Menopause in the Workplace: New Accommodation Laws, Health Plan Insurance Mandates, and What Employers Need to Know
Medical professionals recognize at least 34 symptoms associated with perimenopause and menopause—including hot flashes and night sweats, joint pain, brain fog, heart palpitations, anxiety, migraines, and sleep disruption. Until recently, menopause was largely absent from workplace policy and employment law in the United States. That is changing rapidly. Some state and local governments have enacted express menopause workplace protections and accommodation requirements, and Congress has recently considered, but not yet codified, menopause-specific employment and benefits legislation. Employers should assess their legal obligations and evaluate whether their workplace policies and benefits are keeping pace.
Already Arbitrating? Ninth Circuit Says EFAA May Still Open the Courthouse Door
Enacted in 2022, the EFAA gives individuals alleging sexual assault or sexual harassment a choice between arbitration and court—regardless of whether that individual signed a pre-dispute arbitration agreement. Under the EFAA, when a person alleges conduct constituting a "sexual harassment dispute" or a "sexual assault dispute," no pre-dispute arbitration agreement is valid or enforceable with respect to the filed case. The EFAA provides that questions of its applicability must be decided by a court, not an arbitrator.
No Longer for Employers' Eyes Only: New York Expands Access to Personnel Records
On September 9, 2026, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation that establishes new rights for New York employees to access and challenge information contained in their personnel records—a marked change in a state in which employees previously had no access rights. Senate Bill S3460 adds Section 210-b to the New York Labor Law, scheduled to take effect on November 8, 2026.
Attorney Spotlight
Emily Keimig: While employers are diligently trying to understand and implement various states' regulation of AI use in HR functions—think hiring, reductions in force, ADA accommodations, and tracking and managing protected leave time—companies are also confronting myriad challenges arising from employees' unauthorized use of AI tools, a practice known as shadow AI. One can understand why frustrated, fearful, or just curious employees might opt to forgo compliance with a company's AI use policy, but the frequency with which this is occurring is shocking, and it comes with significant risks. Virtually every study to examine AI use in the workplace has concluded that those employees using unauthorized, often free and personal AI tools drastically exceed those using tools that have been vetted and authorized by the employer.
Use of unauthorized AI tools can put sensitive employee information at risk, but it also can put at risk other, proprietary business information or even trade secret data. AI is not going away, so what is an employer to do? It won't come as a surprise that all companies using AI tools need a policy that speaks to how those tools are used. However, any policy, but this one in particular, needs a strong foundation and driving force: trust established and maintained by responsibility and accountability. This foundation and driving force will yield different policies for each company, depending on what industry it serves or operates in and what AI tools it uses to further its success. Whatever those varying factors, though, specificity and clarity in terms of what is expected and required are of critical importance. General policy statements such as "Employees may not use unauthorized AI tools in the workplace" are not sufficient. Employers must go the extra mile here and identify what tools are authorized, what it means to be authorized, what specific functions the authorized tool may used for, what it may not be used for, how the employee should document and disclose its use, and what the consequences are for failing to follow the policy. Like other workplace policies, an AI use policy must be kept up to date, and given the rapidly evolving panoply of good and bad that comes with AI, diligent attention not only to the policy, but also to the trust, responsibility, and accountability behind it, is essential.
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About the Labor and Employment Group
The national, 40-person Labor and Employment team at Venable provides guidance and support across the full spectrum of workplace dynamics – helping employers control costs, avoid disputes, and defend themselves when litigation arises. Allison Gotfried, editor of this newsletter, invites you to share the content with your colleagues and reach out with any questions.