Vanessa Kelly is a member of the firm at Clark Hill. Her opinions do not constitute legal advice.
Employers today face a rapidly evolving compliance landscape that presents unprecedented challenges.
Notably, the federal government has withdrawn guidance previously relied upon by employers to navigate their employment law obligations. Meanwhile, states have started to fill these gaps by enacting laws that provide greater protections to workers.
The states are tackling emerging issues facing employers, such as: data privacy; systemic discrimination risk from the use of AI tool use; paid or unpaid sick leave; parental leaves and other leaves; or protecting vulnerable workers.
Some multi-state employers may choose to address this dichotomy by enacting workplace policies that meet the most generous statutory endowment, which can substantially increase costs of compliance. Other employers may choose to have an individualized approach to workplace norms and benefits that vary from state to state. However, the latter approach may result in certain employees of the company feeling disadvantaged from peers located in other states, leading to morale issues as well as compliance burdens.
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