Should you collect applicant demographic data per EEOC? The answer is yes. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has approved the EEOC's collection of applicant data. The information collection (IC) was initially submitted under the Biden administration on 1/6/25 and is specifically linked to the Uniform Guidelines of Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP). The IC has been approved through June 30, 2026. In support, the EEOC stated that “in support of the UGESP requirements, the regulations require that employers collect and keep race, sex, and ethnicity information of their applicants.” The EEOC further stated that collection of the data is important to determine compliance with Title VII requirements and not a basis for hiring. However, they did say that self-ID is voluntary. Source: Fred Satterwhite 6/25/26

Do you have a toxic boss? Six out of 10 adult U.S. workers said they’re currently working with a toxic boss, and 7 in 10 said they’ve previously had one, according to recent research from The Harris Poll. However, workers said the toxic behavior was a result of systemic failures, as opposed to character flaws, with 71% blaming current economic pressures for poor leadership conduct, per the poll. Nearly half of the more than 1,300 workers surveyed said their organization was more invested in artificial intelligence than in management coaching for new leaders. Almost half of workers (47%) said that toxic behavior from a boss made them feel stressed or burned out or led to an overall decline in their mental health. Another 53% of workers said they have gone to therapy to cope with challenges specifically related to bad behavior from a boss. Meanwhile, one in three workers said they lost money “through missed bonuses or stalled promotions,” per the report, while two thirds of employees reported leaving a job entirely as a result. Two-thirds of employees said they’ve tried working harder or working more hours in an effort to satisfy difficult supervisors.  Source: HR Dive 5/29/26

Is OpenAI gunning for your job? OpenAI has launched the OpenAI Deployment Company, a new enterprise-focused unit backed by more than $4 billion in initial investment. The new company will place Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) inside client organizations to work closely with business leaders, operators and frontline teams. OpenAI named no CHROs as stakeholders in the Frontier Alliances announcement. The announcement made no mention of people functions as co-owners of the transformation these firms would lead.  The Deployment Company launch follows the same pattern. FDEs work directly with business leaders and frontline teams to redesign organizational infrastructure and critical workflows around AI.  In practice, the engineers touch HR’s scope, including hiring pipelines, performance management systems and workforce planning tools. “We’re now well past experimentation,” wrote Sarah Friar, CFO at OpenAI in a LinkedIn post. “The challenge in front of us is getting AI embedded deeply into the workflows that power businesses, with the engineering, operational rigor and change management required to make it stick.” Anthropic recently announced a new enterprise AI services company backed by approximately $1.5 billion.  Guess what? They are planning to do the same.  It appears that technology will determine future culture. Source: HR Executive 5/15/26

Women losing out on AI market: According to a recent survey from career insights platform ZipRecruiter, only 13% of women have listed AI skills on their resumes compared to 15% of men, and less that 30% have experienced an AI-led or assisted interview process compared to 45% of their male colleagues. Most notably, just 13% of female workers use AI daily or even weekly in their roles, unlike 55% of men. The difference in experience with emerging tech tools is making it harder for women to move forward in a progressively more AI-focused workforce. According to ZipRecruiter's findings, on average women submit more applications than men (18 vs 15), with most of them (58%) opting to fill out their applications manually, while only 16% of men are likely to do the same, relying more heavily on AI tools instead. At the next stage, women tend to receive fewer interviews, with only 48% of women new hires receiving multiple offers in their job search versus 65% of men. This results in fewer career mobility opportunities, which comes with steep financial implications for women seeking career development. Fewer offers means higher salary negotiations are less likely, leading 30% of women to report lower pay in their new jobs compared to just 16% of men. Source: EBN 6/5/26

Overtime gap law suits not covered by FLSA: An overtime gap time claim can come up when an employee works 40 or more hours per week and alleges an employer failed to pay for some of the hours below those 40 or more. The Third Circuit had previously addressed pure gap time claims, for hours in a week when a worker does not work overtime.  Employers in overtime gap time litigation have argued that the text of the FLSA covers only minimum wage and overtime and that gap time does not fall under either of those. However, workers have pointed to interpretive guidance the DOL has published that, while not as authoritative as the FLSA, says "all hours worked by an employee for an employer in a particular workweek must be counted. The Third Circuit's ruled in United States Department of Labor v. Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC et al. that the Fair Labor Standards Act contains no remedy for unpaid straight-time wages in weeks when employees work overtime means employers should watch for more gap time claims under state laws, attorneys said. Source: Law360 6/8/26

CMS publishes notice to rescind ACA discrimination on sex rules: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and its parent, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on June 2 published a notice vacating CMS regulations that seek to protect transgender people against discrimination in health care.  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is one of the two federal laws in the Affordable Care Act package. PPACA section 1557 prohibits many different kinds of discrimination in health care. In May 2024, HHS issued a final rule stating that the section 1557 ban on discrimination based on sex includes discrimination based on gender identity, as well as on biological sex. In October 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi ruled that HHS had exceeded its statutory authority when it said the ban on discrimination related to sex included discrimination related to gender identity. While the Mississippi court ruling remains in effect, the HHS Office for Civil Rights "cannot and will not investigate or enforce compliance with the provisions of the 2024 rule that were vacated," CMS officials say in the new notice. Source: BenefitsPRO 6/2/26