06-11-2026

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed its precedent that employees alleging discrimination must point to a similarly situated comparator outside the protected class. (Bravo v. Dallas Independent School District) Joe Bravo, the plaintiff, had argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services had relaxed that requirement. The Fifth Circuit’s decision reflects a divide among the circuit courts.

06-10-2026

Employer Insight: A May 2026 study from NYU and The Burning Glass Institute shared that 24.2% of mid-career professionals have stalled careers. They defined stalled as a period of five years or more without a meaningful promotion and negligible wage increases. Most official statistics do not track this information, with the researchers calling it a “hidden crisis.”

06-04-2026

In an unpublished opinion, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for an employer that fired an employee for offensive remarks. Barbie Bassett worked for WLBT, a Gray Media Group station in Mississippi. Bassett worked as the morning news anchor and co-host for a mid-morning show. WBLT required its anchors to avoid any conduct that might “reflect negatively on [the TV station] or its reputation in the community.” Anchors were also restricted from acting in a way that could “degrade” them or subject them to “public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule, or tend to shock or offend the community.”

06-02-2026

Employer Insight: A paper led by Stanford researchers evaluated over 4 million job applications from 3 million job applicants across 156 employers. The “Algorithmic Monocultures in Hiring” paper showed outcomes for 1,746 individual job positions. It concluded that 10.62% of outcomes reflected an adverse impact on Black applicants based on an analysis of the applications position by position.

05-29-2026

The Workplace Is Shifting Again — And This Time, AI Is at the Center The world of work is undergoing another seismic shift, and the headlines tell a story that is equal parts innovation, disruption, and recalibration. With AI literacy mandates, organizations are being pushed to rethink what “work” really means in 2026.

05-28-2026

Temporary telework offered by an employer during the COVID-19 pandemic does not preclude requiring in-person work as an essential function of a job under the ADA per the Fifth Circuit.

05-27-2026

A new California executive order directs state agencies to find ways to limit anticipated job losses from AI. Some of the suggested methods from the order include severance policies, subsidized employment, and other means to support displaced workers.

05-20-2026

The Colorado Department of Corrections required its employees, including Joshua Young, a White man, to attend a training program on racial sensitivity. Young said the training was so extreme that it created a hostile and discriminatory work environment for him.

05-14-2026

CEOs are 10 years older than they were 20 years ago, with average ages at the time of appointment rising from 47 to 55. The average age of a CEO is currently 61. That age jump is five times the increase in the average age of the U.S.’s college-educated workforce. CEOs join their respective companies older and at a higher level of seniority than ever before.