Compliance Stuff

Providers that rely on telehealth for Medicare patients can continue to do so as a result of an extension of the Medicare telehealth rules that were originally implemented during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (“COVID”). On February 3, 2026, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, H.R. 7148 was signed into law and, among other features, extends key components of the emergency telehealth requirements and will continue to allow for increased provider eligibility, remote care from home and relaxed site-of-service, all rules upon which providers have extensively relied since COVID . CMS extended these rules in order to provide greater flexibility and remote health care access. Providers should be aware that this extension only will last through December 31, 2027, unless Congress puts a permanent solution in place. [ View source .] Source(s): Medicare Telehealth Expansion Continues Under New Federal Extension | JD Supra . (2026). JD Supra. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/medicare...

We live in a digital world where social media has become the go-to space for companies to connect with consumers. While it may feel like social media is a free and open space for creative marketing, enforcement actions related to social media use—or misuse—are on the rise. Below are common issues and practical steps to help try and avoid being on the receiving end of enforcement efforts. Available Does Not Necessarily Mean Free to Use The culture on social media platforms is to share, repost, and use the current viral tune while doing it. Despite the free flow of information online, it is crucial for brands to understand and respect copyright law. Copyright protects original works of authorship, such as music, images, and videos. Creating a post using copyrighted works without permission may amount to copyright infringement. There has been a rise in copyright owners going after brands using their music or images on social media without permission. In many instances, the song used is t...

Maine employers will soon face new restrictions and disclosure requirements when they use computers, phones, or other electronic equipment to monitor their employees under a new law. Maine joins New York, Connecticut, and Delaware as one of the few states imposing statutory obligations on employers that electronically monitor employees. But, unlike the more limited notice-only statutes in other states, Maine’s law reflects a broader privacy-focused approach that not only mandates disclosure but also limits certain monitoring practices outright. Here’s what you need to know about Maine’s new restrictions and how you can keep your business in compliance before the law takes effect this summer. Overview of Maine’s New Law LD 61  – An Act to Regulate Employer Surveillance to Protect Workers – regulates “employer surveillance,” which it broadly defines as monitoring employees through computer, telephone, radio, or other electronic systems. There are certain exceptions, including the ...

On February 3, 2026, President Trump signed a  spending bill  that includes funding for the Department of Labor. The bill allocates  just under $101 million  for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) for fiscal year 2026 (FY 2026), marking a significant shift from the White House’s  initial budget proposal  to eliminate the agency. The budget approval is approximately $11 million less than the prior year, which is a 10% reduction, leaving a majority of OFCCP’s funding intact. However, based on  recent data , OFCCP’s workforce is about 25% smaller than a year ago. OFCCP is  actively investigating complaints  alleging violations of Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act, and it is clear the agency will survive another fiscal year. However, uncertainty remains about what additional responsibilities the agency may be tasked with in order to utilize the approved budget a...

  Over 100,000 people just gave an AI assistant root access to their computers. [1]  That assistant can now talk to other AI assistants on a social network humans cannot post to. [2]  Security researchers have already found that one in four downloadable extensions contain vulnerabilities, and some are designed to steal credentials. [3] This is OpenClaw—an open-source autonomous AI agent that went viral last week—and Moltbook, the AI-only social network its users created. Within days: 37,000 registered agents, over a million human observers, and an AI-created religion spreading through executable shell scripts. [4] For organizations deploying AI systems or advising clients on AI governance, this is the deployment gap made concrete. Everything we flagged in our recent piece on  agentic AI governance —prompt injection, credential exposure, supply chain attacks, agent-to-agent coordination—is now running in production at scale. This article explains what happened and why...

Takeaways The Puerto Rico Supreme Court’s significant  Tucker v. Money Group  ruling holds that courts must compel arbitration, even for Puerto Rico Anti-Discrimination Act discrimination claims, when the Federal Arbitration Act applies to a valid arbitration agreement. The Puerto Rico court clarified a prior exception to this rule allowing discrimination claims to bypass arbitration applies only to unionized employees covered by collective bargaining agreements, not to individual employees. Employers should consider the importance of assessing whether their employment agreements can be read as affecting interstate commerce and drafting robust arbitration provisions. Related links Tucker v. Money Group, LLC y Otros Quiñones González v. Asociación Puerto Rico Anti-Discrimination Act Article The Puerto Rico Supreme Court issued a significant ruling in  Tucker v. Money Group, LLC ,  2026 T.S.P.R. 9 (Jan. 27, 2026), holding that individual employees who sign valid arbit...

California lawmakers i ntroduced two bills yesterday that would significantly restrict how employers use artificial intelligence to make employment decisions . The coordinated effort by the California Labor Federation targets AI-driven job losses with a two-pronged approach: requiring human oversight when AI is used to fire or discipline workers, and mandating extended advance notice before conducting mass layoffs driven by automation. If enacted, the measures would impose s ome of the strictest AI employment regulations in the nation. Here’s what California employers (and multistate employers watching the trend) need to know about these February 2 proposals. SB 947: The “No Robo Bosses” Act Returns State Senator Jerry McNerney’s  SB 947  is a revised version of legislation Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed last year.  We covered the original proposal  and  the governor’s veto  in detail in 2025. The core provision remains: employers would be prohibited from u...