March 10th, 2023 | Sterling

Compliance Recap: Sterling’s Best Blog Posts of 2022

2022 was a transformative year for both candidates and employers, with a new hiring trend popping up every week, it seemed. “The Great Resignation,” was soon followed by an uptick in gig and remote work, soon followed by back-to-the-office mandates. Now the world is seeing added uncertainty in the current macro-economic climate. All throughout the year, HR leaders tirelessly strategized around these trends in a bid to secure top talent.

Last year also saw lots of changes in the HR compliance regulatory landscape, across many different industries and indeed around the world. HR professionals and legal teams have had to keep up-to-date on upcoming legislative changes and the latest developments in several areas including background checks, fair chance, ban-the-box, marijuana laws, and more.

What were the biggest trends impacting your industry in 2022? Let’s take a look back at Sterling’s blog posts on the compliance topics that were top of mind and which will continue to shape hiring practices in 2023.

Compliance Goes Global

Compliance concerns expanded to a global scale for many employers in 2022. The rise of contingent (as-needed) work models prompted many employers to consider hiring international workforces, but naturally this also comes with its own unique and stringent compliance responsibilities. Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is just one example, among many others, of which employers need to be aware before looking to hire international candidates.

We addressed this growing trend in our August compliance blog, Navigating International Compliance in Hiring. We discussed how companies can “go global” with their hiring programs by understanding the latest regulatory updates and guidance. In the blog you’ll also find a link to our on-demand webinar covering the top legal requirements in the countries in which you may be looking to operate.

The State of Drug & Health Screening

2022 also saw the approval and enactment of legislation focusing on marijuana testing in the workplace. As our blog posts reveal, drug laws don’t just vary from state to state, but among counties and even specific cities. We helped compliance professionals identify these landmark laws in our October blog post, California Passes Legislation Bill 2188 Protecting Employees’ Off-Duty Marijuana Use.

Marijuana laws aren’t the only concern for compliance teams to consider, since certain states have introduced their own standards impacting the hiring process itself. In New York, for example, the Department of Labor has emphasized that, now that marijuana is legal for adults over the age of 21, employers cannot discriminate based on marijuana use if it takes place outside working hours and when it does not involve use of the employer’s equipment or property. Similarly, Philadelphia enacted a new law on January 1, 2022 prohibiting employers or agencies acting on an employer’s behalf from requiring a pre-employment drug test for marijuana.

Learn more about 2022’s most important drug law updates: 

We also helped candidates to answer some of their most common questions surrounding drug screening, addressing them in our blog post, How Can Your Employment Drug Test Go Smoothly?

Privacy Laws to Keep Top-of-Mind

Privacy is always a chief concern of corporate HR compliance teams, and 2022 was no exception. We took a sweeping look at the most impactful privacy trends in our year-opener blog, Trends in US Privacy Laws: What Will 2022 Bring?

We also updated our readers on international privacy regulations such as the UK’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in our July blog post, Navigating International Compliance. Our EMEA compliance experts continue to watch this and other international developments to help employers adhere to global hiring compliance regulations.

Fair Chance Hiring: Ban-the-Box, Clean Slate, Adverse Action

Criminal background checks continue to be a common compliance issue for employers in 2023. HR professionals wanting a quick overview can brush up in our November blog post, What Is the “Clean Slate” Law Movement? Last year we also outlined the newest developments in The Recent Evolution of Ban the Box/Fair Chance Laws. Compliance leaders looking for a helpful tool can find it in our Adverse Action Checklist blog post and can also download the checklist. 

Artificial Intelligence in Hiring

Finally, 2022 also saw legislative leaps in the field of AI (Artificial Intelligence), specifically regarding its use in hiring decisions. Addressing concerns about possible hiring bias, the White House released its Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. This was just one of many regulatory attempts to define and restrict employers’ use of AI to make hiring decisions. Our compliance team’s blog post spotted several important trends worth watching for employers and hiring teams: The Emergence of Federal and State Focus on Employer Use of Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic Automation in Hiring.

Closing Thoughts

2022 was filled with compliance trends to stay on top of, and Sterling’s global compliance team continues to help navigate the sometimes tricky landscape. What can we expect for 2023? The team recently hosted a webinar on the top trends to look out for in 2023, and you can read up on what was discussed here: 4 Compliance Legislative Trends to Watch in 2023.

For ongoing compliance blogs, updates, webinars, and more, visit Sterling’s Compliance Hub and sign up for the Compliance Roundup newsletter.

Sterling is not a law firm. This publication is for informational purposes only and nothing contained in it should be construed as legal advice. We expressly disclaim any warranty or responsibility for damages arising out this information. We encourage you to consult with legal counsel regarding your specific needs. We do not undertake any duty to update previously posted materials.

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