Compliance Stuff

The first clue is usually boring. A tax refund check never arrives. A state business-registry email says “access granted,” but no one at the company requested access. A bank fraud department calls about a business account the company never opened. A vendor asks whether “the new contact” is authorized to change payment instructions. Individually, each signal looks like administrative static. Together, they point to a growing problem: someone has stolen the company’s identity and is using government records, tax credentials, bank onboarding, and ordinary business paperwork to make the fraud look legitimate. This is not just business email compromise with a new label. It is corporate-record hijacking. The fraudster does not need to hack the company’s ERP system or empty a payroll account on day one. T he fraudster needs a public record that says the impostor is in charge, an EIN confirmation that appears to match, and an institution willing to treat internally consistent paperwork as pr...

Key Points Virginia’s HB 636/SB 215 will bar employers from seeking or relying on wage or salary history and will require good-faith wage or salary ranges in all job postings beginning July 1, 2026.  SB 170 and HB 627/SB 128 will make noncompetes unenforceable after without-cause discharge absent disclosed severance and will sharply limit restrictive covenants for health care professionals as of July 1, 2026.  HB 1/SB 1 will raise Virginia’s minimum wage to $12.77, $13.75, and $15.00 per hour in annual steps through January 2029, with later increases set by the commissioner.  HB 238 will expand Virginia wage statutes by broadening the definitions of “employer” and “wages,” enhancing remedies and collective actions, and imposing new public-works recordkeeping and joint-and-several liability requirements.  HB 1207/SB 2 will create a statewide paid family and medical leave insurance program effective April 1, 2028, requiring employer contributions to a state fund unless...

What’s new: Recent U.S. DOJ, FBI and Treasury actions highlight the evolution of North Korea-affiliated worker fraud schemes, which involve the use of stolen identities, fabricated credentials and domestic facilitators to secure remote IT positions at companies (both in the U.S. and globally) and funnel wages back to sanctioned governments. Why it matters: Companies that inadvertently hire these operatives face costly data breaches, cybersecurity threats and potential criminal liability as the number of fraudulent employment applications only continues to rise. What to do next: Organizations should consider reviewing and strengthening their hiring, monitoring, insider threat and incident response protocols to mitigate financial, reputational and legal exposure as enforcement activity ramps up. __________ In recent years, a sophisticated fraud scheme has emerged that poses a serious and growing threat to companies worldwide: the infiltration of corporate workforces by fraudulent rem...