Blog - Month: December 2025
Businesses Scramble to Comply with EEOC’s New Playbook
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has rolled out the most dramatic shift in its enforcement posture in decades, narrowing some protections and targeting others, especially around disparate impact, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and gender identity.
Also, with the confirmation of Commissioner Brittany Bull Panuccio in October 2025, the EEOC once again has a voting quorum. Her addition gives the new Republican majority the opportunity to rewrite guidance, revise strategic enforcement plans and launch higher-profile litigation aligned with the administration’s executive orders.
The new enforcement focus, initiated by a series of executive orders by President Trump, stands in contrast to established federal law, opening firms up to litigation by employees that runs counter to EEOC enforcement priorities.
DEI programs under a sharper lens
This year, the EEOC has trained its focus on what it describes as “unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination.” Programs that once were framed as inclusion efforts are now being scrutinized for potential reverse discrimination.
That includes:
- Mentorship, sponsorship and leadership programs limited to certain demographic groups.
- “Women only” or “underrepresented only” events and resource group activities.
- Hiring, promotion or internship pipelines that expressly prefer certain races or genders.
- Diversity metrics that function more like quotas than broad and aspirational goals.
Gender identity policies
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas has directed agency lawyers to back away from gender identity litigation and to revisit harassment guidance that spells out protections for transgender employees.
Bathrooms, locker rooms and pronoun policies are likely flashpoints. Employers that wish to maintain strong protections for transgender and nonbinary workers may need to rely more heavily on state law, company values and reputational concerns as their guideposts.
These new policies put employers in a bind. Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination, which covers sexual orientation and gender identity, still stands and many states explicitly protect those groups.
Employers that scale back protections to comply with the new federal posture may reduce the chance of an EEOC probe but increase exposure to private lawsuits, state agency enforcement and reputational damage.
How employers can respond
Audit DEI and talent programs — Inventory all DEI initiatives, resource groups, mentorships and pipelines. Strip out eligibility rules tied to race, sex or national origin. Reframe programs around equal access and business needs.
Refresh public and internal statements — Review diversity pledges, representation goals and reporting. Avoid language that can be read as promising preferences. Emphasize fair processes, bias reduction and inclusion.
Map gender identity and facility policies to actual law — Chart federal, state and local requirements for every location. Where you maintain sex-specific facilities, consider options like single-user restrooms and clear procedures for handling complaints.
Boost religious accommodation practices — Ensure there is a clear, documented process for addressing religious objections, including objections to DEI content or pronoun expectations. Train managers to respond promptly and consistently.
Keep doing adverse impact reviews — Even if the EEOC is stepping back, continue to test hiring tools, promotion systems and layoff criteria for disproportionate effects on protected groups.
Invest in investigation capability — Make sure complaint procedures, investigation protocols and documentation would hold up under scrutiny from private plaintiffs, state agencies or the EEOC under its new priorities.
Takeaway
Finally, ensure that your business secures an employment practices liability policy, which can protect your firm from employee-initiated actions like discrimination or harassment complaints.
These policies can cover court costs, attorneys’ fees, discovery expenses, settlements or judgments and other related costs.
Construction Industry Risks Evolve, Creating Unique Challenges
As the construction industry continues to rebound from the recession, contractors face evolving risks that, left unchecked, can leave their operations exposed to new liabilities.
If you already operate a construction firm, you know that there is a labor shortage that has affected the makeup of your workforce, and that hiring entities are asking builders to take on more of the design function as well. Finally, construction firms must contend with cyber-security risks if they are using technology in their operations.
Accounting for these risks in your risk management strategy as well as ensuring you have the proper insurance coverage is key to protecting your firm from these evolving risks. Here’s a deep dive into three of those risks.
Lack of qualified workers
The construction industry has been wrestling with a labor shortage since before the COVID-19 pandemic, a shortage that’s been exacerbated by the immigration raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2025.
Approximately 439,000 new workers are needed by the construction industry in 2025 to meet demand and potentially 499,000 in 2026, according to Associated Builders and Contractors.
Now, as home construction starts growing again, many contractors are having a hard time finding qualified workers, as well as project managers, engineers and estimators. That means workers are likely taking on greater workloads, which puts them at risk of injury or making mistakes. It also means longer project times.
Also, contractors have more inexperienced workers in their ranks who are not as aware of workplace safety and lack the experience to identify hazards, which puts them and others at risk of injury.
Professional liability risks
As more project owners want an all-in-one job with the lead contractors designing and building the project, those construction firms now face a new type of risk: professional liability.
The problem is that the typical contractor’s insurance policy doesn’t provide protection for any design work they may take on. If they do design a project, even partially, they’re not absolved of liability if they farm the actual construction work out to a subcontractor.
Courts have found that designers who cross over and perform traditional “builder activities” lose any limitation of liability traditionally enjoyed by design professionals. Builders who cross over and perform “design activities” assume responsibility for design deficiencies and can no longer push that liability to the design professional.
Cyber-security risks emerge
Like all industries, the construction sector has grown increasingly reliant on technology to get the job done. There are numerous solutions in the market that can help optimize workflows and save companies time and money.
While a construction firm is likely not going to keep clients’ credit card information on its website or databases (data that hackers drool over), they do keep confidential information on project designs as well as on employee records.
Recently, a contractor foreman stepped away from his work-issued laptop at a café and upon returning saw that it had been stolen. The laptop contained confidential company information and building information, like modeling construction and design methods.
More building contracts today include confidentiality agreements that require the contractor to be responsible for potential breaches associated with their activities, and that was the case in this instance.
While it was unclear if vital company secrets were exposed, the breach required that the owner’s 2,300 current and former employees be notified that their personal information may have been exposed.
Under the terms of their contract, the contractor was also obligated to pay for credit monitoring to all those employees for a year.
There was no indication that the information was ever exposed, but the notification costs and credit monitoring cost the company $25,000 out of pocket.
The takeaway
As contractors’ risks evolve, it’s important that you discuss any changes to your operations when we are helping you renew your insurance policies. We can help you discern if you need additional coverages like cyber and professional liability to ensure that these risks are covered.
Keeping it Safe, and Limiting Liability During Holidays
With year-end festivities about to begin, you should include safety into your holiday plans, be that if you are simply decorating the office or throwing a holiday/year-end party for your staff.
While you obviously want your staff to relax and have fun at your holiday party, you also want to make sure they get home safely and that nobody gets hurt or sick at your party.
Some of your safety priorities should be
- Liquor consumption,
- Safety on the premises of your party, and
- Food-borne illnesses.
Due to their infrequent nature, the liability risks of company-sponsored holiday events are often overlooked. To ensure the health and well-being of all who attend, it is important to be aware of any potential liability concerns that your company may face if the event doesn’t go exactly as planned.
Safety
While you want your staff to enjoy themselves, safety should still be your top priority during the holidays.
Keep in mind that if someone trips and injures themselves on an extension cord for your holiday lighting or other holiday decorations, it would be considered work-related and could possibly be subject to workers’ compensation. The same may hold true for injuries sustained at work parties as well. Consider the following:
- If you are holding a party at outside your office, inspect the venue first to make sure it meets your safety standards. Some things to keep an eye out for include: exits emergency lighting, and flooring that might prevent slips and falls, particularly if there is a chance of bad weather.
- Keep an eye on the weather forecast and if storms are looming on the date of your party. Consider the effects that weather may have on safe travel to and from the party.
- Do you need security?
- If party-goers are leaving at night, make sure nobody has to walk out alone in the dark to their car for safety reasons.
- Use food safety best practices like keeping hot foods warm and covered and not leaving perishable food out for too long to reduce the chance of someone getting a food-borne illness.
- Have an emergency plan in case someone is injured or needs medical assistance. Know where the closest hospital is and if anyone knows how to use a defibrillator or can perform CPR.
Risk and potential liabilities
You’ll want to minimize the chances of being sued for actions related to the event.
- Prior to the event, remind your employees that rules against harassment, discrimination and conduct apply at the event as well and infractions will be dealt with as you normally would.
- Monitor behavior at the event, as if people are drinking, they may act in ways that they normally wouldn’t. Take prompt action if any activity or behavior exceeds acceptable bounds.
- Make the event optional for your workers and let them know that it won’t reflect poorly on their performance evaluation, advancement potential or job security if they don’t’ attend. Emphasize this in all invitations and announcements should emphasize this point.
- Limit alcohol consumption.
- Avoiding activities or items such as mistletoe or inappropriate music that could lead to physical contact, unwanted social pressure or inappropriate conversation.
- Taking complaints that stem from the party seriously. As you would with any other incident, document, investigate and take appropriate action.
Alcohol
Some companies have recognized the liability exposure that alcohol represents and have chosen to hold holiday events free of beer, wine, or liquor. If it will be served, there are some important considerations that can help to limit potential problems:
- Hold the event at an off-site location and hire professional bartenders who have their own insurance and are certified for alcohol service. Speak with the vendor to determine what protocols it uses to keep from serving minors and others who are visibly intoxicated.
- Provide an array of choices of non-alcoholic beverages.
- Don’t have an open bar. Instead hand out a set amount of drink tickets to control consumption (two is usually a standard amount).
- Stop serving alcohol at least an hour before the event ends.
- Give a supervisor or manager the authority to cut off anyone who is intoxicated.
- Provide alternative transportation that may include free cab or Uber rides.
A word about insurance
Make sure you that any vendors you use, carry insurance. Insist on seeing the certificates of insurance with sufficient coverage and liability limits for:
- Catering firms,
- Bartending firms,
- Facilities, or
- Entertainers should be required to produce
When reviewing rental contracts, be sure to note any hold harmless or indemnity agreements that could release the vendor from liability and instead hold your company responsible for losses from situations over which you have no control.
Also, talk to us to make sure that your own insurance policies cover any mishaps that may occur at your company event.