Quick Hits

• USCIS will continue to accept adjustment of status filings based on the Dates for Filing Chart in January 2026.
• EB-1 applicants born in India and China will advance on final action dates and dates for filing.
• Most EB-2 applicants will advance on final action dates and dates for filing.
• EB-3 shows little movement with respect to final action dates and dates for filing.
• EB-5 Unreserved applicants born in India advance by ten months as set forth in the Final Action Dates Chart, and by twenty-five months in the Dates for Filing Chart.

Final Action Dates

The final action dates for several categories advance in the January 2026 Visa Bulletin.

• EB-1: All countries remain current in January except for China-mainland and India. Notably, India advances by eleven months to February 1, 2023. China advances by eight days to February 1, 2023.
• EB-2: All countries advance slightly.
  • China-mainland advances by three months to September 1, 2021.
  • India advances by two months to July 15, 2013.
  • All other countries advance by two months to April 1, 2024.
• EB-3: All countries advance slightly.
  • China-mainland advances by one month to May 1, 2021.
  • India advances by almost two months to November 15, 2013.
  • All other countries advance by seven days to April 22, 2023.
• EB-3 “Other Workers” advance slightly.
  • China-mainland advances by twelve months to December 8, 2018.
  • India advances by about two months to November 15, 2013.
  • All other countries advance by one month to September 1, 2021.
• EB-4: All countries advance by four months to January 1, 2021.
• Certain religious workers: All countries advance by four months to January 1, 2021.
• EB-5: All countries remain current except China-mainland and India, which both advance.
  • China-mainland advances by one month to August 15, 2016, for EB-5 Unreserved.
  • India advances by ten months to May 1, 2022, for EB-5 Unreserved.

Source: U.S. Department of State, January 2026 Visa Bulletin, Final Action Dates Chart

Dates for Filing

• EB-1: All countries remain current except China-mainland and India, which both advance to August 1, 2023.
• EB-2: All countries advance except for India.
  • China-mainland advances by one month to January 1, 2022.
  • No movement is shown for India (December 1, 2013).
  • All other countries advance by three months to October 15, 2024.
• EB-3: No movement is seen (i.e., the dates for filing remain the same as set forth in the December 2025 Visa Bulletin).
• EB-3 “Other Workers”: No movement is shown except for China-mainland, which advances by one year to October 1, 2019.
• EB-4: All countries advance by one month to March 21, 2015.
• Certain Religious Workers: All countries advance by one month to March 21, 2015.
• EB-5: All countries remain current except for China-mainland and India, which both advance.
  • China-mainland advances by one month to August 16, 2022, for EB-5 unreserved.
  • India advances by twenty-five months to May 1, 2024, for EB-5 unreserved.

Source: U.S. Department of State, January 2026 Visa Bulletin, Dates for Filing Chart

Key Takeaways

With advancement in the final action dates, more green card applications will become eligible for approval. Additionally, applicants who became eligible to file their adjustment requests in November and December 2025, as outlined in the Dates for Filing Chart, will have at least another month to submit their applications.

Ogletree Deakins’ Immigration Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will publish updates on the Immigration blog as additional information becomes available.

Follow and Subscribe
LinkedIn | Instagram | Webinars | Podcasts

Quick Hits

• On December 16, 2025, President Trump issued a proclamation restricting the entry of foreign nationals from select countries, effective January 1, 2026, citing national security and public safety concerns.
• The proclamation affects nationals of newly designated countries who are outside the United States on January 1, 2026, and do not possess a valid visa, although it does not prohibit the issuance of new visa stamps.
• Exceptions to the proclamation include U.S. permanent residents, dual nationals traveling on nondesignated country passports, certain nonimmigrant visa holders, athletes for major sporting events, and individuals whose travel serves a U.S. national interest.

Foreign Nationals Affected

Nationals of the newly designated countries will be impacted if they are outside the United States on January 1, 2026, and do not possess a valid visa.

Although the proclamation does not prohibit the issuance of new visa stamps to foreign nationals from the designated countries, consulates may decline to issue new visa stamps in light of the proclamation.

Designated Countries

The below chart summarizes the countries that continue to be affected by the travel ban and the newly added countries.

The proclamation lifts the previous ban on nonimmigrant visas for nationals of Turkmenistan but maintains the suspension on immigrant visas.

Exceptions

The following individuals are not impacted by the proclamation:

• U.S. permanent residents
• Dual nationals of a designated country when traveling on a non-designated country passport
• Individuals entering with certain nonimmigrant visas including A-1/A-2; C-2/C-3; G-1/G-2/G-3/G-4; or NATO-1/NATO-2/NATO-3/NATO-4/NATO-5/NATO-6
• Athletes traveling for the World Cup, the Olympics, or other major sporting event, as determined by the secretary of state. (This includes coaches, necessary supporting roles, and immediate relatives.)
• Special Immigrant Visas for U.S. government employees, and immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran
• Exceptions determined by the attorney general, in coordination with the secretary of state and the secretary of homeland security for foreign nationals whose travel is determined to advance a critical U.S. national interest involving the U.S. Department of Justice
• Foreign nationals whose travel is to serve a U.S. national interest, as determined by the secretary of state, in coordination with the secretary of homeland security

Analysis and Impact

Employers may want to consider the following:

International Travel

• Foreign nationals from newly designated countries who are currently outside the United States should consider returning before the entry restrictions take effect on January 1, 2026, at 12:01 a.m. ET.
• Nationals of countries under full suspension are broadly barred from receiving new visas, and departing the United States after the January 1, 2026, effective date may result in the inability to return.
• Nationals of partially restricted countries may face denials for specific visa categories, including B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas.
• Employment-based visa applicants from partially restricted countries may still receive new visas; however, the validity of the visa may be restricted, and applicants may face protracted screening procedures.
• Employment-based green card applicants undergoing consular processing are expected to face suspensions in immigrant visa issuance.

Immigration Processing for Impacted Nationals Currently in the United States

The proclamation is not expected to restrict change or extension of status applications filed with USCIS or revoke existing visas or work authorization status for foreign nationals currently in the United States.

Ogletree Deakins’ Immigration Practice Group will closely monitor developments with respect to the pending litigation and other policy changes and will provide updates on the Immigration blog as additional information becomes available.

This article and more information on how the Trump administration’s actions impact employers can be found on Ogletree Deakins’ Administration Resource Hub.

Follow and Subscribe
LinkedIn | Instagram | Webinars | Podcasts

Quick Hits

• The enhanced premium tax credits for individual health insurance from state-run exchanges or the federal exchange under the ACA will likely expire as Congress adjourns for the rest of the year without passing a measure to extend them.
• Employee demand for employer-sponsored health benefits will likely surge in 2026 if ACA premiums become unaffordable.
• It is unclear if Congress will pass a bill to revive the subsidies in 2026.

The enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire on December 31, 2025, unless Congress passes a bill to maintain them. The enhanced premium tax credits were introduced in 2021 during the pandemic and extended through the end of 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act. The annual premiums that subsidized enrollees pay will more than double from an average of $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026, if these subsidies expire, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

On December 18, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to support a discharge petition to force a House vote on a bill to extend the subsidies for three years. Because of the discharge petition, the House can vote on that bill in January 2026, but it is unclear if any such bill will pass both chambers in 2026.

Most people who buy an individual coverage plan through ACA exchanges lack access to employer-sponsored health coverage because they work part-time, work for a small employer, or are self-employed. The expiration of the subsidies could hit especially hard small employers that do not offer health benefits and larger employers with a lot of part-time workers who do not qualify for the employer’s health plan. Workers who cannot afford ACA coverage without the enhanced subsidies may seek to change jobs to get employer-sponsored health coverage.

Next Steps

The ACA requires employers with at least fifty full-time employees to offer minimum essential health coverage that is “affordable” and provides “minimum value” to at least 95 percent of their full-time employees or face potential penalties if their full-time employees qualify for premium tax credits. Going forward, employers may wish to analyze the impact of the expiring enhanced subsidies on the health care decisions their employees make.

Ogletree Deakins’ Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group and Healthcare Industry Group will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation and Healthcare blogs as new information becomes available.

James J. Plunkett is a shareholder in Ogletree Deakins’ Washington, D.C., office.

Timothy J. Stanton is a shareholder in Ogletree Deakins’ Chicago office.

This article was co-authored by Leah J. Shepherd, who is a writer in Ogletree Deakins’ Washington, D.C., office.

Follow and Subscribe
LinkedIn | Instagram | Webinars | Podcasts

Quick Hits

• The IRS recently declared it will not enforce tax and reporting requirements for state paid family and medical leave (PFML) benefits in 2026.
• Thirteen states and Washington, D.C., have enacted state-run paid family and medical leave programs.

Under Revenue Ruling 2025-4, amounts paid to an employee under a state’s PFML program should be included in an employee’s gross income and are wages for federal employment tax purposes. However, for 2025, states and employers did not have to comply with the employment tax and reporting requirements in that revenue ruling.

In its latest notice, the IRS stated, “States may need additional time to make the necessary changes to their systems and state budgets to comply with their federal income tax and employment tax obligations, as well as related information reporting responsibilities…. For this reason, calendar year 2026 will be regarded as an additional transition period for purposes of IRS enforcement and administration.”

The grace period does not apply to employer “pick-up” contributions, when an employer voluntarily pays an employee’s required PFML contribution. Those amounts still must be considered wages and reported on Form W-2.

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Washington, D.C., have mandatory paid family and medical leave programs. In some states, the benefit payments have not started yet.

Next Steps

Employers will not face enforcement or penalties in connection with the pay reporting and tax withholding requirements for state PFML benefits in 2026. They may wish to prepare their systems to comply with these pay reporting and tax withholding obligations in 2027. Those that work with a third-party payroll vendor may wish to ensure that the vendor is prepared to properly execute the reporting and tax withholding for PFML benefits in 2027.

Ogletree Deakins’ Employment Tax Practice Group and Leaves of Absence/Reasonable Accommodation Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Employment Tax and Leaves of Absence blogs as new information becomes available.

Michael K. Mahoney is a shareholder in Ogletree Deakins’ Morristown office, and chair of the firm’s Employment Tax Practice Group.

This article was co-authored by Leah J. Shepherd, who is a writer in Ogletree Deakins’ Washington, D.C., office.

Follow and Subscribe
LinkedIn | Instagram | Webinars | Podcasts

Quick Hits

• In Edwards v. Shelby County, Tennessee, the Sixth Circuit recently held that an employee’s night blindness may qualify as a disability that would require a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.
• Night blindness is not automatically a disability but may constitute one, depending on the individual’s functional limitations, consistent with the ADA’s fact-specific inquiry.
• This decision reinforces the ADA’s broad protections after the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA).

Background on the Case

The employee began working as an environmentalist inspector for Shelby County, Tennessee, in 2020 and was later assigned to a position that required some nighttime driving, which involved delivering groceries to guests at a hotel. Over time, her night vision deteriorated. She testified that bright lights created halos that made it difficult to see barricades, lane markers, and road signs, and she experienced impaired depth perception when driving in the dark. Although she had previously noticed problems with night vision, she did not disclose these issues on her pre-employment questionnaire or during her pre-employment medical examination, which occurred during daylight hours and did not reveal her night blindness. 

On October 4, 2021, the employee’s supervisor reassigned her to a new shift from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., which required her to work and drive home at night. The employee objected, explaining that she had night blindness and raising additional personal safety concerns about working alone at the hotel at night. She offered to provide medical documentation and contacted her doctors, but she was unable to obtain a note, and her supervisor never followed up on that request.

The county ultimately authorized a change to a 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. shift, but the supervisor did not notify the employee of the new schedule until after the start time of the revised shift. Before the employee even began her first scheduled night shift, her supervisor documented complaints about the employee’s alleged tardiness, reluctance to work at the hotel, and failure to follow directives. Within days, the county moved forward with discipline and discharged the employee shortly thereafter, citing attendance problems, insubordination, and alleged falsification of information.

The employee filed suit, alleging that the county failed to accommodate her asthma, discriminated against her based on her night blindness, and retaliated against her for requesting an accommodation. After a two-day trial, the jury found in her favor on all three claims, concluding that both her asthma and her night blindness qualified as disabilities under the ADA.

On appeal, with respect to the night blindness claim, the county argued that the jury erred in finding the employee disabled because night blindness is not a recognized disability under the ADA, night driving is not a major life activity, and the employee’s ability to occasionally drive at night demonstrated that she was not substantially limited in any major life activity. The county also contended that the employee’s request for an accommodation was not made in good faith, asserting that her real concern was crime at the hotel, rather than her ability to safely drive at night.

Sixth Circuit Ruling

The Sixth Circuit rejected the county’s arguments and affirmed the jury’s decision, emphasizing the ADA’s broad, individualized approach to determining whether a condition constitutes a disability. The court explained that, although the Sixth Circuit had not previously ruled on whether night blindness could qualify as an ADA disability, the ADAAA significantly expanded the scope of coverage and lowered the threshold for establishing a substantial limitation.

The court clarified that the relevant inquiry was not whether night driving itself is a major life activity, but whether the employee’s condition substantially limited the major life activity of seeing, which is expressly protected under the ADA. The court further noted that the ADA does not require a person to be completely unable to perform an activity to be substantially limited. Individuals who can perform an activity only with difficulty, pain, or risk may still meet the definition. The employee’s testimony regarding glare, halos from headlights, difficulty reading signs, impaired depth perception, and lingering post-exposure visual strain provided sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that her night blindness substantially limited her ability to see.

The court also rejected the county’s argument that the employee’s accommodation request was not made in good faith. Although the employee expressed safety concerns about working alone at night, she also specifically raised to the county her night blindness and explained its impact on her ability to drive. Because credibility determinations belong to the jury, the Sixth Circuit declined to disturb the jury’s verdict.

Next Steps

The Sixth Circuit’s ruling highlights several important considerations for employers:

• Difficulty seeing at night or driving in low-light conditions may be treated as a legitimate concern, and therefore worth exploring through the interactive process.
• Employers may want to evaluate disability-related issues on a case-by-case basis since they are often nuanced and fact-specific.  
• Employees with a disability may still occasionally perform a task, but if they do so with greater difficulty, risk, or stress, this still may implicate the ADA.
• Consider providing training for frontline managers regarding how to respond when employees raise disability-related issues and escalate concerns appropriately to remain compliant with the ADA.
• Be mindful of the timing and reaction to accommodation requests. Adverse actions taken shortly after an employee raises a disability concern may be scrutinized more heavily.

Ogletree Deakins will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Employment Law, Kentucky, Leaves of Absence, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee blogs as new information becomes available.

Heather G. Ptasznik is a shareholder in Ogletree Deakins’ Detroit office.

This article was co-authored by Leah J. Shepherd, who is a writer in Ogletree Deakins’ Washington, D.C., office.

Quick Hits

• The Illinois Department of Human Rights unveiled draft rules for implementing Illinois’s new ban on AI discrimination in employment, clarifying potential notice and recordkeeping obligations for employers regarding their use of AI.
• The draft rules would apply broadly to all employers under the Illinois antidiscrimination law and would necessitate notice whenever AI is involved in covered employment decisions, regardless of whether it leads to unlawful discrimination.
• Under the draft rules, required notifications would need to include specific information such as the AI product’s name, the employment decisions it affects, its purpose, the data it collects, targeted job positions, and contact details for inquiries.

The draft rules, “Subpart J: Use of Artificial Intelligence in Employment,” implement changes to the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) that were made under Illinois House Bill (HB) 3773, a 2024 law that prohibits the use of AI, including generative AI, in ways that discriminate against employees based on protected characteristics, even if such discrimination is unintentional. HB 3773 takes effect on January 1, 2026, and requires the IDHR to issue rules implementing the substantive requirements of the act.

The new draft rules, which were shared during a stakeholder meeting and have yet to be formally published for public comment, would clarify employers’ notice and recordkeeping requirements regarding their use of AI to make employment decisions.

Covered Entities

The draft rules apply broadly to “employers” under the IHRA and to their agents, including recruiters and other third parties acting on an employer’s behalf. The notice obligations would be triggered when an employer “uses” AI “to influence or facilitate” any “covered employment decision,” which includes recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal of employment, selection for training or apprenticeship, discharge, discipline, tenure, or the terms, privileges, or conditions of employment.

The draft rules define “use” of AI broadly to include “any instance in which the output of an artificial intelligence system influences or facilitates a covered employment decision.” Covered AI is defined under HB 3773 to refer to a “machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs” such as predictions, recommendations, or decisions.

Notice Requirements

Under the draft rules, employers would be required to provide notice to employees and prospective employees when AI is used “to influence or facilitate” an employment decision, whether or not the use of AI “has the purpose or effect of subjecting employees to unlawful discrimination.”

The draft rules lay out a broad array of situations where AI is commonly used that would trigger an employer’s notice requirements, including “using computer-based assessments or tests” like puzzles or games to make predictions about an employee or prospective employee or measure the employee’s or prospective employee’s mental or physical skills or abilities or personalities or aptitudes or otherwise “screen, evaluate, categorize, and/or recommend prospective or current employees.”

Additionally, the draft rules would require notice if AI is used to direct job postings or advertisements to specific groups or populations, screen resumes, analyze facial expressions, word choice, and voice during online or video interviews, or analyze data acquired from third parties.

However, notice would not be required for AI used solely for nonemployment-decision business operations—such as generating marketing copy—or for ordinary software that does not infer or generate outputs affecting employment decisions (e.g., basic word processing, spreadsheets, firewalls, spam filtering), provided those tools are not used to infer or recommend employment outcomes. Likewise, if a system has AI features but the employer does not use those features for covered decisions, no notice would be required.

Content of the Notice

Employers would be required to provide specific and transparent content if notice is required. Employers would be required to disclose:

• the name of the AI product and its developer and vendor;
• the employment decisions the AI influences or facilitates (e.g., recruitment, hiring, discipline);
• the purpose of the AI system and the categories of personal information or employee data it collects or processes, with practical descriptions (e.g., summarizing or scoring resumes; analyzing video interviews; evaluating chat interactions with a recruiting bot);
• the types of job positions for which the AI will be used;
• a point of contact (e.g., Human Resources contact or hiring manager) for questions about the AI and its use;
• the right to request a reasonable accommodation and how to request it; and
• required statutory language.

Notices would need to be written plainly, made available in the languages commonly spoken in the workforce, and reasonably accessible to employees with disabilities.

Timing and Manner of Notice

Employers would need to provide notice to current employees annually or within thirty days of the “adoption of a new or substantially updated” AI system. For prospective employees, the notice of AI use would need to be included in any job posting.

The draft rules would mandate notice in various forms, anticipating modern physical and digital work environments, as well as consistency across typical communication channels with employees and prospective employees. Notices would be required to be posted in (1) employee handbooks or manuals; (2) in a “conspicuous location” on the employer’s physical premises where notices are usually posted; (3) in a “conspicuous location” on the employer’s intranet or external website; and (4) in any job notice or posting.

Recordkeeping Requirements

The draft rules would further extend recordkeeping requirements to the use of AI, requiring employers to preserve notices, postings, and disclosures regarding AI and “records of such use” for a period of four years. The draft regulations would also increase multiple existing retention periods to four years and require employers to preserve all relevant records until a charge is adjudicated, regardless of when it is filed.

Expanding AI Regulation

The IDHR draft rules represent another step in AI regulation in Illinois, which effective January 1, 2026 joins other jurisdictions, such as California, Colorado, and New York City, in implementing protections for employees regarding the growing use of AI technology, though California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill in October 2025 that would have broadly required employers to provide notice when they use AI. Notably, in addition to the notice provisions of the new law, which are specifically addressed in the draft rules, the Illinois law expressly makes it unlawful for employers to use AI in ways that discriminate against employees or prospective employees, regardless of whether the discrimination was intentional.

Additional state and local regulations on the use and impact of AI technology are anticipated, as the federal government has backed off on regulation. However, President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order restricting states and localities from issuing new laws or regulations related to AI and asserting federal preemption over the space. The order is explicitly aimed at limiting regulation to promote the growth of the industry in the United States.

Next Steps

Depending on feedback the IDHR might receive, it is possible, though unlikely, that the draft rules could be changed significantly before being published in the Illinois Register and opened for a public comment period. Either way, the draft rules provide insight into how the IDHR proposes to address the implementation of the notice provisions of HB 3773.

As such, employers in Illinois may want to take note of the new draft rules and may want to review their use of AI tools and identify whether and how the use of these tools affects employment decisions. While the HB 3773 does not require formal bias or impact assessments, like the New York City and Colorado AI laws, proactive assessments may be useful in revealing whether an employee’s use of AI has the effect of discriminatory outcomes, even if such outcomes are unintentional. Furthermore, employers may want to start preparing for compliance with the notice requirements, including drafting potential notices and implementing procedures for providing the notice in accordance with the new requirements.

Ogletree Deakins’ Chicago office, Cybersecurity and Privacy Practice Group, Technology Practice Group, and Workforce Analytics and Compliance Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Cybersecurity and Privacy, Employment Law, Illinois, Technology, and Workforce Analytics and Compliance blogs as additional information becomes available.

Follow and Subscribe
LinkedIn | Instagram | Webinars | Podcasts

Quick Hits

• Rather than simply amending the Labour Code, the Polish government plans to implement EU Pay Transparency Directive 2023/970 in a standalone piece of legislation.
• Employers will be obliged to go through a process of job evaluation, consisting of four core basic criteria. The plan will also see the introduction of a “Job Evaluation Tool.”
• A failure to comply with the changes may result in a fine of up to PLN 60,000.
• Generally, the draft law is likely to align with the provisions set out in the EU Pay Transparency Directive.

The Polish government has strongly affirmed that employers will be required to undertake job evaluations for the purpose of determining whether employees perform work of equal or comparable value. In this regard, the proposal introduces a new analytical tool for job evaluations, intended to support employers in meeting this obligation. However, employers retain the discretion to adopt an alternative methodology, provided that such methodology is analytical, gender-neutral, and objectively justified.

Importantly, any job evaluation process, whether based on the government’s proposed tool or a method selected by the employer, must address four mandatory criteria: skills, effort, level of responsibility, and working conditions. These criteria must be applied uniformly across all positions. As a result, certain commercial job evaluation models may not align with the prescribed requirements. Employers that intend to rely on such models may be required to modify or replace them to ensure compliance.

The tool accommodates a maximum of eighty-five positions and twenty-six categories, which may present operational challenges for larger employers. It will therefore fall to individual employers to assess whether the proposed tool is adequate for their organisational structure or whether an alternative method is necessary.

Failure to conduct job evaluations may expose employers to fines of up to PLN 60,000 (approximately USD $16,400). Such penalties may be imposed where an employer, or a person acting on the employer’s behalf, fails to:

• assess the value of individual job positions or categories of work,
• provide employees with information concerning applicable pay criteria,
• furnish employees with specified pay information upon request,
• prepare a gender pay gap report or conduct a joint pay assessment where required, or
• implement appropriate remedial measures to address any identified gender pay gap.

A full draft bill is expected to be released for public consultation imminently. Current indications are that the draft bill will be adopted by the Council of Ministers and subsequently referred to Parliament in Poland in the second quarter of 2026.

Employers are encouraged to stay informed about the implementation process in their respective jurisdictions. Information and updates on the progress of the directive’s implementation across the European Union can be found using Ogletree Deakins’ Member State Implementation Tracker.

For more on the EU’s pay transparency directive, see our previous articles, “EU Pay Transparency Directive: Updates on Implementation Across Member States,” “Preparing for the EU’s Pay Transparency Directive,” “EU Pay Transparency Directive: ‘Equal Pay for Equal Work or Work of Equal Value,” “Implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive in Malta—New Obligations Effective From 27 August 2025”, “Netherlands Announces Delay in Implementation of the EU Pay Transparency Directive.” and “The June 2026 EU Pay Transparency Directive Implementation Deadline Looms.”

Further information can also be found by listening to our podcast “Understanding the EU Pay Transparency Directive: What Employers Need to Know.”

Ogletree Deakins’ London office, Pay Equity Practice Group, and Workforce Analytics and Compliance Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Cross-Border, Pay Equity, and Workforce Analytics and Compliance blogs as additional information becomes available.

Daniella McGuigan is a partner in the London office of Ogletree Deakins and co-chair of the firm’s Pay Equity Practice Group.

Lorraine Matthews, a practice assistant in the London office of Ogletree Deakins, contributed to this article.

Emilia Mobius, a paralegal in the London office of Ogletree Deakins, contributed to this article.

Follow and Subscribe
LinkedIn | Instagram | Webinars | Podcasts

Quick Hits

• The U.S. Senate confirmed President Trump’s nominations of James D. Murphy and Scott Mayer to the NLRB, and Crystal S. Carey to be the NLRB’s general counsel.
• The confirmations restore a quorum of three members on the NLRB, enabling the Board to function and decide cases. Carey’s appointment is expected to shift enforcement policies at the NLRB in line with the Trump administration.
• Despite having a quorum, the NLRB is unlikely to address any of the employee-friendly cases decided during the Biden administration, as the NLRB’s long-standing tradition commands that there be three votes to overturn established precedent.
• The new NLRB general counsel is expected to shift the enforcement policies of the NLRB, having criticized her predecessor’s approach, which may lead to significant changes in how alleged labor violations are handled.

The Senate voted 53–43 to approve a Senate Resolution confirming a slate of ninety-seven Trump administration nominations en bloc that included NLRB nominations.

• Scott Mayer, an in-house legal counsel and current chief labor counsel at an American multinational corporation, fills the seat last held by Lauren McFerran, a Democratic appointee whose term expired on December 16, 2024. The new term expires on December 16, 2029.
• James Murphy, a career attorney at the NLRB who most recently served as the chief counsel to NLRB Chairman Marvin E. Kaplan, fills the seat vacated by former member John F. Ring, expiring on December 16, 2027.
• Crystal Carey, a partner at a private practice law firm with eight years of experience as an attorney with the NLRB, will serve as the general counsel for a term of four years. She replaces the current acting general counsel, William B. Cowen, who served following President Trump’s removal of Biden-appointed former General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo.

The Board has lacked a quorum since President Trump removed Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox in his first days in office in January 2025. For months, the NLRB has had only one sitting member: David Prouty, a Democratic member nominated by President Biden in 2021, whose term is set to expire in August 2026.

Mayer’s and Murphy’s confirmations follow a nearly six-month process after President Trump nominated them in July 2025. Their confirmations mean the Board will now have a quorum of three out of five members, with two of the members being Republican appointees.

Carey will replace Acting NLRB General Counsel William B. Cowen, who had served in that capacity after President Trump removed Abruzzo in January. While Cowen took actions to rescind the prior general counsel’s memoranda and align the NLRB with the administration’s policy priorities, Carey’s confirmation will allow the NLRB general counsel’s office to take further action. The general counsel plays a crucial role in overseeing the investigation and prosecution of alleged labor violations, as well as in establishing enforcement policies.

Carey is expected to differ significantly from Abruzzo and align closely with the Trump administration. During committee hearings, Carey criticized her predecessor’s penchant for stretching the bounds, which she believed potentially contributed to a backlog of cases, and she called for an organizational assessment of the agency.

Next Steps

The confirmation of the two Board nominees, which restores a quorum to the Board, together with the confirmation of the new general counsel, will enable the NLRB to return to close-to-normal operations in the coming year and further implement the Trump administration’s policy priorities.

However, that does not mean employers should expect the Board to reconsider some of the employee-friendly NLRB decisions issued during the Biden administration. Long-standing Board tradition requires at least three affirmative votes to reverse extant precedent. That means that with the current makeup of the Board, with two Republican nominees and one Democratic nominee, it is unlikely the Board will address those decisions.

Ogletree Deakins’ Traditional Labor Relations Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Governmental Affairs and Traditional Labor Relations blogs as additional information becomes available.

This article and more information on how the Trump administration’s actions impact employers can be found on Ogletree Deakins’ Administration Resource Hub.

Follow and Subscribe
LinkedIn | Instagram | Webinars | Podcasts

Senate Confirms NLRB, DOL Nominees. After clearing an initial procedural hurdle late last week, the U.S. Senate confirmed a slate of ninety-seven presidential nominees this week, prior to heading home for the end-of-year holidays. Included in the package are James Murphy and Scott Mayer, nominated to be members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), as well as Crystal Carey, nominated to be the Board’s general counsel. Upon being sworn in, Murphy and Mayer will provide the Board with a functioning quorum. However, as the Buzz has discussed previously, if they follow Board tradition, Murphy and Mayer will need a third vote—which they are unlikely to get from current Democratic Board Member David Prouty—in order to begin making new policy and reversing Biden-era Board decisions.

Also confirmed as part of the package were Rosario Palmieri, who will serve as assistant secretary of labor for policy in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Henry Mack III, who will serve as assistant secretary of labor and lead the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration, and Anthony D’Esposito, who will serve as the DOL’s inspector general.

President Trump Expands Travel Ban. On December 16, 2025, President Donald Trump issued a new proclamation further restricting the entrance of foreign nationals from certain designated countries into the United States. On June 4, 2025, President Trump issued Proclamation 10949, which established a prohibition on entry for foreign nationals from twelve countries and a partial restriction on seven countries. The latest proclamation builds upon Proclamation 10949 by doing the following:

• The prohibition on entry of foreign nationals from the following original twelve countries will continue: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
• Added to that list of countries from which entry is prohibited are Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria (Laos and Sierra Leone were elevated from the “partial ban” list set forth in Proclamation 10949). Also fully prohibited from entering the United States are “individuals using travel documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority (PA).”
• Burundi, Cuba, Togo, and Venezuela remain subject to partial restrictions on entry, while the suspension of entry into the United States of nationals of Turkmenistan on certain nonimmigrant visas has been lifted (though “the entry into the United States of nationals of Turkmenistan as immigrants remains suspended.”)
• Partial restrictions on entry of nationals from the following fifteen countries have also been added: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Exceptions to coverage of the proclamation include lawful permanent residents of the United States, certain foreign athletes, as well as “national interest” determinations made by the attorney general, secretary of state, or secretary of homeland security. The proclamation becomes effective at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 1, 2026.

H-1B Proclamation Update. The following are updates regarding legal challenges to President Trump’s September 19, 2025, proclamation, “Restriction On Entry Of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers,” on September 19, 2025:

• Hearing in U.S. Chamber of Commerce Case. Two private-sector lawsuits have been filed against the H-1B proclamation: one by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and another by a coalition of labor unions, nursing organizations, and religious organizations (Global Nurse Force et al. v. Trump). The Chamber’s lawsuit is on a faster track, as a hearing was held on December 19, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A decision in the case is expected in the coming weeks.
• States File Legal Challenge. In addition to the Chamber’s lawsuit and the Global Nurse Force lawsuit, twenty Democratic state attorneys general have also filed their legal challenge against the H-1B proclamation. This lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, advances similar legal arguments as those contained in the other two lawsuits, though obviously focuses its policy arguments on public sector employment, noting “state and local agencies and public-serving institutions like universities, schools, and hospitals have turned to H-1B workers to provide education, healthcare, and other services.”

House Lawmakers Examine Union Transparency Matters. On December 17, 2025, the House Education and Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) held a hearing, titled, “Ensuring Union Leaders Represent Members, Not Agendas.” According to Subcommittee Chair Rick Allen’s (R-GA) opening statement, the hearing focused on ways to “strengthen the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) to better support union members who want to participate in governing their unions.” Witnesses and lawmakers discussed the following bills.

• The Union Members Right to Know Act (H.R. 6139). This bill would require a labor union to provide employees with copies of the union constitution, bylaws, and collective bargaining agreement, and make those documents available on its website. A similar, but not identical, bill with the same name has been introduced in the Senate.
• Protecting Union Representation and Elections Act (PURE Act) (H.R. 6136). This bill would amend the LMRDA to require that elections for union officials be conducted only via secret ballot voting by the members, rather than by a convention of delegates.
• Fair Access to Justice for Union Members Act (H.R. 6141). This bill would amend the LMRDA to eliminate the requirement that union members exhaust internal administrative procedures prior to instituting a legal challenge against their union.
• Ask the Union Members Act (H.R. 6142). This bill would require unions to conduct secret ballot votes to approve a collective bargaining agreement or authorize a strike.
• Endorsement Transparency Act (H.R. 6156). This bill would require unions, prior to endorsing a candidate for the office of President of the United States, to poll their members on the decision and disclose the results of that poll to the members.

These bills likely have little chance of becoming law, but they are indicative of how House Republicans view the current labor-management policy landscape.

It Does a (Legislative) Body Good. Things took a churn for the better this week in Congress, as the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025” (S. 222). The bill amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to allow public schools to serve “flavored and unflavored organic or nonorganic whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, and fat-free fluid milk and lactose-free fluid milk.” The current, udderly ridiculous, regulations permit schools to serve only low-fat or fat-free milk to students. Previously passed via unanimous consent in the Senate, its full cream ahead for the bill, which now finds its whey to President Trump’s desk.

This is the last Beltway Buzz of 2025. We will return on January 9, 2026.

Quick Hits

• The rapid transformation of healthcare, including advancements in nanomedicine and AI, has significantly increased cyber risks, with PHI breaches escalating from 6 million in 2010 to 170 million in 2024.
• Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting healthcare infrastructure and clinical systems, manipulating patient records and devices, which can compromise patient safety and impose substantial financial and reputational costs on providers.
• Preparedness and disciplined incident response are crucial for healthcare employers to mitigate the impact of cyberattacks, requiring immediate action, thorough documentation, law enforcement engagement, and post-incident security enhancements.

Cybercriminals no longer aim to simply steal or encrypt data—they increasingly seek to manipulate critical healthcare infrastructure and clinical systems in terrorist-like cyber-attacks. This includes altering patient records—such as medication dosing, and infiltrating or reprogramming devices used in surgical procedures or oncology treatments, placing patient safety and clinical outcomes directly at risk. Cyber incidents can compromise continuity of care, degrade clinical quality, and erode public trust—all while imposing enormous financial and reputational costs on providers.

Ransomware remains the most disruptive and prevalent attack modality. Cybercriminals deploy double extortion techniques—first exfiltrating health data, then encrypting it—to force payment both to restore access and to prevent public disclosure of stolen information. Even when organizations maintain robust backups, cybercriminals increasingly target those backups to eliminate recovery options and to pressure payment. The challenge extends into the future as data stolen today may be stored for later decryption as cybercriminals anticipate leveraging quantum computing capabilities to decode currently secure encryption methods, further amplifying the long-term risk profile of compromised data. Healthcare employers have reported recovery timelines of more than a month, and some providers have elected to pay ransoms to stabilize operations and protect patient care.

Preparedness and disciplined incident response are paramount. When a cyberattack occurs, speed, clarity, and precision in execution can substantially reduce patient risk, regulatory exposure, and operational downtime. The following action framework provides a practical guide for healthcare employers facing an active incident:

• Activating the internal person who has been designated in your organization to stop cyberattacks and mitigate further losses
• Immediately assessing and auditing the situation, which includes identifying the nature of the attack, and the scope of data and systems affected
• Disconnecting impacted systems from the network to prevent further compromise or spread of the attack, while preserving forensic integrity
• Documenting the incident, including recording details including suspected start time, observed behaviors, compromised systems, and initial response steps
• Engaging relevant law enforcement authorities promptly, for example, by reporting attacks to law enforcement, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and/or other government agencies (e.g., Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)) to assist in investigating, and/or recovering data that has been encrypted
• Timely notifying compromised parties, which includes informing persons whose data may have been accessed,  such as patients, employees, or other partner providers
• Thoroughly sanitizing and restoring data, a step that involves removing malware from infected systems, restoring validated data from backups, and updating software/firmware to latest versions to eliminate known vulnerabilities
• Once stabilized, shifting to enhance security, e.g., conducting a comprehensive post-incident review to identify control gaps and systemic weaknesses/vulnerabilities, then investing in targeted improvements such as multifactor or biometric authentication, stronger encryption, segmented network architecture, and ongoing employee training to reduce susceptibility to credential compromise

Vigilance is essential in an era when threat actors continuously refine their tools, techniques, and access. Healthcare employers cannot afford to be complacent. The convergence of digital healthcare innovation and cybercriminal sophistication demands a proactive approach, which includes testing employer incident response plans, validating backups and restoring procedures, clarifying decision authority for ransom scenarios, mapping critical systems and data flows, and routinely exercising cross-functional coordination with clinical, legal, compliance, and technology stakeholders. With deliberate preparation, and rapid, coordinated action, organizations can protect patients, preserve trust, and recover faster when the next cyberattack occurs.

Ogletree Deakins’ Cybersecurity and Privacy Practice Group and Healthcare Industry Group will continue to monitor developments and will post updates on the Cybersecurity and Privacy and Healthcare blogs as additional information becomes available.

Follow and Subscribe
LinkedIn | Instagram | Webinars | Podcasts