Compliance Stuff

On April 13, 2026, Governor Spanberger proposed amendments to bills that would expand paid sick leave to nearly all Virginia employees, establish a s tatewide paid family and medical leave insurance program, and address workplace accommodations related to menopause and perimenopause . The General Assembly will reconvene on April 22 to consider the Governor’s proposed amendments. Virginia Paid Sick Leave Expansion Virginia is on the verge of expanding paid sick leave to cover all employees, beyond home health care workers. However, rather than signing the bill as passed, Governor Spanberger proposed amendments to HB 5 that, among other things, clarify key definitions—including “employee” and “family member”—address leave advances, and expand the permissible uses of leave to include an employee’s need for preventive medical care. Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program Governor Spanberger also proposed amendments to SB 2, which would establish a statewide paid family and medical ...

In assessing whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, the Eleventh Circuit recently re-confirmed that it “does not care about the label put on the relationship by the parties.”  Galarza v. One Call Claims, LLC  involved three insurance adjusters who worked for Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA). TWIA engaged the services of One Call Claims, LLC (OCC), a business that staffed insurance companies with adjusters. The plaintiffs, who had all entered into written independent contractor agreements with OCC, sued, alleging that both companies had misclassified them and failed to pay them overtime wages they were entitled to as “employees” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The plaintiffs handled claims for TWIA on a full-time basis for approximately two years. During that time, they could not work for other carriers without terminating their contractual relationship with TWIA. They used their own phones and cars, and maintained their own profes...

WASHINGTON  – The U.S. Department of Labor’s  Wage and Hour Division  today issued a  field assistance bulletin   providing guidance on how to determine employee or independent contractor status when enforcing the  Fair Labor Standards Act .  While the department reviews the 2024 final rule,  Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act  – which is also being challenged in federal court – agency investigators are directed not to apply the 2024 rule’s analysis in current enforcement matters . Instead, the division will rely on longstanding principles outlined in  Fact Sheet #13  and further informed by the reinstated  Opinion Letter FLSA2019-6 , which addresses classification in the context of virtual marketplace platforms. This approach provides greater clarity for businesses and workers navigating modern work arrangements while legal and regulatory questions are resolved.  This guid...