Compliance Stuff

The US Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division recently announced a proposed rule that would establish a standard for determining joint-employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) . The proposed rule seeks to harmonize the joint-employment framework by i mplementing a uniform standard across these three federal statutes. Notably, the 60-day comment period ended on June 22, 2026 . In Depth Under the FLSA, joint employers are “jointly and severally liable” for compliance with the statute’s requirements, including overtime pay . The proposed rule distinguishes between vertical and horizontal business relationships, establishing a separate standard for determining joint-employer status for each scenario . Vertical joint employment exists when an employee is “jointly employed by two or more employers that simultaneously benefit from the employee’s work” ...

On June 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a technical release confirming that employer contributions to a child’s Trump Account won’t be subject to Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). 0:00 8:21 Quick Hits A new technical release from the DOL states that Trump Accounts for children are not “employee pension benefit plans” governed by ERISA. Employers and employees can contribute to Trump Accounts for children. Pilot program deposits of $1,000 each from the federal government will begin in July 2026. Title I of ERISA defines mandatory standards for transparency, fiduciary conduct, vesting, and claims procedures for employer-sponsored retirement plans and health/welfare plans. These rules generally will not apply to the newly established Trump Accounts. Overview of Trump Accounts On July 4, 2025, President Donald Trump signed a federal budget reconciliation bill that included a provision to put $1,000 each in Trump Accounts for newborns who ...

On June 18, 2026, the nonprofit organization As You Sow filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) complaint against the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to compel disclosure of Type 2 Consolidated EEO-1 Report data submitted by federal contractors for 2021 and 2022. 0:00 8:57 Quick Hits A nonprofit has sued DOL under FOIA to compel disclosure of federal contractors’ 2021 and 2022 Type 2 EEO-1 data, the most recent reporting years targeted by such a request. The suit mirrors an earlier case in California, C enter for Investigative Reporting v. U.S. Department of Labor , where the same type of FOIA request for contractor EEO-1 data led to disclosure of the 2016 through 2020 reports. The suit was filed as the EEOC moves to rescind the EEO-1 reporting requirement, meaning contractors that f iled Type 2 reports for 2021 and 2022 may face pressure to disclose data even as the report itself heads toward elimination . The suit fol...