Laborsphere

2026 Colorado Employment Law: What’s New, What’s Next, and What to Do About It

Colorado’s 2026 legislative session produced significant employment law changes spanning workers’ compensation, identification document protections, workplace safety, demographic data reporting, and AI-driven decision-making. Some requirements are already in effect, while others phase in through 2027 and 2028. Employers should review the effective dates and begin assessing whether any new notice, reporting, or policy updates are required.

To view the full alert, visit the Faegre Drinker website.

The FAIRNESS Act, Indiana’s New Immigration Law with a July 1, 2026, Deadline for Employers

Effective July 1, in Indiana it is unlawful for an employer to knowingly or intentionally recruit, hire, or continue to employ an individual who is not authorized to work in the United States. While the prohibition does not apply to hiring or recruitment that occurred before July 1, employers have an obligation to terminate any employee hired before July 1 who is known to lack lawful work authorization. We suggest practical next steps for Indiana employers.

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House Advances Bill to Impose 90 Day Deadline to Reach First Labor Contracts

On average, the timeline for reaching an initial collective bargaining agreement averages around 461 days. Employers that are facing or anticipating organizing campaigns should be ready to evaluate their labor relations strategies in light of this development, as enactment would dramatically compress the window available to negotiate first contracts.

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New Pay Reporting Requirements for New York City Employers

New York City enacted two new pay data reporting laws for the purposes of collecting demographic and occupational information to use for pay equity studies of the private workforce to identify potential pay disparities. That annual reporting obligation could commence as early as 2027, and could conceivably require reporting of 2026 pay data. New York City’s pay data collection and audits follows similar efforts already in place in California, Illinois, Massachusetts and adopted by the EU Pay Transparency Directive.

At a Glance

Private employers with at least 200 employees in New York City will be required to report pay data each year to the city’s designated agency. The city’s mayor must identify the designated agency by December 4, 2026 (no agency has been identified yet).
A standardized form developed by the designated agency will request pay data broken down by job category, gender, race and ethnicity for 12 compensation bands (modeled after the EEO-1 Component 2 reports). The designated agency must develop and publish the standardized form by December 4, 2027 (no form has been developed yet).
The designated agency will annually review the submitted pay data and publish a public pay study report identifying disparities in compensation based on gender, race, and ethnicity and recommending actions for private employers to address those disparities.

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Australia’s Fair Work Commission Guidance for Use of Generative AI

On March 24, 2026, Australia’s Fair Work Commission (FWC or Commission) moved to formalize its stance on the use of artificial intelligence by publishing an exposure draft of its proposed Guidance Note: Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Commission Cases.

The draft guidance note acknowledges that GenAI tools may be used to assist litigants to produce applications, responses, submissions, witness statements, and other documents for submission to the Commission. However, it also warns that information generated by these tools may be incomplete, inaccurate, or fabricated. President Justice A Hatcher’s statement accompanying the guidance note explains that the draft aims to address the increase in the Commission’s workload due to the use of GenAI tools by potential litigants.

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Key Developments in Mexico: Updates to the Workweek and Overtime

On March 3, 2026, Mexico published a decree reforming its constitution to gradually reduce the workweek from 48 hours to 40 hours. The reform seeks to reduce employee fatigue and occupational accidents by increasing rest time.

As of January 1, 2027, the work schedule will be gradually reduced by two hours, eventually reaching a maximum of 40 hours per week in 2030. The reduction in workweek hours will be implemented as follows:

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