“Changes are Coming”- a letter from our CEO Mark Young

Do you ever feel that as summer heats up, and then it’s over, then we’re off to the fall, with this year a Presidential election, and starting a new year all sorts of new “stuff” to think about and worry about as a business owner?  Most of us do, but this year, times have totally changed!

We have had fundamental changes in how laws are written, released, and applied. Now you are seeing blatant federal and state government moves to change the federal laws ahead of the Presidential election, with so many they are hard to keep up with, and we are seeing businesses just frankly missing the boat!

The Chevron ruling changed how agencies can rule, which will allow agencies to rule in a way we have never seen.  We hear very little from Congress, and even when we had a massive agreed-upon law, it was vetoed.

While moves like this ahead of a Presential race, and of course the changes in the Senate (1/3 of the members in November) and the Congressional House races, there will be changes, but we have watched the NLRB, and competing Federal District courts change the rules for joint employment, unionizing, work rules, etc., almost weekly, to a point where we as lawyers have clients who have said “yeah yeah, we heard you on that already”.

But in this case, we aren’t repeating the same rulings over and over again, government and their agencies are literally changing the rules, (and not the laws per se) about every two weeks.

So what?  Maybe, but we can’t help to say again, your policies and procedures are likely out of alignment with the current federal rules, that your employee handbooks, your policies like social media, AI, PTO/Sick pay and FMLA, just to name a few, are not only out of date, but out of line with what the federal agencies are ruling and the district courts are reversing.

Whether you wait until there is a new administration is place in January 2025, or start now, remember, these new rules coming from federal agencies, regardless of the Presidential race and the House and Senate results, you will have at least 2 more years I which the balance of power in these agencies are as they are right now, meaning the legal policies you have in place, if not written in the last 6 months are invalid and out of date.  Stay tuned to our webinars and our newsletters and social media, as we are yelling yes, but we are not doing it for our health, we are watching and analyzing possibly the most amazing year or two that’s changing everything about HR and the employment rules you need to have in place to have a legally compliant company now and for the next 2+ years!