HR and future of work · Industry brief

The New York State Legislature has passed Senate Bill S3460, which would create the first statewide right for current and former employees to access their personnel records, pending Governor Kathy Hochul's signature. The bill establishes significant new employer obligations: providing personnel records within five business days of written request at no cost, allowing two requests per calendar year, notifying employees within 10 days when negative information is added to files, permitting written rebuttals, retaining records for at least three years post-employment, and prohibiting retaliation. Employers would face a 60-day compliance deadline if enacted, requiring review of document storage across paper and electronic systems, development of request response procedures, and staff training on the new requirements. This represents one of the most significant changes to New York employment recordkeeping requirements in years. Source: Underberg & Kessler LLP Labor & Employment practice.

Cross-border industrial M&A activity is reshoring as a valuation driver rather than a risk mitigation strategy. PwC reports US-targeted cross-border deal value nearly doubled to $72 billion in FY25, with average industrial deal size rising 139% over two years from $155 million to $375 million, driven by tariff exposure, supply chain reconfiguration, and geopolitical premiums on domestic manufacturing capacity in strategic categories like semiconductors and defense. This shift means diligence now centers on government contracts, local content requirements, workforce agreements, and site-level capital commitments—categories previously peripheral to valuations—with sellers who can cleanly evidence these factors capturing premium multiples while others risk valuation compression during diligence.