DEI and the Surge in States’ Workplace Legislation

“It's harder and harder to be a day-to-day HR professional or managing legal in an organization due to the myriad of differences between state and local laws. That requires an analysis of whether we want to go to lowest common denominators, which involves consideration of stakeholders and costs, or whether we have the ability to operate different policies and systems in different states, which then interacts with IT and systems. It requires an overall analysis of where the organization wants to be. And now we have another issue that we always need to think about, which is humanity. Individuals have more expectations for treatment in the workplace.”

Chapters

00:00 Navigating Workplace Law in 2025 00:45 The Push and Pull of DEI Initiatives 09:50 Legislative Landscape: Ballot Initiatives and Employee Rights 15:59 Changing Employee Expectations and Future Outlook