Daylight Savings starts March 8th: Set your clocks forward one hour Sunday, March 8th. Daylight Saving Time was first proposed by George Vernon Hudson in 1895, and its use in the U.S. was first mandated during World War I. It was subsequently used on and off for years by various countries and U.S. states. Since the 1970s; however, it has mostly remained in effect in the U.S. and Europe. The salaries of exempt employees are not affected by Daylight Savings Time. As for non-exempt employees, employers will have to decide whether to pay those employees who are at work when the clock is set forward for this “lost” hour. They do not have to be paid for it since they did not actually work it. The employer may also have to decide whether the lost hour, if paid, will count toward overtime or not (it does not have to). However, an employer must also determine if the hour counts towards leave accrual. To get a copy of a poster, click here.
Financial strain on employees is real: More than nine in 10 U.S. workers say rising prices have forced them to cut back spending, often on basic necessities such as groceries, healthcare, and prescriptions, according to Resume Now's Cost-of-Living Crunch Report. The findings suggest that for many households, wages are no longer enough to provide a sense of financial stability. The report highlights how deeply inflation is affecting household budgets. While official data shows wages rising faster than prices overall, Spencer said those averages obscure wide variation across industries. "On paper, wages may look like they're keeping up," Keith Spencer, a certified professional resume writer, said. "But in reality, pay increases aren't happening evenly, and plenty of workers aren't seeing their earnings stretch far enough to keep up with everyday costs." Those financial tradeoffs can have consequences that extend beyond personal budgets. Spencer said cutting back on food or delaying medical care can take a toll on workers' health and emotional well-being, with potential spillover effects in the workplace. The report also found that many workers are dipping into savings or taking on debt to manage rising expenses. Nearly half of respondents said they have relied on savings, while others reported using credit cards or loans to cover basic needs. Source: EBN 1/20/26
Food racism growing: Aditya Prakash and his fiancée, Urmi Bhattacheryya, told the BBC they filed a civil rights lawsuit against the University of Colorado, Boulder, after they faced a series of "microaggressions and retaliatory actions" when Prakash, a PhD student in the Anthropology Department, was microwaving his lunch of palak paneer and a British staff member allegedly remarked that his food was giving off a "pungent" odor and told him that there was a rule against heating foods with strong odors in that microwave. They won $200,000. Discrimination over food is rampant in India, where non-vegetarian food is banned in many schools and colleges over perceptions of it being impure or dirty. People from disadvantaged castes and north-eastern states often face bias over their food habits, with some complaining about the smell of the ingredients they use. And it's not just Indian or South Asian food – communities from Africa, Latin America and other parts of Asia have also shared their experiences of being shamed over their food habits. A new form of discrimination for HR to protect against. Source: BBC 1/20/26
U.S. sues Minnesota for illegal affirmative action: The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Minnesota alleging that Minnesota’s civil service hiring law violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in multiple respects. The law requires consideration of affirmative action goals – which are based on underrepresentation of females and persons of color – for all personnel decisions. Goals for women and persons of color must be established if members of those groups are underrepresented, and timetables for satisfying the goals must be set. State agencies must evaluate the relevant labor market to quantify “What We Should Look Like” in terms of race and sex demographics. In other words, the state is allegedly making hiring decisions to ensure its workforce demographics match the expected race and sex numbers. If a state agency does not meet the affirmative action hiring goals, the hiring manager must justify the “nonaffirmative [sic] action hires” in a pre-hiring justification form, which creates additional burdens when hiring non-diverse candidates. State agencies that fail to meet affirmative action hiring goals for two consecutive years are reported to the Governor. State agencies that meet affirmative action goals are rewarded with incentives. In effect, race and sex is necessarily a “but-for” factor used by the State in making employment decisions violating Title VII. Source: Constangy 1/20/26
New Japanese employee benefit – paying for dating apps: As the birth rate in Japan continues to fall, the government is encouraging residents to get busy creating the next generation of workers. Some employers are getting in on the “action” as well with a new dating benefit. Japan’s government has pushed employers to offer more family-friendly work benefits, from 52 weeks of paternity leave to four-day workweeks, to combat the country’s steadily declining birth rate. But since many workers need the opportunity to find a partner before they can build a family, some employers in Japan are offering employees access to a corporate dating app, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The app, called Aill goen, launched in 2021 to help workers at vetted, participating companies connect during the Covid-19 pandemic. It now claims to have more than 1,500 participating employers who can use the app to meet potential mates. Picture Bumble meets LinkedIn. Toyota introduced Aill goen last July as part of its work-life balance benefits package. The company told SCMP it believes employees will be better workers if they have fulfilling private lives. Food for thought here in the U.S. Source: HR Brew 1/13/26