Michigan UIA going live next year with their new system: The new system is going to be implemented in two phases. This phased approach is industry best practice. Phases allow for more manageable rollouts, focused testing, and reduce the risk of disruption for employers and claimants. For MiUI, the tax-related system functionality used by employers and third-party administrators (TPAs) is scheduled to launch in early 2026. The benefits-related functionality will launch by summer of 2026. Before the tax phase goes live, there will be a short period where UIA is transitioning between systems, so MiWAM will not be available for a few days. Those dates will be announced as the time approaches. Source: LEO

West Michigan manufacturer wins award for saving 30 engineering jobs: ASE member, Hilite International, along with West Michigan Works! were recently honored with the Michigan Works! Association Impact Award for their efforts to keep more than 30 skilled workers employed in Muskegon Heights. What began as a workforce development partnership between Mahle Engine Components USA and West Michigan Works! to address talent retention ultimately became a partnership with Hilite International to keep more than 30 high-skilled people employed and a Muskegon Heights research and development facility operating. The Impact Award was presented to the two organizations on Dec. 8 during the 2025 West Michigan Works! Annual Board meeting at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. The recipients will also be honored at the Michigan Works! Association statewide Impact Awards on April 8 in Lansing. Source: Mlive 12/11/25

Linear career no longer in the cards? The view of traditional work and career paradigms appears to explain many why many Gen-Zers are behaving in ways that alternatively confuse and annoy older colleagues. According to the latest Next Gen of Work report by freelance job platform Fiverr, its survey of 12,000 workers born between 1995 and 2012 found a majority saying the model of working one’s way through the corporate ranks will soon be sleeping with the fishes alongside cradle-to-grave employment.  As a result, a mere 18% of Gen-Z respondents cited ascending a profession with a single employer as a smart way of getting ahead in the world. Bolder still, over half of survey participants, or 54% of the total, predicted traditional employment itself will become obsolete in coming years. Only 14% of Gen-Zers questioned listed working for a well-known corporation as one of their career ambitions, furthering the cohort’s break with the tenets that dominated post-war employment. More importantly, many of them are turning to income stacking, or generating multiple sources of revenue by juggling several professional activities. Fully 67% of Fiverr survey participants said they considered having an array of revenue sources as essential to attaining financial security.  Source: Inc. 11/3/25

Could AI change a job from exempt to nonexempt? While responsible AI use in the workplace may mean more efficiency and accuracy, it can also complicate employee classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). If the employee’s duties become more about confirming or lightly editing AI-generated findings rather than using deep expertise to interpret data from scratch, does the role still qualify for an FLSA exemption? As with the difference between a journalist rewriting press releases and a writer producing original content, a lab scientist or general manager primarily validating AI outputs rather than exercising independent judgment may begin to resemble a “non-exempt” employee under the FLSA. Thus, as AI assumes functions once performed by humans, employers must ask: are employees still making meaningful decisions, or merely reviewing or abiding by AI-generated outputs? It is recommended to get ahead of the game. Therefore, employers should conduct FLSA classification audits for AI-integrated roles, considering whether the role requires the use of judgment that is real, substantial, and on matters of significance, and whether the employee has the actual authority to interpret or override AI outputs, not merely to monitor them. Employers should also update job descriptions to clearly define judgment-based responsibilities, not just technical tasks.  Source: K&L Gates LLP 9/30/25

Is DEI a good initiative for employers? Maybe not in today’s climate. According to the latest Bentley University-Gallup Business in Society survey, 69% of U.S. adults said it’s important for businesses to promote DEI, falling from 78% in 2022 and marking the lowest level since tracking began that year. Notably, only 35% said businesses do a good job at promoting DEI, also a new low from 42% in 2022. Expectations for corporate responsibility beyond DEI remain high. Nearly all Americans say companies should provide quality healthcare to employees (96%), support local communities (95%), operate sustainably (91%), offer mental health support (91%), and work to improve the world more broadly (90%).  Yet Americans are far less likely to say companies are delivering in specific, high-priority areas. Alongside declining ratings of business performance on DEI, the findings highlight a persistent general disconnect between what people expect from businesses and how they judge their performance. However, respondents were much less likely to say that companies actually deliver on healthcare benefits (29%), sustainability (26%), mental health support (28%), community improvement (35%), and making the world better (28%).  When considering DEI, a majority of survey respondents said businesses with a diverse workforce are more innovative (64%) and more profitable (61%). Source: Gallup 10/27/25, HR Dive 10/24/25

Remind employees to update their beneficiaries on the retirement and other accounts: “People pay attention to their wills when they sign them, but they fill out IRA and 401(k) beneficiary forms without thinking and then forget about them,” says Bruce Steiner, an estate lawyer with Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen in New York who specializes in retirement-benefits planning. This is a mistake. Retirement accounts, unlike some financial accounts, typically don’t pass to heirs based on will provisions. Instead, they pass based on beneficiary forms filled out by the owner. While many problems with these forms can easily be solved while the account owner is alive, that’s not true after death. “Once an owner dies, beneficiary forms are much harder to fix than trusts. Often a fix is impossible,” says Natalie Choate, a lawyer-turned-writer in Boston specializing in retirement accounts. Choate knew a young professional who made his sister the heir of his tiny retirement account. When he died years later without changing the form, the plan was his largest asset. But his sister inherited it, not his wife and children. Under federal law, spouses must be the heirs of a 401(k) plan unless they have signed a form waiving this right. Say an employee remarries and she wants her children to inherit her 401(k) and names them on the beneficiary form but neglects to get a waiver from her current spouse. If she dies with the 401(k), her spouse will inherit the account – not her children. So, remind employees to update their forms annually. Source: Wall Street Journal 11/6/25