Compliance Stuff

  Before the new school year starts, employers may want to note that some states require employers to provide time off for employees to attend teacher conferences, back-to-school nights, or other school meetings. Instead of sending a note to the teacher, employees may need a note from the teacher. 0:00 4:54 Quick Hits Eleven states and Washington, D.C., require employers to give time off for parents to attend certain school activities for their children. Employees can take leave under the FMLA to attend a meeting about their child’s individualized education program (IEP) . Employers could be liable if they allow software applications or GPS-enabled attendance trackers to penalize workers for taking legally protected leave. California, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., have laws mandating time off for school activities. These laws vary in scope and application, potentially making...

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” ...

If you support small businesses as an advisor, accountant, HR professional, or community partner, you know how challenging compliance can be. Small businesses power the U.S. economy, making up 99% of all businesses and employing nearly half of the private sector workforce. Helping your clients navigate labor laws while managing day-to-day operations with limited time and resources can be difficult. That’s where the right tools make a difference. The Trump Administration is committed to supporting America’s small businesses with common-sense policies, clear guidance, and easy-to-apply resources. The U.S. Department of Labor ’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) offers practical, easy-to-use resources to help you support employers in understanding and complying with key laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). 🔎 What’s New WHD has expanded its compliance assistance tools to better support employers: A centraliz...

Every HR pro knows this little workplace miracle. Just as your office or plant is winding down for Memorial Day—or some other prime-time long weekend— boom : your employee’s chronic condition suddenly flares up like a Roman candle. What timing. A total and complete coincidence, right? Enter Andrew, who worked as a conductor for CSX Railroad and a chap whose story I highlighted at my recent FMLA & ADA Master Class [ see recording details below ]. Andrew’s FMLA leave (coincidentally) clustered around holidays, and CSX relied in part on that holiday timing and broader aggregate statistics to support its suspicion that something was amiss. Like so many employers, especially those in the transportation industry, CSX pulls its hair out over the throngs of employees who call out for FMLA around the holidays. So, CSX investigated Andrew and a number of other employees whose FMLA leave clustered around these same holidays to determine if they were playing fast and loose with FMLA time. But ...