May 20, 2026, 02:10 AM by Neil Reichenberg, HRCI Contributing Writer

New workforce development legislation is advancing in the House, while the EEOC details its efforts to implement Administration priorities and federal agencies propose a new rule to expand employer-offered fertility benefits.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved legislation designed to modernize job training programs. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has detailed the steps it has taken to implement the priorities of the Trump Administration. Several federal agencies have issued a proposed rule designed to create a new category of excepted benefits designed to expand the ability of employers to offer fertility benefits to their workers. A House Subcommittee held a hearing on workplace safety.

House Committee Passes Workforce Development Legislation

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce passed "A Stronger Workforce for America Act of 2026," (H.R. 8210) that is designed to modernize job training programs to assist people in obtaining the skills needed for careers. The bill would update the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) that was passed in 2014. Representative Tim Walberg (R-MI), chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee stated, "This bill brings job training into the 21st century, helping more Americans gain real-world skills, find good jobs, and power our economy."

According to the Education and the Workforce Committee, the bill would upgrade the skills of more Americans, deliver greater accountability and program quality, strengthen pathways to economic opportunity, and fuel innovation for a skills-based economy. The bill would align education programs with job training and employer needs. The bill would emphasize upgrading skills by dedicating half of the adult and dislocated worker funding toward upskilling workers through individual training accounts. The bill also would strengthen oversight to ensure that workforce development programs are delivering outcomes for workers and job seekers. Performance indicators would also be updated.

The bill will be considered next by the full House of Representatives.

EEOC Details Efforts to Implement Administration Priorities

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a release detailing its efforts to implement the Administration's priorities. According to the EEOC, it has undertaken "efforts to restore evenhanded enforcement of employment civil rights laws on behalf of all Americans, including by delivering on Administration civil rights enforcement priorities and implementing key deliverables entrusted to the EEOC in 11 different Executive Orders."

In the area of religious discrimination, the EEOC reported that since January 2025, it has filed 16 religious discrimination lawsuits that resulted in recovering over $63 million on behalf of religious workers through public and private pre-litigation voluntary resolutions and litigation settlements. During the last fiscal year, the EEOC obtained over $48 million for religious workers, which was a 146% increase over the previous fiscal year.

The report details the EEOC's efforts concerning DEI-related race and sex discrimination including lawsuits it has filed or settled and developing resources to assist workers and employers to understand, identify, and report DEI-related race and sex discrimination. The EEOC also reported on the steps it has taken to protect workers from anti-American bias that results from preferences for foreign workers. The EEOC has filed several lawsuits, developed new and updated educational materials on national origin discrimination, and partnered with the Labor Department on Project Firewall to combat illegal national origin discrimination against American workers.

The EEOC also identified its work to defend women's sex-based rights at work. These efforts include issuing a federal sector appellate decision recognizing the ability of federal agencies to designate intimate spaces in federal workplaces by sex, rescinding the 2024 Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, which had taken the enforcement position that harassing conduct included denying access to a bathroom consistent with an individual's gender identity, and removing gender ideology from within the EEOC.

Labor Department Issues Rule to Expand Fertility Benefits

The Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a proposed rule that would establish a new category of excepted benefits designed to expand the ability of employers to offer fertility benefits to their employees. According to the DOL, "Though most workers of reproductive age receive healthcare coverage through their jobs, the majority do not have robust fertility coverage." The proposed rule follows the Executive Order, "Expanding Access to In Vitro Fertilization," which was issued in February 2025, and declared that the administration wanted to ensure affordable access to in vitro fertilization. Comments on the proposed rule are due by July 13.

The proposed rule would allow employers to offer fertility benefits as a limited excepted benefit rather than only through major medical coverage. Excepted benefits are usually exempt from the requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), HIPAA, and related laws. Under the proposed rule, substantially all of the benefits must be for diagnosis, mitigation, or treatment of infertility or related reproductive health conditions. The benefits would be capped at a lifetime maximum of up to $120,000 for the participant and their beneficiaries, which would be indexed for plan years beginning after 2028. Employers would be required to post a notice describing the coverage.

House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Workplace Safety

The House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing on "Building a Safer Future: Private-Sector Strategies for Emerging Safety Issues." Representative Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA), chair of the subcommittee stated that the purpose of the hearing was to "examine emerging workplace safety risks and the need for collaborative, practical policymaking to better prevent serious injuries and fatalities in the modern workplace." He noted that the nature of work is always changing but the regulatory framework governing workplace safety has not kept up with the changes. He stressed the need for any workplace safety policies to be developed with input from workers, employers, safety professionals, and experts from industry. The goal is to develop policies, according to Representative Mackenzie that "both protect workers and remain practical, adaptable, and responsive to evolving risks."

Testimony by Lorraine Martin, CEO of the National Safety Council (NSC) highlighted the impact of workplace injuries that resulted in about 4,337 workers dying from preventable injuries in 2024 and almost 4 million suffering injuries requiring medical care. Additionally, she noted that occupational injuries cost the US economy $181.4 billion in 2024. She emphasized the importance of employers focusing on identifying those workplace hazards that could lead to injuries or death and then implementing a "safe and effective method for performing the work while controlling the hazard to the greatest extent possible." She recommended that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) establish a National Emphasis Program (NEP) on Serious Injury and Fatality (SIF) prevention for high-hazard industries like construction, transportation, and warehousing. She supported the use of safety analytics generated by artificial intelligence (AI) to improve job safety.

She stated that "NSC believes employers should proactively identify and reduce workplace stressors, integrate mental health into safety management systems, train leaders, and provide accessible supports and benefits so that prevention, early intervention, and recovery are built into everyday work." She concluded that "Preventing serious injuries and fatalities is within our reach if we modernize how we think about workplace safety, measure risk proactively, and fully leverage innovation, partnerships, industry best practices, and prevention-focused approaches."

Neil Reichenberg is the former executive director of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources. He is an attorney, a frequent writer and speaker on public policy and human resource issues, and an adjunct faculty member at George Mason University. For questions or additional information, contact Reichenberg at neilreichenberg@yahoo.com.