48 State-Specific HR Compliance Changes for 2026
Part of a series | The One Big Beautiful Bill Act Series
In 2026, employers must navigate a rapidly changing regulatory landscape and varying state laws, making proactive compliance planning vital for managing risk and enhancing workforce experience, with early investment in monitoring set to help organizations adapt.
Employers will continue to face increasing state and local legal requirements in 2026. New rules span employee leave, artificial intelligence (AI), background checks, wage and hour requirements, discrimination protections, employee notices, pay data reporting, pay transparency, workplace safety and more.
This blog post provides a clear, state-by-state breakdown of 48 HR compliance changes for 2026, helping employers understand what is changing (or has changed), where and when. It's designed to be a useful starting point as you continue to refine your compliance and people strategies for 2026. It's not an exhaustive list of all such laws and does not, for example, include minimum wage and minimum salary increases.
States impacted
California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington
California
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
- Sick leave law amended: Employers must allow employees to use paid sick leave to attend related judicial proceedings if the employee or employee's family member is a victim of certain specified crimes.
- Pay data reporting to be kept separate from personnel files: Any employee demographic information gathered by an employer or labor contractor for the purpose of pay data reporting must be kept separately from the employee's personnel records.
- Definition of "pay scale" for disclosure requirement revised: The definition of "pay scale" is revised to mean a good-faith estimate of the salary or hourly wage range the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position upon hire. The definitions of "wages" and "wage rates" are also clarified.
- Duty to reimburse employees for business expenses clarified: California has enacted legislation that clarifies that the duty of an employer to reimburse their employees for business expenses also applies to the use of a vehicle owned by an employee and used by that employee in the discharge of their duties.
- Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) requirements expanded: Covered employers must include additional information in a notice that is required before they may order a mass layoff, relocation or termination at a covered establishment.
- Employee access to personnel records expanded: The scope of records that employees have the right to access in their personnel file is expanded to include education and training records.
Effective Feb. 1, 2026
New annual notice: Employers are required to provide a new stand-alone written notice annually to each employee and to each new employee at the time of hire, informing them of their rights under state and federal law.
Current through Dec. 31, 2026
Recall rights of certain laid-off workers extended: The recall and reinstatement rights for certain employees in the hospitality, service and travel industries who were laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic are extended through Dec. 31, 2026.
Connecticut
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
Sick leave law amended: Employers with 11 or more employees must comply with the new paid sick leave law, which expands the reasons employees may take leave, who is covered and changes how leave allocation is calculated.
Colorado
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
Paid family leave amended: The maximum duration of paid family and medical leave for a parent who has a child receiving inpatient care in a neonatal intensive care unit is extended, and the premiums collected from each employee used to finance the program are reduced.
Effective June 30, 2026
New AI law protects against discrimination: The law imposes broad requirements on developers and deployers of high-risk Al systems and seeks to protect against discrimination.
Delaware
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
Paid family and medical leave benefits take effect: Employers with 10 or more employees must allow covered employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.
Illinois
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
- Rules for breaks for nursing mothers clarified: Legislation clarifies that employers must pay employees at their regular rate of compensation during breaks taken under the state's Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act.
- New AI law protects against discrimination: Legislation expressly prohibits discrimination by employers that deploy AI to help them make employment decisions.
- Blood and organ donation leave law amended: Employers with more than 50 employees must allow part-time employees to qualify for 10 days of organ donation leave, with the daily pay calculated based on the daily average pay the employee received during the last two months of employment.
- Victim's Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA) amended: Employers cannot discriminate or retaliate against employees who use employer-issued electronic devices to record or communicate about domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence or other violent crimes against the employees or their family or household members.
- Human Rights Act amended: Employers must not use AI that has the effect of discriminating on the basis of protected classes, not use ZIP codes as a proxy for protected classes and must notify employees that they are using AI with respect to making employment decisions.
Effective June 1, 2026
Certain employers are required to provide neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) leave: Employers with 16 to 50 employees must provide up to 10 days of unpaid NICU leave when an employee's child is a patient in a NICU. Larger employers must provide up to 20 days of unpaid leave.
Register for this complimentary webcast: HR trends and priorities for 2026: Compliance
Maine
Effective May 1, 2026
Paid family and medical leave benefits take effect: Employers must allow covered employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
Overtime and minimum wage requirements expanded to agricultural employees: Agricultural employees must be paid the minimum wage and overtime for all hours worked over 50 in a week.
Minnesota
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
- Paid family and medical leave begins: Employers must allow covered employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.
- Paid family and medical leave amended: The amendment impacts contributions, qualifying events, intermittent leave and private plans.
- Break and meal period requirements expanded: Employers must allow employees break time of:
- The longer of 15 minutes or enough time to use the nearest restroom, within every four hours of work
- 30 minutes for meals for employees working for at least six consecutive hours
New Hampshire
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
- Childbirth-related leave begins: An employer with 20 or more employees must provide an employee up to 25 hours of unpaid leave to attend medical appointments:
- Related to childbirth or post‑partum care
- For their child's pediatric needs within the first year of the child's birth or adoption
- Military spouse leave begins: Employers with 50 or more employees must allow employees with a military spouse who is involuntarily mobilized to take an unpaid, job-protected leave of absence.
New York
Effective Jan. 26, 2026
Minimum pay requirements to app-based grocery delivery workers: New York City has enacted several bills that provide new protections to app-b‑ased grocery delivery workers.
Effective Feb. 22, 2026
Earned safe and sick time expanded and temporary schedule requirements reduced: New York City has expanded its Earned Safe and Sick Time Act to provide additional unpaid leave and expand the reasons an employee may use the leave. The city has also formally added paid prenatal leave requirements into local law and reduced requirements under its temporary schedule change law.
Nevada
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
Air quality safety measures required: Employers with 10 or more employees must:
- Take measures as prescribed by the Division of Industrial Relations to monitor air quality and reduce employee exposure to poor air quality when the air quality index is 150 or more
- Train employees who work outdoors and may be exposed to poor air quality
Oregon
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
- Employee overpayment legislation enacted: The new law provides specific guidance to employers regarding the collection of wage overpayments from employees.
- Paid sick leave expanded to include blood donation: Employers with 10 or more employees (6 or more if they have a location in Portland) must provide paid sick time for employees to use for a variety of reasons. Employers below these thresholds must provide unpaid sick time. The new law expands the reason an employee may use paid sick leave to include blood donation that is made in connection with a voluntary program that is approved or accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks or the American Red Cross.
- New employee notice requirements: At the time of hiring, employers must provide employees with a written explanation of:
- The regular pay period
- A comprehensive list including the types of eligible pay rates, and all deductions and contributions
- Allowances claimed as part of minimum wage
- Employer-provided benefits that may appear as contributions and deductions
- All payroll codes used with a description of each
- Workplace violence response procedures and training required for health-care employers: Health-care employers must revise their workplace violence prevention programs to, among other things:
- Include procedures for conducting investigations and implementing post-incident response strategies
- Provide workplace violence prevention and protection training to employees and contracted security personnel on an annual basis
Pennsylvania
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
- New poster required: Employers with more than 50 full‑time employees must post a notice created by the Department of Labor and Industry that includes information regarding information and contacts for federal and state benefits and services for veterans and their families as well as contact information for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Crisis Line and the county directors of veterans affairs.
- Paid sick leave requirements expanded: The city of Pittsburgh has enacted legislation that expands its paid sick leave law requirements related to accrual and carryover.
Effective Jan. 6, 2026
Employer background screening requirements expanded: The city of Philadelphia has passed an ordinance that clarifies and amends provisions under the Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Ordinance. Among other provisions, the ordinance prohibits an employer from excluding an applicant or employee unless (based on the available information and consideration of certain assessment factors listed in the ordinance) a reasonable person would conclude that employing the applicant or employee would pose a specific unacceptable risk to the operation of the business or to coworkers or customers, as independently determined by the fact finder. The new ordinance also impacts employer notice requirements.
Effective Jan. 24, 2026
Hair discrimination prohibited: Philadelphia employers may not discriminate based on:
- Hair texture and protective hairstyles, including locs, braids, twists, coils, Bantu knots, afros and extensions
- Head coverings and hairstyles historically associated with religious creeds
Rhode Island
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
- New human trafficking prevention training requirements: The law requires hotel employees and operators of short-term rental properties to receive annual human trafficking awareness training.
- New-hire notice required: Employers must provide all new-hire employees with a written notice in English that includes specified pay-related and other information.
- Protections for certain donors added: The new law adds employment protections for bone marrow transplant and living organ donors.
- Temporary caregiver and disability insurance benefits expanded: Temporary Caregiver Insurance (TCI) leave is expanded to cover a sibling with a serious health condition.
Texas
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
New law governs use of AI: The new law, among other provisions, prohibits the development or deployment of an AI system with the intent to unlawfully discriminate against a protected class.
Washington
Effective Jan. 1, 2026
- Leave for victims of hate crime added: Employers are required to provide safety accommodations and unpaid leave when an employee or their family member is a victim of a hate crime.
- Paid family leave expanded: Protections under the Washington Paid Family Leave Act are expanded. The expanded rights include, for example, a reduction of minimum leave usage and expanded eligibility for job restoration.
- Safety standards created for isolated employees: The law increases certain workplace safety standards, including, for example, a requirement to provide such employees with a panic button and specific training.
- New meal and rest break requirements for hospital workers: The amended law impacts the process by which health-care employers can secure waivers for certain meal and rest break requirements.
- Paid sick leave expanded: The rules have been updated to allow the use of paid sick leave to prepare for or participate in immigration proceedings.
Effective July 1, 2026
Employee protections under the Washington Fair Chance Act expanded: The new law amends the Washington Fair Chance Act to further restrict employers from using criminal records and requires specific notices to be provided to employees.
Child labor protections added: Penalties for employers that are found to have violated the law are significantly increased. An employer's work permit for a minor employee will be revoked for at least 12 months when the employer receives a citation or restraining order for certain violations under the law. An employer will also be prohibited from obtaining a minor work permit for at least 12 months.
Navigating the 2026 HR compliance landscape
In 2026, employers face a year defined by rapid regulatory change and increased scrutiny across states. Proactive compliance planning, especially for employers operating across multiple jurisdictions, is essential to manage risk, maintain consistency and support workforce experience. State-level volatility is likely to continue, and organizations that invest early in monitoring and operational readiness will be better positioned to adapt.
Next step: Act now by aligning your teams, updating policies and preparing for implementation across all affected states.
For additional compliance updates, subscribe to SPARK's Eye on Washington/Legislative email alerts, and register for this complimentary webcast: HR trends and priorities for 2026: Compliance
