With the 2010 congressional sessions in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C. having come to a close, employers would be wise to take stock of the changes in state and federal legislation that will affect their businesses in the coming years. From a labor and employment law perspective, the past year saw a number of key pieces of legislation up for consideration in California; however, a majority of them were not enacted due to the Governor’s veto.

On the federal front, with the Obama Administration focused on hot-button issues such as health care, financial reform, and immigration reform, there were few significant labor and employment legislative developments in 2010. And with the Republican Party re-taking the House, few are predicting significant changes in labor legislation in the coming years. If anything, we can expect the advancement of the President’s labor agenda to come by way of the Department of Labor and administrative agencies, rather than through acts of Congress.