The way people work and the laws that govern employment have changed drastically in recent decades. The implementation of the remote work mode, digital communication tools, and AI have opened up many possibilities for employees. Still, they have also made employers face the need to reconsider the rules workers are expected to follow in the workplace. No matter how hard LinkedIn influencers try to persuade their audiences the working environment will return to “normal,” we need to accept that work relationships have changed, and only those who adapt will survive in the market.

In This Article:

What Employment Law Looks Like Now

For centuries, all work-related regulations were formulated by and for employers because they were the ones who paid taxes, established working conditions, and had the power to promote or leave a person jobless. However, now, employment laws spell out the rights and duties of both parties. They protect workers, covering things like pay, discrimination, and safety at work, and give employers clear instructions on how they must build relationships within the company.

Has technology impacted these laws? Actually, it changes them all the time. The implementation of every innovation requires the labor environment to adapt and meet the new needs of employees.

As companies all over the globe allowed a remote work mode, there arose a need for clear work-from-home policies that could guarantee the employee’s location could not impact their wages, working hours, and career opportunities. In other words, such laws must guarantee a boss will not force their employees to do extra work for less money just because they work from home.
Freelancers who do not have a specific employee but collaborate with several also often find themselves out of the labor legislation. While those workers who have employee benefit plans can be sure they will have retirement plans, health insurance, and pensions, their self-employed colleagues have none of it.

Though several states, like New York City and New Jersey, have passed local laws that require all employers to have written contracts with freelancers and presuppose fines for late payments, there are no such regulations functioning on the state level. Therefore, the only option freelancers have is to find an experienced ERISA lawyer in their area and explore the available labor law protection options in a specific state. For this, one should use reliable legal directories that list only certified professionals.

The introduction of AI has also brought new legal concerns. How can employees maintain privacy when all their actions are controlled by time and productivity tracking tools and their personal information is available in a dozen programs? So, another issue that needs to be regulated is data safety and privacy maintenance at the workplace.

The problems mentioned above are just a few on the long list of issues that have to be addressed by labor law. Unfortunately, the legal system responds to any changes slower than the market adapts them, and the uncertainty it triggers harms all parties involved in the working process.

The Future of Employment Law

The spreading popularity of digital platforms work has already triggered changes in the USA legislation. In particular, the key legal updates will concern the following issues:

Federal gig worker protection

According to a Pew Research study (2021), about 16% of Americans earn money through gig platforms. However, at the federal level, most of them do not have any labor rights protection.

In 2024, the U.S. The Department of Labor finally released a final rule that established clear criteria for classifying independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act. According to it, workers can be classified as employees or independent contractors based on these factors:

Control;
Opportunity for profit or loss;
Investments;
Employer dependency;
Length of the working relationship;
Importance of the work to the business.

After it, many companies were forced to reclassify many workers and acknowledge them to be employees rather than contractors minimum wage, and, consequently, guarantee them minimum salary, overtime pay, and benefits.

The implementation of this law, though it forced employers to reconsider their attitude toward gig workers, still has not solved all the problems of the latter, such as insurance, pensions, paid vacations, and fair payment. So, as the number of freelancers is likely to grow, the government will have to solve this problem in the next few years.

2. Regulations on workplace surveillance

By allowing employees to work remotely, many companies felt the urge for stronger, sometimes even excessive, control of all working processes. Now, approximately 60% of large companies use tracking software to monitor productivity. Some states have already introduced drafts of future regulations to control workplace surveillance, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act and the Workplace Technology Accountability Act. Once they are enacted, one can expect similar proposals to be discussed at the federal level.

3. AI in hiring and employment decisions

The use of artificial intelligence is a tricky topic in many environments, and the labor market is no exception. Many companies have started using AI-based tools for the hiring and workplace assessment process. In particular, they make computers choose CVs only of applicants that meet certain requirements.

At first sight, it seems to be a wise and efficient solution, but there’s a problem. Some AI hiring systems demonstrate bias against women and minority applicants, which is discrimination.

To regulate the issue, the Algorithmic Accountability Act has been introduced. It specifies how AI-powered tools can be used for hiring, promotions, and workplace assessments so that they do not restrict the rights of certain groups for work.

4. Right to disconnect

At a certain moment, work-from-home turned into 24/7 work. Employers expect that employees will reply to emails, answer phone calls, and meet tough deadlines day and night just because their workplace is not far from their sofa.

To stop it, some states, like New York and California, have suggested bills that prohibit employers from asking employees to answer job-related emails or messages after their work hours are over. This is expected to lower the level of burnout and help people maintain work-life balance without feeling pressure from employers.

5. Federal data protection laws

As companies use more tools for data collection, such as biometric scanning and keystroke tracking, workers get worried about excessive monitoring. Currently, there is no law that limits how employers collect, store, and share employee personal data and, consequently, protects workers’ privacy. However, the American Data Privacy Protection Act, if implemented, is likely to solve this problem. Currently, it exists in the form of a draft that needs improvement.

The labor market is dynamic, and it should respond to the changes in the workforce environment just like it responds to economic transformations. Remorse work, a growing number of gig workers, implementation of AI in hiring processes, and time tracking — all these issues should be clearly regulated by the law. Otherwise, discrimination, burnout, and lack of security will turn work relationships into complete chaos. More than that, they will roll society back to the times when employees needed to fight for their basic labor rights. Hopefully, the government and employers realize it and respond to the changes quicker than it happens.