Federal Employment Laws on the PHR: Thresholds, Deadlines and What Changed in 2025–2026

Federal law runs through the PHR, but the outline names only a few laws. HRCI's 2024 outline points to Title VII, disparate impact, the FLSA and independent contractors in hiring, to "US federally compliant" pay and benefits in Total Rewards, and to OSHA, workers' compensation and union and nonunion workplaces in Employee and Labor Relations. The tables below are Passy's map of the main federal laws onto those areas. Each figure comes from the statute, the regulation on eCFR or the enforcing agency's own page, checked on October 28, 2026, and each 2025–2026 change is given with its date and status. This is exam preparation, not legal advice: for a decision at work, use the agency's current guidance, check state law, and ask an employment attorney.

What HRCI says about laws on the PHR

The PHR exam content outline has a box headed "If laws change": candidates "are responsible for knowing the HR laws and regulations that are in effect at the time of their exam." HRCI's certification handbook repeats the rule under "Employment Law Changes." Neither document sets a grace period after a change, so the date that counts is your test date, not the date your book was printed.

The outline mentions law in these responsibilities:

• 2.1 (Workforce Planning and Talent Acquisition): apply U.S. federal laws in hiring, with Title VII, nepotism, disparate impact, the FLSA and independent contractors as examples
• 4.4 (Total Rewards): keep compensation and benefit programs U.S. federally compliant, including pay equity
• 6.1, 6.2 and 6.5 (Employee and Labor Relations): apply U.S. federal laws to inclusion programs, to health, safety, security and privacy (OSHA, workers' compensation, legal postings, investigations), and to union and nonunion workplaces (antidiscrimination policies, harassment)

Business Management (1.3) adds compliance audits and safety risks, and Employee Engagement (5.4) covers involuntary separations and reductions in force, where several of the laws below come into play.

For a 2027 test date, the PHR page announces no new outline as of October 28, 2026, and HRCI's exam development page says it gives "several months of advance notice" of outline changes. Plan on the 2024 outline unless HRCI announces a replacement, and on the federal law in force on your exam day.

Anti-discrimination laws on the PHR: coverage by employer size

The EEOC's small business requirements page sorts federal anti-discrimination coverage by headcount:

The EEOC says a business is covered by most federal employment discrimination laws if it has or had "at least 15 employees for at least 20 calendar weeks this year or last year," and full-time, part-time, seasonal and temporary workers all count. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, in effect since June 27, 2023, also applies at 15 employees and requires reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions unless they cause undue hardship, according to the EEOC.

Two more numbers from the same area:

• EEO-1 reports. Private employers covered by Title VII with 100 or more employees must file an EEO-1 report each year (29 CFR 1602.7). EEOC pages also list federal contractors with at least 50 employees and $50,000 in contracts, citing Executive Order 11246 and 41 CFR 60-1.7 as the authority. Both have since been revoked or rescinded (see the affirmative action section below), and DOL says its rescission doesn't affect the EEOC's own EEO-1 actions. On July 23, 2026, the EEOC proposed rescinding the EEO-1 and its other EEO reports. Comments closed August 24, 2026, and no final rule had been published as of October 28, 2026.
• Age waivers in separations. For an ADEA waiver to be knowing and voluntary, the employee must get at least 21 days to consider it (45 days in a group exit or termination program) and at least 7 days after signing to revoke it (29 CFR 1625.22).

Disparate impact and the four-fifths rule after the 2025–2026 changes

Title VII's disparate-impact provision, added in 1991, is 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(k). A violation is established when a complaining party shows that a particular employment practice causes a disparate impact on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and the employer fails to show the practice is "job related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity." It is also established when the complaining party demonstrates an alternative employment practice and the employer refuses to adopt it. For age, the EEOC's test is whether a practice is based on "a reasonable factor other than age."

The classic screen is the four-fifths rule in the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. A selection rate for any race, sex or ethnic group below four-fifths (80%) of the highest group's rate "will generally be regarded" by federal enforcement agencies as evidence of adverse impact (29 CFR 1607.4(D)). Example: if 60 of 100 men are hired (60%) and 18 of 40 women (45%), the ratio is 45 ÷ 60 = 75%, below 80%. The same paragraph says smaller differences can still count when they are statistically and practically significant, and larger ones may not when the numbers are small.

Federal enforcement of this area changed:

• April 23, 2025: Executive Order 14281 directs agencies to "deprioritize enforcement of all statutes and regulations to the extent they include disparate-impact liability," naming 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2.
• June 9, 2026: a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion written for the EEOC chair concluded that the EEOC's existing interpretations, including the Uniform Guidelines, "embrace an unconstitutional reading of Title VII." OPM's July 31, 2026 rule describes OLC's conclusions as "binding within the Executive Branch."
• July 31, 2026: OPM removed references to the Uniform Guidelines from federal civil-service regulations (interim final rule).
• October 26, 2026: DOL's copy of the Uniform Guidelines, 41 CFR part 60-3, was rescinded along with its Executive Order 11246 rules. DOL says this doesn't affect other agencies' use of the Guidelines.
• Still codified on October 26, 2026: the EEOC's copy at 29 CFR part 1607, four-fifths rule included.

The order and the opinion change how federal agencies enforce the law; neither rewrites 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(k), the provision the opinion interprets. The outline still lists disparate impact, so learn the statutory framework and the four-fifths arithmetic, know that federal enforcement policy changed, and check that 29 CFR part 1607 is still on eCFR shortly before your exam.

Affirmative action after Executive Order 11246

Executive Order 11246 was the basis for the federal contractor affirmative action rules in 41 CFR part 60-2 and the construction contractor rules in part 60-4. That framework is gone:

• January 21, 2025: Executive Order 14173 revoked Executive Order 11246.
• July 6, 2026: the EEOC rescinded its guidelines on affirmative action appropriate under Title VII (29 CFR part 1608).
• October 26, 2026: DOL's final rule rescinding the EO 11246 regulations took effect. On eCFR, 41 CFR parts 60-1 through 60-4 are now reserved, which removes the affirmative action program rules in part 60-2 and the contractor EEO-1 rule in 60-1.7.

Two statutes still require written affirmative action programs (AAPs), enforced by DOL's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs:

Both sets of rules were revised effective September 21, 2026. The Section 503 rules no longer include the invitation to self-identify or the 7% utilization goal: 41 CFR 60-741.42 and 60-741.45 now read "Reserved." The VEVRAA contract threshold rose from $150,000 to $200,000 on October 1, 2025, through an inflation adjustment.

Pay, hours and leave: the Total Rewards and engagement laws

Two cautions. First, the FLSA's white-collar exemptions need both a salary test and a duties test. The executive exemption requires a salary of at least $684 a week, a primary duty of management, regular direction of two or more employees, and hiring and firing authority or recommendations given particular weight (29 CFR 541.100). Also, "a job title alone is insufficient to establish the exempt status of an employee" (29 CFR 541.2). A book that gives $844 or $1,128 a week is teaching DOL's 2024 rule, which federal courts vacated in November and December 2024. DOL restored the earlier text, with $684, on May 15, 2026.

Second, independent contractor status, which the outline names, is still moving:

• In the CFR now: DOL's 2024 rule (29 CFR part 795, effective March 11, 2024). It asks whether a worker is "economically dependent on the potential employer for work or in business for themself," and says labeling employees as independent contractors doesn't remove FLSA protections (29 CFR 795.105).
• How it's applied: DOL's Fact Sheet #13 says the 2024 rule "remains in effect for purposes of private litigation" and points to Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-1 (May 1, 2025) for the Wage and Hour Division's enforcement position.
• Proposed: a rule published February 27, 2026 would replace that analysis with the one from DOL's January 7, 2021 rule, with modifications, and apply it to the FMLA too. Comments closed April 28, 2026, and DOL's rulemaking page listed no final rule as of October 28, 2026. If a final rule takes effect before your exam, it's the one in effect.

These are the numbers that are easiest to mix up under time pressure, and the threshold flashcards planned for PHR prep cover figures like FMLA's 1,250 hours for that reason.

Hiring and separations: Form I-9 and WARN

• Form I-9. The employee completes Section 1 at the time of hire. The employer must examine the documents and complete Section 2 "within three business days of the hire." Keep the form for three years after the hire date or one year after employment ends, whichever is later (8 CFR 274a.2).
• WARN. The Act covers employers with 100 or more employees, not counting part-time employees, or 100 or more employees including part-timers who together work at least 4,000 hours a week excluding overtime (20 CFR 639.3). A covered employer planning a plant closing or mass layoff must give affected employees at least 60 days' notice, and not every closing or layoff meets the thresholds (20 CFR 639.2).

A reduction in force can bring several of these rules into one decision: WARN notice timing, ADEA waiver periods for workers 40 and older, and COBRA for anyone losing coverage. Working through mixed scenarios like that is the point of planned PHR practice that explains the law or HR practice behind each answer.

Safety and injury: OSHA reporting and workers' compensation

• Severe injury reporting. Report a work-related fatality to OSHA within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours (29 CFR 1904.39).
• Recordkeeping. A company with 10 or fewer employees at all times during the last calendar year generally doesn't need to keep OSHA injury and illness records, but it must still report the severe incidents above (29 CFR 1904.1). Employers that keep records must save the OSHA 300 Log, privacy case list, annual summary and 301 forms for five years after the end of the year they cover (29 CFR 1904.33).
• Workers' compensation. DOL sends workers injured at private companies or state and local government agencies to their state workers' compensation board. DOL's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs runs four federal programs for federal workers and certain other groups.

Labor relations: NLRA Section 7 in union and nonunion workplaces

Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act gives employees the right "to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively," to "engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection," and to refrain from those activities (29 U.S.C. 157). The rights belong to employees and include the right to form a union, so they apply before any union exists, and responsibility 6.5 covers union and nonunion workplaces alike. The Act's definition of "employee" leaves out supervisors, independent contractors, agricultural laborers and domestic workers, among others (29 U.S.C. 152(3)). Its definition of "employer" leaves out federal, state and local governments (29 U.S.C. 152(2)).

Checking federal law before a 2027 PHR exam date

1. Start from the outline's responsibilities, not a list of every statute. Learn who a law covers, what it requires, and the number that decides a scenario. If your book predates the 2024 outline, the 2018-to-2024 outline crosswalk shows where its chapters now sit.
2. Use the agency's own page or the regulation itself: EEOC for discrimination, DOL for wages, leave, benefits and contractor affirmative action, and the eCFR for OSHA, WARN and Form I-9 rules. The eCFR shows the date its text is current to, and agency pages often show a revision date, such as March 2025 on the FMLA fact sheet.
3. Re-check the open items in the last two weeks. As of October 28, 2026 they were the EEOC's proposal to rescind the EEO-1, the status of 29 CFR part 1607, and DOL's independent contractor proposal. Look for anything marked proposed, vacated, rescinded or newly effective since you first studied it.
4. Stay federal. The PHR outline frames compliance as U.S. federal law. State laws that differ belong to state-specific study, and California has its own HRCI credential, the PHRca.

The PHR study guide shows where a law week fits in a 12-week plan, and the free PHR practice questions include law-based scenarios with explanations. For recall drills on all of the above, see the 440 flashcards planned for full PHR prep.