HR and future of work · Industry brief

In 2025, more than 5,700 new FLSA violation lawsuits were filed in federal court as remote work, always-on technology, and state wage-hour laws have intensified compliance challenges. Common violations include employee misclassification as exempt (the three white-collar exemptions require salary basis at minimum $684 per week), off-clock work that accumulates through VPN logins and after-hours emails, meal break shortcuts where unpaid breaks must completely relieve duty, overtime calculation errors involving non-discretionary bonuses and commissions, remote work blind spots spanning multi-state employee locations, and misclassification of independent contractors. Employers face exposure to back wages, liquidated damages equaling unpaid amounts, and attorneys' fees that may exceed employee recovery, with collective actions multiplying exposure across affected workers. Compliance strategies include periodic exemption classification reviews, current timekeeping and payroll policies with manager training, exception-reporting systems for missed meals, and audits against state requirements in California, Illinois, New York and other jurisdictions beyond federal FLSA minimums. Source: JD Supra legal news (employment law publication).

In 2026, at least seven biopharma companies involved in recent mergers and acquisitions have announced workforce reductions totaling over 1,300 jobs, according to BioSpace. The largest cuts followed BioNTech's $1.25 billion acquisition of CureVac (820 layoffs), Sanofi's $9.5 billion acquisition of Blueprint Medicines (229 layoffs in Cambridge), Gilead's $7.8 billion acquisition of Arcellx (192 layoffs), and Biogen's $5.6 billion acquisition of Apellis Pharmaceuticals. Other affected deals include BioMarin's $4.8 billion acquisition of Amicus Therapeutics (58 layoffs), Novartis's $1.4 billion acquisition of Tourmaline Bio (60 layoffs with facility closure), and MindMaze's reverse merger with Relief Therapeutics. The layoffs were disclosed through Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices filed in various states, sometimes within days or weeks of deal closure. M&A activity in the sector has accelerated significantly, with 52 deals in the first half of 2026 compared to 32 in the same period of 2025, suggesting additional workforce reductions may follow (BioSpace, August 2026).

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development in Saudi Arabia announced updated compliance requirements for employment contracts through the Qiwa platform, raising the target documentation rate to 85% by April 30, 2026, with a second phase reaching 90% by June 30, 2026. The compliance rate is calculated by comparing documented contracts to total employee contracts at each establishment. The ministry stated the update aims to enhance labor regulation compliance, increase transparency, and protect contractual rights, while cautioning that non-compliance could affect access to services linked to compliance indicators. (Source: Saudi Press Agency, April 12, 2026)