In the wake of the September 2025 assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, more than 600 workers were fired, placed under investigation, or otherwise reprimanded by their employers for posting about his killing on social media.

The majority had posted critical commentary, which some Republican government officials, including Vice President JD Vance and prominent right-wing influencers, encouraged their supporters to report to employers.

In recent months, some of the employers that took action against their employees for their social media comments about Kirk’s killing have faced a reckoning of sorts. Some have paid out more than $1.2 million via lawsuit settlements to ex-employees fired over social media posts. (Other settlements have been unrelated to employment concerns.) That number might be eye-popping to some employers, and could have them reconsider how they respond to employees’ social media posts. “The settlements illustrate the limits employers can have in regulating their workers’ political rhetoric,” Axios reporters Avery Lotz and Rebecca Falconer wrote last month.

But that may not be the case for most employers, two employment attorneys told HR Brew.

For more on what HR professionals should consider, keep reading here.—PM

Several Pride organizations lamented the consequences of the Trump administration’s DEI crackdown in 2025, as corporate sponsors and employee resource groups backed out of parades they had participated in for over a decade.

One year later, some Pride parades are continuing to face hurdles. But it appears that others are seeing signs of hope.

Susanne Ford, executive director of San Francisco Pride, told HR Brew that while the organization’s parade lost several corporate sponsors in 2025, it’s only lost one—Starbucks—so far this year; others have increased their sponsorship.

“We didn’t lose as many [sponsors] as we thought we were going to last year,” she said. “Last year, when we came out of it, we were behind…I think if we have a well-attended Pride and our ticket sales can increase a little bit, I think we might walk out on the other side of this better.”

For more on corporate sponsorship for San Francisco Pride, keep reading here.—KP

What are organizations’ biggest concerns right now?

Roughly 100 HR and benefits pros were asked this question at a From Day One conference in Chicago on June 3. Three words dominated their responses: costs, AI, and wellness.

“During Covid, you saw…attention from leadership around benefits…and there was a little bit of a softening of that focus over the past couple of years, but now as we see rising medical trends being so impactful to businesses’ bottom lines, cost is becoming a really big focus,” Amy Waickman, global head of benefits at Arup, told HR Brew, during the conference’s opening session.

Waickman shared with HR Brew how benefits pros can address these concerns.

For more from our conversation with Waickman, keep reading here.—MC

We made a crossword book. It turns out the people who enjoy reading our puns enjoy solving them, too.