U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)

Rule Changes

Parent agency of BLS

October's US inflation report arrived Tuesday without a year-over-year number, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics had said it would. The agency could not calculate one because it never collected prices for October 2025, when a federal funding lapse shut down most of its survey work.

Updated 10 hours ago

Rule Changes

Issued the final rule

Sponsors of federally registered apprenticeship programs will no longer have to run affirmative action programs. A Department of Labor final rule published November 6 removes the equal employment opportunity mandates in 29 CFR part 30. Those mandates included numerical hiring goals for sponsors with five or more apprentices.

Updated Yesterday

Rule Changes

Finalized the e-filing rule

Starting December 9, 2026, attorneys and other representatives appearing before the Labor Department's administrative law judges must file every document through the department's online system. Self-represented parties can still choose paper.

Updated 3 days ago

Rule Changes

Finalized the PBM disclosure rule

For years, employers could not see how much of their workers' drug spending their pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) kept through rebates and fees. On October 29, the Labor Department finalized a rule requiring those middlemen to disclose their compensation to large self-insured employers.

Updated Nov 1

Rule Changes

Administers PERM and announced the suspension

Eight technology companies still cannot sponsor foreign workers for green cards. The Labor Department is taking no new PERM applications from Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini, and is not processing the ones already filed.

Updated Oct 26

Rule Changes

Proposed and withdrew the rulemaking

The Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division withdrew its July 2025 proposal to pull nine parts of Fair Labor Standards Act guidance out of the Code of Federal Regulations. The October 7, 2026 notice leaves the guidance in place, and employers can still cite it, including for the Portal-to-Portal Act's safe harbor from liability.

Updated Oct 24

Rule Changes

Co-author of the rule

Health insurers must publish their negotiated rates in a form researchers and consumers can use. The Department of Health and Human Services finalized the updates to the Transparency in Coverage rules on October 5, 2026, with the Departments of Labor and the Treasury.

Updated Oct 21

Rule Changes

Filed an amicus brief urging the Eleventh Circuit to abandon the exhaustion rule

Plan participants in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia can now sue over mismanaged retirement plans without first exhausting their plan's internal appeals process. On October 13, the full Eleventh Circuit overruled its 1985 decision in Mason v. Continental Group, which had required administrative exhaustion for all statutory claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

Updated Oct 18

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: Defendant in lawsuit

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees sued the Labor Department on September 10 over a rule that ends merit-based hiring at the nation's job-search offices. The rule, published August 20, takes effect October 19. It lets states replace career civil servants with contractors or non-merit staff in the Employment Service, a federal-state program created in 1933.

Updated Sep 11

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Regulatory gatekeeper for Allegiant’s green card bid

Allegiant Air's contract fight with its pilots (Teamsters Local 2118) spans immigration policy, wage standards, and a proposed $1.5 billion merger with Sun Country Airlines. The roughly 1,400 pilots have been stuck under an amendable 2016 contract — starting pay around $50,000, about half what regional peers earn, with grueling schedules.

Updated May 10