The employment landscape continues to evolve rapidly, bringing significant changes to hiring laws and regulations. As we navigate through 2025, employers must stay informed about new requirements that affect their hiring practices, from pay transparency to worker classification. This comprehensive guide breaks down the most important hiring law updates you need to know.
In this blog post, we’ll tell you about new hiring law trends that may spark changes for employers across the country.
Changes to Hiring Law You Should Know About
Pay Transparency Requirements
Pay transparency is now a fundamental aspect of contemporary hiring practices. In states like Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Vermont, employers are mandated to reveal salary ranges in job advertisements. This change marks a crucial step towards achieving wage equality and fosters a more open hiring process.
Companies operating in these states must:
- Include clear salary ranges in all job postings
- Provide compensation information during the hiring process
- Maintain documentation of how salary ranges are determined
Minimum Wage Updates and Their Impact
The push for higher minimum wages continues to gain momentum across the country. Many states are implementing staged increases toward a $15 per hour standard, with some localities already exceeding this benchmark. These changes require employers to:
- Review and adjust their current wage structures
- Update payroll systems to reflect new minimum requirements
- Consider the impact on existing employee compensation
The Evolving Landscape of Non-Compete Agreements
Non-compete agreements face increasing scrutiny, with some states implementing outright bans. Employers should:
- Review existing non-compete agreements for enforceability
- Consider alternative methods to protect business interests
- Stay informed about state-specific restrictions
- Monitor federal developments regarding potential nationwide limitations
Worker Classification Guidelines
The distinction between employees and independent contractors remains a critical focus, especially in states like California. Employers must:
- Carefully review worker classifications
- Update independent contractor agreements
- Ensure compliance with state-specific tests
- Monitor federal classification guidelines
Georgia’s Second Chance Law
Georgia is the second most hostile state in the country for people convicted of a crime. The state has 4.2 million people with criminal records, which constitutes over one-third of the state’s population. According to the Georgia Justice Project, those folks with criminal backgrounds have a much higher unemployment rate than the rest of the state (15%) compared to the state average (3.4% pre-pandemic).
In an effort to correct this situation, Georgia enacted the Second Chance Law, SB-88, which went into effect in January 2021. The law gives people with criminal convictions the ability to seal their records for specific non-violent misdemeanor and felony charges following lawful behavior. “We've run into this issue all of the time and it's affecting whole communities. Everyone in Georgia knows someone who was incarcerated and is struggling to find housing or a job," said the executive director of the Georgia Justice Project in response to the bill.
While laws like these are important for granting people with criminal backgrounds a chance at employment, employers should also be navigating criminal background checks with similar discretion even without a legal standard. Knowing when to overlook criminal backgrounds can give employers a hiring edge while avoiding reinforcing systemic discrimination, primarily against people of color. Criminal background checks should be approached with a relational mindset where employers seek to understand the context and person behind the record. In most cases, having legal system history should not be the sole factor preventing employment consideration or hire.
Companies should let forward-thinking, ethical laws--regardless of their applied jurisdictions--guide company policies. Employers who stay aware of labor laws and ethics and address issues proactively ahead of legislation in their own states can build outstanding workplaces that attract quality teams. Looking at what trends and patterns are occurring will bolster companies’ ability to address inequities head-on and likely draw stronger job recruits in the process.
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