New Year, New Employment Laws: What Takes Effect January 1, 2026?
Written by Joy Rosenquist, Bruce Sarchet, and Sebastian Chilco
Re-published with permission from Littler Law
As the calendar turns to 2026, employers across the country face a fresh wave of labor and employment law changes that will reshape workplace compliance, employee rights, and business operations. From expanded protections for gig workers and whistleblowers to new rules governing employment contracts, data privacy, and workplace transparency, this year’s legislative updates reflect a growing emphasis on fairness, accountability, and adaptability in the modern workforce.
This roundup of new laws provides a snapshot of generally applicable labor and employment laws taking effect on or around January 1. It is not meant to be all-inclusive, and does not include certain industry-specific laws affecting every workplace. Additionally, the following roundup does not include new minimum wage-related laws taking effect in the new year.
This information is meant to be informative but not to constitute specific legal advice for any employer. Employers with questions about which laws are taking effect in the jurisdictions in which they operate should consult with employment counsel.
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama SB 86 | Independent Contractor/ Employee Benefits | Allows independent contractors to open and contribute to tax deductible “portable benefits accounts” to fund benefit plans. | 12/31/2025 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| California AB 260 | Reproductive Health | Prohibits prosecution of pharmacists and other medical professionals for manufacturing, prescribing, or furnishing mifepristone or other medication abortion drugs. Would also prohibit healthcare plans or insurance policies from excluding coverage for mifepristone, even if it has not been approved by the FDA. | 1/1/2026 |
| California AB 288 | Labor Law Claims | Allows an employee to petition the Public Employment Relations Board to hear an unfair labor practice case if the NLRB has failed to act in six months. | 1/1/2026 |
| California AB 316 | Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Technology | Prohibits a defendant who developed, modified, or used artificial intelligence (AI) from asserting a defense that the AI autonomously caused harm to the plaintiff. | 1/1/2026 |
| California AB 406 | Paid Sick Leave / Crime Victims Leave (Unpaid) | Allows employees to use leave if they or a family member are a victim of certain crimes and are attending judicial proceedings related to that crime. | 1/1/2026 |
| California AB 578 | Food Delivery Platforms/Tips | Prohibits food delivery platforms (FDPs) from using tips or gratuities to offset the base pay of delivery drivers. Requires FDPs to provide an itemized breakdown of pay received for a delivery and prohibits deducting delivery drivers’ gratuities from customer refunds. | 1/1/2026 |
| California AB 592 | Employee Training / Hospitality Industry | Requires restaurants to provide training for all employees upon hire, and annually, on pest prevention practices, pest control procedures, and on the employee’s responsibility to maintain a vermin-free environment. | 1/1/2026 |
| California AB 692 | Employment Contracts and Agreements | Prohibits, with certain exceptions, contracts that require a worker to repay an employer, training provider, or debt collector for a debt when the employment relationship or work ends. | 1/1/2026 |
| California AB 774 | Garnishments | Requires an employer to provide additional information to the levying officer in an employee wage garnishment. | 1/1/2026 |
| California AB 858 | Recall and Reinstatement | Extends until January 1, 2027, the recall and reinstatement rights of employees laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | 1/1/2026 |
| California AB 1340 | Union Organization/Rideshare Drivers | Allows “transportation network company drivers” (rideshare drivers) who meet certain criteria to unionize and collectively bargain, and provides rules and timetables for union certification. | 1/1/2026 |
| California SB 261 | Wage Payment Judgments | Provides for penalties of up to three times the outstanding amount if a final judgment for unpaid wages remains unsatisfied 180 days after the appeal period ends. | 1/1/2026 |
| California SB 294 | Notice Requirements | As of February 1, 2026, requires employers to provide notices of labor rights to new employees, and current employees annually, and to notify an employee’s emergency contact if the employee is arrested or detained on their worksite. | 1/1/2026 |
| California SB 303 | Discrimination and Harassment | Provides that an employee’s assessment, testing, admission, or acknowledgment of their own personal bias, as part of a bias mitigation training, does not constitute unlawful discrimination. | 1/1/2026 |
| California SB 412 | Home Health Care | Beginning on January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, requires home care aides to have training on the special needs of clients with dementia before providing home care. | 1/1/2026 |
| California SB 446 | Privacy and Data Security | Requires businesses to disclose a data security breach to impacted consumers and the state attorney general within 30 days of the breach. | 1/1/2026 |
| California SB 464 | Pay Data Reporting | Increases the job categories for pay data reporting and requires employers to store demographic data separately from personnel records. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado SB 25-144 | Paid Family/Medical Leave | Provides up to an additional 12 weeks of leave for any parent who has a child receiving care in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and slightly lowers premiums. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut SB 5005 (2024) | Paid Sick Leave | Employers covered by law expanded to include those with 11 or more employees | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delaware SB 1 (2022) | Paid Family/Medical Leave | Provides up 12 weeks of paid parental leave, 6 weeks of paid family caregiver leave, or 6 weeks of paid medical leave in an application year | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois HB 1278 | Discrimination: Employer-Provided Electronic Devices | Prohibits employers from disciplining or retaliating against employees for using employer-provided electronic devices to record acts of violence. | 1/1/2026 |
| Illinois HB 1616 | Blood and Organ Donation Leave | Expands eligibility for leave under the Blood and Organ Donation Leave Act to include part-time employees. | 1/1/2026 |
| Illinois HB 2462 | Health Care | Amends the Epinephrine Injector Act to require an anaphylaxis training program completion certificate; creates good Samaritan protections for authorized entities and persons. | 1/1/2026 |
| Illinois HB 3094 | Employee Benefits | Provides that the Transportation Benefits Program Act does not apply to construction workers covered by a union contract, and expands program eligibility to part-time employees. | 1/1/2026 |
| Illinois HB 3178 | Technology; Employment Contracts | Provides that the failure to include a reasonably specific description of the intended uses of a digital replica in contracts for the performance of personal or professional services does not render an agreement unenforceable under the Digital Voice and Likeness Protection Act. | 1/1/2026 |
| Illinois HB 3200 | Unemployment/New Hire and Wage Report | Expands eligibility for unemployment benefits to individuals who cannot perform work due to a mental health disability; Provides for the recovery of unemployment benefits, plus interest and penalties, paid to ineligible individuals; Permits courts to enjoin an employer from doing business for willful failure to file required new hire or wage reports. | 1/1/2026 |
| Illinois HB 3638 | Labor Law/Contracts and Agreements | Prohibits any contract or agreement that restricts employees or former employees from engaging in concerted activities to address work-related issues. | 1/1/2026 |
| Illinois HB 3773 | Discrimination: Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Amends the Human Rights Act to prohibit employers from using AI that has the effect of subjecting employees to discrimination or using zip codes as a proxy for protected classes; Requires employers to notify employees of the employer’s use of AI. | 1/1/2026 |
| Illinois SB 212 | Paid Lactation Breaks | Requires employers to compensate employees during lactation breaks at their regular compensation rate. | 1/1/2026 |
| Illinois SB 1288 | Workplace Training: Food Service | Requires food service sanitation managers to include training on celiac disease and the safe handling of gluten-free foods. | 1/1/2026 |
| Illinois SB 1422 | Workplace Training: Restaurants and Truck Stops | Expands the Human Trafficking Recognition Training Act to cover restaurant and truck stop employers and adds enforcement provisions. | 1/1/2026 |
| Illinois SB 2487 | Discrimination and Harassment | Provides that fact-finding conferences for charges under the Human Rights Act are discretionary rather than mandatory; Provides for per-violation penalties for civil rights violations. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana HB 1125 | Wage and Hour | Creates the Indiana Earned Wage Access Act, which allows consumers to access their earned but unpaid wages, salary, or compensation before their scheduled pay date, and provides regulations for provider compliance.8. | 1/1/2026 |
| Indiana SB 5 | Privacy and Data Security | Creates a new consumer data privacy protection law, which provides rights for consumers regarding the processing and protection of their personal data. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky HB 15 | Privacy and Data Security | Provides requirements for businesses that control or process personal data of at least 100,000 consumers regarding the protection of personal data, including a notice and consent requirement. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland HB 861 (SB 1018) | Wage and Hour/ App-Based Workers | Requires transportation network companies (TNC) to provide operators with weekly fare and earnings summaries; Requires annual reports of certain information to the Public Service Commission. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota Final Rules re Paid Family and Medical Leave (Minn. Rules Part 3317) / Minnesota HF 2 (2023) | Paid Family/Medical Leave | Employee may take up to 12 weeks of paid leave for their own serious health condition and up to 12 weeks of paid leave for bonding, family care, safety, or a qualifying exigency, but are limited to an aggregate of 20 weeks of paid leave in a benefit year. The final rules address various issues, including requirements for notifying employers of the need for leave and requests for leave changes. | 1/1/2026 |
| Minnesota SF 17 | Meal/ Rest Breaks | Requires employers to allow employees a paid rest break of at least 15 minutes “or enough time to utilize the nearest convenient restroom, whichever is longer” within every four hours of consecutive work. Employees working for six or more consecutive hours must be provided a paid 30-minute meal break. | 1/1/2026 |
| Minnesota SF 17 | Paid Sick Leave | Amendments address advancing paid sick and safe time in advance of accrual | 1/1/2026 |
| Minnesota: Minneapolis Ordinance No. 2025-041 | Paid Sick Leave | More closely aligns the Minneapolis paid sick and safe leave ordinance with the statewide law and modifies enforcement provisions. | 12/31/2025 |
| Minnesota: St. Paul Ordinance No. 25-55 | Wage and Hour | Amends the St. Paul minimum wage ordinance to delete the macro business category; Requires employers to provide all new employees with a wage notice and all employees with wage statements. | 11/16/2025 |
| Minnesota: St. Paul Ordinance No. 25-56 | Wage and Hour Penalties | Amends the St. Paul wage theft ordinance to authorize the Labor Standards Division to obtain an administrative search warrant if an employer fails to produce wage records. | 11/16/2025 |
| Minnesota: St. Paul Ordinance No. 25-57 | Paid Sick Leave | More closely aligns the St. Paul paid sick and safe leave ordinance with the statewide law. | 11/16/2025 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montana HB 211 (LC885) | App-Based Workers | Allows retail licensees, such as grocery stores, to use third-party delivery services to deliver beer and wine, with strict requirements, including training | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nevada SB 260 (BDR 961) | Workplace Safety | Provides actions certain employers must take to reduce employee exposure to poor air quality from wildfire smoke. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire HB 2 | Unpaid Family/Medical Leave | Requires employers with 20 or more employees to provide 25 hours of unpaid leave for one year after childbirth to attend medical appointments related to childbirth, postpartum care, and infant pediatric needs. | 1/1/2026 |
| New Hampshire HB 225 (LSR 216) | Military/Spouse Employment Protection | Provides employment protections to the spouses of military service members involuntarily mobilized due to war, national emergency, or contingency operations. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey AB 4429 | Labor Management Relations | Amends the state’s captive audience law to modify the definition of “political matters” to expressly include the decision to join or support a labor organization; clarifies exceptions to the law. | 12/2/2025 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York Budget Amendments to Healthy Terminals Act | Wages, Benefits, and Leaves | Provides that wage, benefit, and leave obligations for covered airport workers at JFK and LaGuardia Airports will be tied to the federal Service Contract Act framework as designated by the New York State Department of Labor. | 1/1/2026 |
| New York: NYC Int. No. 0780-2024 | Paid Sick Leave / Unpaid Sick Leave / Paid Prenatal Leave / Scheduling | Expands the permissible uses for paid sick and safe time; requires employers to provide an additional bank of 32 hours of unpaid sick and safe time, officially incorporates additional bank of 20 hours of state paid prenatal leave into local ordinance, and clarifies employers’ obligations in responding to requests for temporary schedule changes. | 1/1/2026 |
| New York General Business Law Article 43 | Retirement Benefits | New York’s Secure Choice Program is a state-run retirement program that mandates and facilitates the creation of Roth IRAs for private-sector employees who do not have access to a qualified retirement plan through their employers. Beginning in March of 2026, New York will require most private-sector employers to register for the Program or certify their exemption from the Program. *Employers with 30 or more employees must register by March 18, 2026; those with 15-29 must register by May 15, 2026; those with 10-14 employees must register by July 15, 2026. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina HB 805 | Gender Identity/Discrimination and Harassment | Provides that for purposes of any state law or rules and regulations, “sex” means a person’s biological sex, either male or female, at birth. Adds provisions to prevent the sexual exploitation of women and minors. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Dakota SB 2047 | Tax Withholding | Prohibits employers from withholding or deducting income taxes from wages without employee consent. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma SB 626 | Data Security | Amends the definitions of “personal information” and “reasonable safeguards” under the Security Breach Notification Act. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon SB 426 | Construction industry/Unpaid Wages | Imposes joint and several liability on both property owners and direct contractors for unpaid wages owed to employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement. | 1/1/2026 |
| Oregon SB 537 | Healthcare/Workplace Violence | Creates workplace violence prevention requirements for certain health care entities. | 1/1/2026 |
| Oregon SB 858 | Paid Family/Medical Leave | Employees cannot receive benefits while they are eligible to receive workers’ compensation or unemployment benefits. | 1/1/2026 |
| Oregon SB 906 | Wage Statements | Requires employers to provide employees with an explanation of their wage statements at the time of hire. | 1/1/2026 |
| Oregon SB 916 | Home HealthCare | Provides unemployment benefits to striking workers after two weeks of unemployment. | 1/1/2026 |
| Oregon SB 1108 | Paid Sick Leave | Allows employees to use paid sick time to donate blood. | 1/1/2026 |
| Oregon SB 1168 | Home Health and Home Care/Wage and Hour | Prohibits per-visit compensation for home health care and home hospice care staff. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Ordinance No. 250373 | Criminal Background Checks | Amends the Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Ordinance to clarify and expand the required procedures for individualized assessments and adverse action notices regarding criminal records in hiring decisions. | 1/1/2026 |
| Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Ordinance No. 2025-1736 | Paid Sick Leave | Modifies the accrual rate, use and accrual caps for paid sick leave. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island HB 5563 | Workplace Training | Requires hotel employees to receive human trafficking awareness training annually | 1/1/2026 |
| Rhode Island HB 5679 / | Hiring / Onboarding | Requires employers to provide each employee with a written notice of specific conditions of employment upon hire. | 1/1/2026 |
| Rhode Island HB 6065 / | Paid Family/Medical Leave | Provides that an employee may use temporary caregiver insurance benefits retroactive to January 1, 2025, to serve as a bone marrow transplant donor or a living organ donor. | 1/1/2026 |
| Rhode Island HB 6066 / | Disability Insurance / Paid Family/Medical Leave | Increases the percent of wages used to determine temporary disability insurance benefits and amends duration period of caregiver benefits; extends temporary caregiver benefits eligibility to workers who are caring for a sibling. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas HB 149 | Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Regulates the use of AI systems; establishes antidiscrimination and disclosure requirements for deployers of AI systems. | 1/1/2026 |
| Texas HB 3699 | Unemployment | Changes the definition of “last work” for unemployment compensation purposes. | 1/1/2026 |
| Bill / Ordinance Number | Main Topic of Legislation | Summary | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington HB 1162 | Workplace Violence/Healthcare | Requires health care employers to develop and implement a workplace violence prevention plan; requires employers to investigate workplace violence incidents and submit an assessment report to the state. | 1/1/2026 |
| Washington HB 1213 | Paid Family/Medical Leave | Amends state paid family and medical leave program to expands employment restoration protections and requires employers to provide written notice regarding employment restoration. | 1/1/2026 |
| Washington HB 1524 | Workplace Safety/Training | Requires employers in specified industries to provide annual training to managers, supervisors, and isolated employees on sexual assault and sexual harassment. | 1/1/2026 |
| Washington HB 1879 | Meal Period Waiver | Provides that a health care worker may agree to waive certain meal periods if a written waiver is completed. | 1/1/2026 |
| Washington SB 5041 | Unemployment | Clarifies the requirements for unemployment benefits eligibility during a labor strike. | 1/1/2026 |
| Washington SB 5101 | Victims of Violence Leave / Paid Sick Leave | Expands access to domestic and sexual violence leave and safety accommodations to include workers who are victims of hate crimes, which also affects “safe” time reasons under separate paid sick and safe time law. | 1/1/2026 |
| Washington SB 5291 | Long Term Care Insurance | Introduces expanded participation options, new insurance frameworks, and streamlined qualification requirements for the Washington Cares long-term care insurance program. | 1/1/2026 |
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