth the Trump administration’s policy recommendations to achieve the goal of “global AI dominance.”

The White House released the AI Action Plan on July 23, 2025, and delivered remarks on the plan during an AI summit. The same day, the president signed three AI-related Executive Orders to further the AI Action Plan, relating to: 1) “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure”; 2) “Promoting the Export of the American AI Technology Stack”; and 3) “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government.” Yet it remains to be seen whether and how successfully the AI Action Plan will unfold—particularly with respect to impacts on incongruous state regulatory action.

Likening the global AI race to the space race during the Cold War, the introduction to the 28-page AI Action Plan emphasizes the need “to innovate faster and more comprehensively than our competitors in the development and distribution of new AI technology across every field and dismantle unnecessary regulatory barriers that hinder the private sector in doing so.” 

As featured in #WorkforceWednesday®: This week, we’re examining the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) stance on a federal non-compete ban, the expansive changes introduced by Florida’s Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act, and a pivotal ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) on pension withdrawal liabilities.

On June 18, 2025, in the case of United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, concluding that the law (titled Prohibition on Medical Procedures Performed on Minors Related to Sexual Identity, Senate Bill 1 (SB1)) does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In a 6-3 opinion authored by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court affirmed the decision from the 6^th Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that under the rational basis review, SB1 does not discriminate on the basis of sex for purposes of equal protection. Employers should be aware of certain considerations following this decision.

Earlier this year, Washington enacted new amendments (the “2025 Amendments”) to its pay equity law, which will soon bring some relief to employers. Since 2023, the Equal Pay and Opportunities Act (EPOA) has required employers with at least 15 total employees and at least one Washington-based employee to include the wage scale, salary range, and other disclosures in covered job postings, as we previously explained here. The 2025 Amendments, among other things, clarify the remedies available under the EPOA and temporarily curb liability for employers who violate its pay transparency requirements. These modifications take effect on July 27, 2025.

It’s July, and the White House Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) Action Plan (“Action Plan” or “the plan”) is almost here.

In Executive Order 14179 of January 23, 2025—entitled “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence”—President Donald Trump directed federal officials to develop an Action Plan to achieve the policies of sustaining and enhancing America’s dominance in global AI. The plan is expected to drop by July 23, to coincide with an address by the President outlining his vision for American AI.

The release of the Action Plan will follow a number of recent developments in AI at the state and federal levels that show no signs of abating. On July 15, for instance, the White House announced $90 billion in energy and data center investments in Pennsylvania, according to Reuters. Bloomberg reported the same day that President Trump is planning to sign another executive order to implement the Action Plan upon its release to push the policy forward.