Keith Sonderling confirmed as Secretary of U.S. Department of Labor: The full U.S. Senate late Wednesday approved President Donald Trump's nomination of Keith Sonderling to serve as secretary of labor and lead the U.S. Department of Labor. The vote to confirm Sonderling was 47-41. He had been serving as acting labor secretary since Lori Chavez-DeRemer stepped down in April and also as deputy labor secretary, a role for which the Senate confirmed him in March 2025. Previously, Sonderling was a commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, another Senate-confirmed position, and served as acting and deputy administrator of the DOL's Wage and Hour Division during Trump's first term. Source: Law360 9/30/26

Do you forget to turn off the record feature after a meeting ends?  It is very common to conduct meetings remotely via Teams, Zoom, etc. And most, if not all, of these applications give you the ability to record the meeting and generate a  transcript. In a  lawsuit that was filed last week in New Jersey, the plaintiff alleges that she was terminated from her position as an environmental scientist after approximately three months on the job. The termination took place via videoconference, and one of the bosses set up an artificial intelligence application to record the meeting and create a transcript. The meeting took place, and the plaintiff was allegedly told that things were not working out – pretty straightforward. The plaintiff exited the videoconference. Her now-ex-bosses stayed on and allegedly continued talking among themselves about next steps. According to the lawsuit, one of the ex-bosses said that he hoped the plaintiff’s replacement would be “a relatively strapping young man.” The conference was still being recorded. After the meeting and post-meeting were over, the AI emailed the transcript to all of the participants, including the plaintiff.  The plaintiff has now filed suit, alleging that she was let go because of her sex. Moral of this story, always stop recording when the meeting ends. Source: Constangy 8/21/26

Is your data being sold to an AI company? AI companies are needing more data to refine their tools and learn how people work. These digital training realms are called reinforcement learning environments. Bankrupt companies are now the new data targets. Google paid $10 million for a treasure trove of data from Spirit Airlines. AI training startup Mercor made a rival bid at $7.5 million. "Companies are sitting on decades of records that show how real work gets done, and that data is now some of the most valuable material for training and evaluating AI," a Mercor spokesperson said in a statement. "We partner with leading companies to license their operational data to the labs building the next generation of models. Spirit was that same process applied to a bankruptcy estate." The problem with the sale of data is that there may be emails from other company employees and more in the “treasure trove,” including possible confidential information as well as “bad actor” emails-harassment, personnel decisions, performance decisions, and more. Although a new area of concern, it may be important that any email has in its signature that the company and sender does not given permission explicitly or implicitly for the resale and use by a third party AI company for any purposes. Discuss with legal counsel how to proceed in this new data environment. Source: Business Insider 8/17/26

Restricted stock units not to be included in regular rate for overtime calculations: On June 11, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued what appears to be the first-of-its-kind decision addressing whether restricted stock units (RSU) value must be included in the FLSA “regular rate” for hourly employees—holding that it does not. In Costa v. Apple, Inc., the court identified two independent statutory bases for exclusion—the equity and the gift exceptions. Apple’s RSU awards were fully discretionary and voluntary, and the award agreements created no contractual right to future grants or benefits in lieu of RSUs. The RSU value was unknown at grant because it depended on market conditions at vesting.  The court analyzed that Section 207(e)(8) of the FLSA permits exclusion from the regular rate calculation “any value or income derived from employer-provided grants or rights provided pursuant to a stock option, stock appreciation right, or bona fide employee stock purchase program.” 29 U.S.C. § 207(e)(8). Although RSUs are not expressly named in the statute, the Costa Court read them into the exception, finding RSUs to be functionally identical to stock options: both are voluntary, discretionary, non-cash awards with no guaranteed value that give employees an ownership stake subject to vesting. Source: Mayer Brown LLP 8/20/26

ICHRA adoption slowed by instability: Many employers are considering funding health insurance through Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements, or ICHRAs, but they face barriers to adoption, according to a survey published Tuesday by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Morgan Health. More than one-third of employers said they were actively planning or evaluating an ICHRA, which allows companies to reimburse workers for buying their own health plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Employers worry about worker satisfaction and turmoil on the ACA exchanges, according to the survey. More generous financial assistance for ACA health plans lapsed at the end of last year, increasing premiums for beneficiaries and pushing some to drop coverage or enroll in cheaper coverage. Only 11% said they were currently working on implementation, suggesting employers aren’t yet ready to make an immediate change, according to the report. Hesitancy to adopt ICHRAs was driven by employers’ worries about the individual marketplace, including affordability concerns. Around 85% of large companies and 80% of small employers said they were at least somewhat concerned that individual market premiums might be too expensive for their workers. Source: HR Dive 7/30/26

401(k) to be the major source of retirement income: A growing number of middle-class workers expect to rely more heavily on 401(k)s and similar retirement plans as government- and employer-funded pensions fade away, according to a new report from Transamerica Institute and its division Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. Many expect self-funded savings to be their primary source of retirement income, with 42% citing the category overall, the Transamerica Institute survey found. That includes 31% who expect to rely on 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and IRAs and 11% who point to other savings and investments. "The American Middle Class: Influences of Gender on Retirement Security" delves into the well-being, finances and retirement preparedness of Americans with a household income of $50,000 to less than $200,000. The report also explores the role of gender in shaping retirement prospects for the middle class. Top priorities include paying off debt (58%), saving for retirement (50%), building emergency savings (42%), saving for a major purchase or life event (32%), covering basic living expenses (31%), supporting children (28%), and paying healthcare expenses (21%). Men are more likely than women to prioritize saving for retirement, at 53% versus 47%. Women, meanwhile, are more likely than men to prioritize covering basic living expenses, at 35% compared with 27%. Source: EBN 8/27/26