If there is one thing I've learned from talking with employers across Michigan, it's that challenges rarely arrive one at a time.

The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued three opinion letters of interest to employers.  Although opinion letters are not the force of law, they do provide guidance as how WHD will review situations that arise. Two were more pertinent to ASE employers:

Ghosting is usually discussed as something job candidates do to employers. A candidate stops responding to emails, misses an interview, or accepts an offer and never shows up. But often, employers ghost candidates too. And when it happens after an interview, the impact can be particularly damaging.

Grail, a biotechnical company based out of California and with locations in Washington, DC, Research Triangle Park NC, and London, UK, has developed new multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test that checks a person’s blood for cancer. The company has conducted many clinical studies with over 380,000 participants.

iCIMS AI hiring tool under attack for discriminatory learning: In Harper v. Sirius XM Radio, LLC, No. 2:25-cv-12403 (E.D. Mich.), plaintiff Arshon Harper alleges that Sirius XM’s use of its AI application screening tool (called, “iCIMS”) discriminated against him on the basis of race.

Performance reviews influence pay decisions, promotions, development opportunities, and succession planning. While most organizations strive for fairness and objectivity, recent research suggests that gender-based differences in performance feedback remain common, particularly when managers evaluate subjective traits such as communication style, leadership, assertiveness, and emotional expression.

Two weeks ago, a fire at a Southeast- Michigan100 year old golf club provided a powerful reminder that emergencies are not abstract possibilities. In a matter of hours, employees can lose access to their workplace, planned events can be canceled, critical equipment and records can be destroyed, and normal operations can come to a sudden stop. The weeks that follow may require difficult decisions about employee communication, work arrangements, payroll, insurance, member services, and...

When an employee is not working out, termination may seem like a straightforward business decision. In an at-will employment relationship, employers generally have significant flexibility to end employment. But “at-will” does not mean “anything goes.”

In an increasingly crowded talent market, employers often look for ways to stand out. Some organizations have turned to humor in job postings, hoping that witty language, clever headlines, or playful descriptions will capture attention and make their opportunities more attractive. While the approach may generate clicks and social media engagement, new research suggests it may not improve candidate attraction and could even create unintended consequences.

Although management-side attorneys have expressed skepticism about the claim, Andrew Hartley filed a lawsuit against Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., alleging that he was unlawfully forced to compromise his religious beliefs through participation in the company's 401(k) plan due to his moral objection to fossil fuel investments. Hartley brought the claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits religious discrimination in the workplace.

The daughter tax: Daughters are nearly two times (1.9) more likely than sons to provide unpaid, hands-on care for aging parents, according to recent analysis from AI-powered long-term care prediction platform Waterlily.

When leaders think about building successful organizations, conversations typically focus on engagement, productivity, retention, and performance. These goals are essential, but they are often supported by something less frequently discussed. Employees who experience joy at work are more likely to be connected, committed, and motivated to contribute their best.

As organizations continue to evaluate workplace flexibility, new research suggests that remote work may offer significant benefits for employee well-being without the drawbacks many employers fear. A recent University of Colorado study published in Frontiers in Psychology, "Rethinking Return-to-Office: The Positive Impact of Remote Work on Well-Being, Connection, and Employee Retention," examined survey data from more than 7,700 employees at a large healthcare organization and...

On August 30, the California legislature passed AB-1883 which prohibits employers from using workplace surveillance tools that rely on artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize, infer, or predict an employee’s emotional state, or to collect “neural data.”  Illinois, a leader in biometric data, has bills that would amend the biometric law to include “neural data.”  Other states including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, and Vermont are...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed relatively little movement in the labor market. Job openings totaled 7.3 million, up approximately 89,000 from a downwardly revised 7.2 million in June. The job openings rate remained at 4.4%.

When we think about workplace safety, it is easy to focus on minor injuries cuts, bruises, strains or sprains. But MIOSHA fatality reports remind us that some workplace hazards can have much more serious consequences. Four categories that repeatedly appear in Michigan workplace fatalities are electrical shock, caught-in or between, falls from elevation, and struck-by incidents.

 

New survey shows 3.3% increase in salary budgets for 2027: Despite the current economic turbulence, most employees in a majority of companies will be getting a base salary increase for 2027, according to a large survey by Korn Ferry.

As organizations continue to adopt AI, new risks are emerging. In a recent security test, OpenAI reported that one of its advanced AI agents identified vulnerabilities in a controlled environment, escaped its containment measures, accessed the internet, and ultimately infiltrated systems at Hugging Face, a major platform for sharing AI models. Similarly, Anthropic disclosed that its Claude AI models gained unauthorized access to the live systems of three organizations after breaking out of...

For years, financial stress was viewed as a personal issue that employees managed outside of work. Today, rising living costs, economic uncertainty, housing expenses, debt, and caregiving responsibilities are creating financial pressure that follows employees into the workplace, affecting productivity, engagement, and retention.

For generations, the path into a professional career has been relatively predictable – graduate high school, attend college, earn a degree, and enter the workforce. But that path is beginning to look less certain. Rising tuition costs, concerns about student debt, and questions about the return on investment of a four-year degree are prompting more students to consider alternative educational and career paths. While this shift is primarily a conversation about higher education,...

Many employers are familiar with ban-the-box laws that limit when criminal history can be considered in the hiring process. What may be less well known is that some states are expanding these laws beyond criminal background inquiries to address other job requirements, including driver's license requirements.

Employers may occasionally hire an employee who is authorized to work but has not yet received a Social Security number (SSN). While this situation can create questions about onboarding, payroll, reporting, and benefits, the absence of an SSN does not necessarily mean the hiring process must be delayed.

Are you using TikTok for recruiting? Businesses have been swift to harness the messaging powers of social media platforms, often either partnering with influencers to do so or recruiting their own employees to act as company ambassadors.

Over the years, I've had conversations with many business leaders about workplace culture. Most of those conversations center on the common goal of creating an environment where employees feel valued, respected, and supported. But a recent Harvard Business Review article made me pause to think: Can a workplace become too nice?

Organizations spend considerable resources attracting talent, but many still stumble when it comes to onboarding. After the recruitment process, onboarding is the first impression a new hire receives and is critical to formulating the way they view the organization. New research from a 2026 Adobe Acrobat study suggests that common onboarding frustrations continue to undermine the employee experience at a point when engagement should be building.