False Claims Act recoveries growing concern for HR: According to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) January 16, 2026, press release, the DOJ reported a record $6.8 billion in settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act (FCA) for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025 – the largest annual total in the statute’s history, more than doubling last year’s $2.9 billion. The case include healthcare fraud dominated recoveries, with approximately $5.7 billion of the total $6.8 billion tied to healthcare-related matters including, but not limited to, managed care, prescription drugs, and medically unnecessary services; cybersecurity; pandemic-related programs; and tariff evasion and customs.  And new for 2026, a focus on DEI and Diversity.  Qui tam suits filed by individual relators were responsible for the vast majority of suits and recoveries.  These suits are brought by private individuals. FY 2025 saw 1,297 qui tam lawsuits filed, the highest number ever recorded in a single year. Because many qui tams are filed by employees or contract workers, now more than ever businesses must be mindful of the threats that qui tams and the FCA’s anti-retaliation protections can pose, especially with DEI and diversity a focus.  Source: Littler 1/21/26

More HR concerns on government enforcement priorities: The US Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announced updated enforcement priorities for fiscal year 2026. These changes signal where EBSA will focus its investigative and enforcement efforts related to group health plans, with an emphasis on participant protection and higher-risk compliance issues. EBSA intends to prioritize investigations in the following health plan areas: cybersecurity and data protection, mental health and substance use disorder parity, surprise billing compliance, and Protections of employee contributions.  For HR, cybersecurity and collections should be a focus in 2026.  Health plans that involve employee contributions, such as premium payments or health flexible spending arrangements, remain an enforcement focus. EBSA will continue to examine how plans protect participant information, including oversight of third-party administrators and vendors, cybersecurity policies, and incident-response practices.  And EBSA will scrutinize how participant contributions are collected, handled, and remitted to ensure they are not misused. The following steps by HR should be taken: review cybersecurity policies and vendor oversight practices, confirm mental health parity analyses are complete and up to date, evaluate claims processing and appeals procedures, assess compliance with the Nor Surprises Act requirements, and ensure employee contributions are handled promptly and properly.  Source: Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP 1/20/26

DOL opens new data portal: The U.S. Department of Labor has launched a modernized open data portal at data.dol.gov that replaces its prior enforcement data page and expands access to a broader range of labor‑related datasets. The information now made public includes unemployment insurance claims, federal contractor veteran employment data, and county‑level childcare price information. The portal also introduces enhanced features such as data visualizations, a flexible API, and improved AI‑driven search capabilities. The upgrade is intended to enhance transparency, streamline navigation, and improve compatibility with advanced analytics tools. The DOL says the new portal will benefit “everyone,” including data scientists, researchers, journalists and the general public. The initiative brings DOL into alignment with federal data mandates, including the OPEN Government Data Act of 2019 and the Federal Data Strategy.  Source: Seyfarth 2/26/26

AI is an important tool for HR benefit leaders: The rise of more progressive technology is forcing benefit teams to become proficient in AI in a way they've never been before, or rethink their future in the role.  Today, 42% of HR teams are actively using AI in some capacity, according to data from HR consulting firm McLean & Company, often replacing people-facing tasks for automation. Today's benefit leaders will need to be more technically and analytically-minded to keep up with the shift, says Ciara Harrington, chief people officer at Skillsoft. The first step is to answer key questions: What can AI do, and what are other organizations already doing with it? How are they educating themselves and beginning to integrate AI into their day-to-day operations? Within Harrington's own team, she says they routinely identify AI platforms and services offered by brokers and test them internally before rolling them out across the organization. This approach allows the team to ensure a product is effective and moldable before bringing it to executive leaders who will ultimately need to budget for it. "Keep it simple," she says. "Pick something small that you can wrap your arms around and put into practice. A lot of HR organizations get a little bit of analysis paralysis, but once you start somewhere you'll learn so much."  Source: EBN 1/27/26

Investing in workforce skills key to retention in age of AI: The competition for talent in 2026 will be won or lost on how well organizations merge cutting-edge technology with deeply human leadership, according to many experts. The companies that help employees thrive are expected to build the most loyal, resilient and engaged workforces. The most successful organizations in 2026 will position AI as a tool that amplifies human capability, rather than replacing it. According to Deloitte research cited by Karen Bick, chief people officer at tech firm Ralliant, over 70% of managers and workers are more likely to join and stay with an organization if its employee value proposition helps them thrive in an AI-driven world. HR teams are using AI to enable real-time burnout detection, workload balancing and personalized learning paths, Bick says.  “Companies that effectively use AI to listen better, respond faster and tailor employee development journeys – while instilling trust and transparency – will help their people thrive, leading to more robust, talented, and engaged workforces,” she says.  Moreover, companies that invest in developing their current workforce and bring employees along on the journey of how AI can transform their roles positively will be the ones that win, says Carrie Rasmussen, chief digital officer at Dayforce.  Source: HR Executive 12/18/25

Is training a priority in 2026? For many employers, no: As workers seek training to remain competitive, 55% say they have paid for it themselves, according to late October results of a University of Phoenix survey conducted by The Harris Poll. Among those workers, nearly a quarter say they have more than once paid out of pocket for training their employer didn’t cover. At the same time, nearly three-quarters of workers surveyed said they turned down professional development opportunities, either because of cost (35%), scheduling conflicts (32%), or a lack of employer support (18%). 90% of employees said they spend time each month learning or developing new skills at work, and 18% spend more than 20 hours monthly, on average.  Access to training continues to be a struggle for workers, yet employers ranked training lower on their priority lists, according to HR Dive’s 2025 Identity of HR survey. Half of workers may have undergone some training in the past year, but only 12% received training on AI, a Pew Research Center report from February found. Source: HR Dive 11/4/25