The Beltway Buzz® is a weekly update summarizing labor and employment news from inside the Beltway and clarifying how what’s happening in Washington, D.C., could impact your business.

NLRB Returns to Clear Standard for Addressing Abusive Employee Conduct. This week,

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Ogletree Deakins Insights

The DoW SkillBridge Program—Beyond the Basics: Placement Credit, Administration, and Benefits (Part II of II)

By Adam J. Crane & James A. Patton Jr.

September 25, 2026

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Quick Hits

SkillBridge does not bar background checks, but employers should apply standard background requirements consistently and not subject service members to additional scrutiny.
SkillBridge does not create a separate recordkeeping regime, but its reporting requirements can impact the maintenance

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Ogletree Deakins Insights

Deployment of AI Recruitment Tools in the EU: Employer Obligations Under GDPR and EU AI Act

By Simon J. McMenemy & Nicola McCrudden

September 25, 2026

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Quick Hits

Spain’s data protection authority, the AEPD, issued a formal warning to a company before its AI recruitment tool was switched on.
EU regulators demonstrate willingness to invoke their GDPR powers and intervene at the AI procurement stage.
The

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Ogletree Deakins Insights

NLRB Restores Employer-Friendly Test for Offensive Conduct During Protected Activity

By Ryan T. Sears & Zachary V. Zagger

September 25, 2026

Quick Hits

The NLRB restored the General Motors standard for evaluating discipline when employee misconduct occurs during union or other protected concerted activity, returning to the familiar Wright Line framework used in mixed-motive discipline cases and treating the misconduct as

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Ogletree Deakins Insights

Employment AI Tools Raise New Bias, Privacy, and Compliance Challenges

By Sean P. Nalty, Lauren B. Hicks, Publisher & Erin Schachter

September 25, 2026

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As employers adopt artificial intelligence (AI) tools throughout the employee lifecycle, they must address evolving local, state, federal, and supranational requirements governing bias, privacy, transparency, and potential discrimination risks, while also providing meaningful human oversight.

Quick Hits

AI tools can

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Ogletree Deakins Insights

New York Proposes Opioid Antagonist Requirements for the Workplace

By Stefan Borovina

September 25, 2026

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On September 23, 2026, the New York State Department of Labor published, on page 9 of the New York State Register, a proposed rule, “Opioid Antagonists in the Workplace,” clarifying how employers must comply. The rule addresses how many

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Ogletree Deakins Insights

Fourteen States Remind Employers: Disparate Impact Enforcement Is Not Going Away

By T. Scott Kelly, Nonnie L. Shivers, Publisher & Zachary V. Zagger

September 24, 2026

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Quick Hits

The attorneys general of California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington issued joint guidance explaining why the disparate impact theory of liability remains legal and enforceable under various

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Ogletree Deakins Insights

Allegheny County, PA, Makes Revisions to Proposed Paid Parental Leave Ordinance

By Sheri L. Giger & Danna S. Michel-Tyler

September 24, 2026

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Quick Hits

The Allegheny County Board of Health is reviewing amendments to a proposed paid parental leave ordinance issued in May 2026 that would shorten the length of paid leave from eighteen to twelve weeks and revise employer eligibility from

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Ogletree Deakins Insights

Germany’s Federal Labor Court Limits Employer Information Requests

By Dr. Merle Steinhuber

September 23, 2026

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Quick Hits

An employer may request that the employee disclose which job offers the employee received from Germany’s Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) or Jobcenter.
The employer does not have an independently enforceable right to information about applications and

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Ogletree Deakins Insights

Tenth Circuit Reverses District Court Decision on Arbitration Exemption

By Eric M. Fox & Christopher C. Murray

September 23, 2026

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Quick Hits

In Joyner v. Frontier Airlines, the Tenth Circuit reversed a district court’s ruling that customer service agents at a Denver airport were transportation workers exempt from federal arbitration law.
The Tenth Circuit found the lower court had improperly

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