Employco Blog

California’s Minimum Wage Rate to Increase on Jan. 1, 2027 – On July 31, 2026, the California Department of Finance (the Department) announced that the state’s hourly minimum wage will increase to $17.40 per hour on Jan. 1, 2027. The new rate will apply to all employers, regardless of how many individuals they employ.

Since the end of March 2026, state employee leave law requirements have continued to change at the rapid pace employers have come to expect. For instance, in April, Maryland issued guidance and a contribution rate for its upcoming paid family and medical leave program. In April and May, Virginia enacted paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave laws. Also in May, paid family and medical leave benefits began in Maine.

In July, New Jersey issued guidance affirming new job protection entitlements for recipients of state temporary disability and family leave insurance, and expansions to its Family Leave Act took effect. July also saw New York City issue regulations clarifying major changes to its Protected Time Off Law, and Rhode Island and other states raise their paid leave benefit rates.

On July 22, 2026, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued two new opinion letters related to compensating employees in various situations. The links below provide summaries of the DOL guidance:

• DOL Addresses Compensability of Certain Commute Time Activities
• DOL Addresses Compensability of Midday Travel Between an Employee’s Home and Work

As organizations plan for the remainder of 2026 and beyond, several workforce developments deserve employers’ attention. The following resources highlight emerging trends in human resources, employee mental health, and benefits strategy.

• 4 Midyear HR Trends – As 2026 moves into its second half, HR leaders are navigating a workforce that is being reshaped on several fronts at once. Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing hiring patterns, gig work is becoming a mainstream labor arrangement, burnout is reaching a measurable tipping point, and employee confidence in the labor market remains historically weak.
  
• 5 Mental Health Trends – Employees are navigating economic uncertainty, workplace change driven by artificial intelligence, rising healthcare costs, and years of accumulated stress. For employers, the moment calls for rethinking how mental health support fits into the employee experience.
  
• 5 Midyear Benefits Trends – The middle of the year is an ideal time to evaluate benefits strategy and recalibrate plan design, vendor partnerships, and cost-containment efforts to close out the year strong or prepare for the 2027 open enrollment season.

Question: One of my employees is asking for a copy of their personnel file. We have copies of warnings and discipline notices in the file. Am I required to give the employee a copy of the entire file?

We recently released our latest HR Edge newsletter. This quarter’s newsletter covers the following topics:

• Rising Healthcare Costs and 2027 Predictions
• AI Reshapes the Labor Market
• GLP-1 Trends Transform Employer-Sponsored Healthcare

Click the following link to read: HR Edge (Q3 2026).

Alaska Enacts Payroll Card Account Requirements – On June 18, 2026, Alaska enacted Senate Bill (SB) 79, which establishes requirements for employers that pay employee wages using payroll card accounts. The new law took effect on July 1, 2026.

On June 29, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to rescind two guidance documents that, for more than four decades, gave private employers a framework for adopting voluntary affirmative action plans under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII): the agency’s 1979 interpretive guidelines on affirmative action and the related Section 607 of its Compliance Manual.

Key Highlights – The EEOC concluded that the decades-old guidance conflicted with the text of Title VII and with Supreme Court precedent holding that the statute protects every individual equally, rather than particular groups.