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Quick Hits Virginia’s General Assembly has passed legislation that would prohibit noncompete agreements for healthcare professionals. HB1 and SB1 would establish a multiyear schedule to increase Virginia’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by January 1, 2028, with further adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index starting in 2029. SB258 and SB790 would introduce workplace protections and health insurance coverage for menopause and perimenopause. Prohibiting Healthcare Noncompete Agreements (Senate Bill…

Quick Hits Smart glasses, which can record audio, video, and capture facial recognition data, present significant employment law challenges for retailers. Overly broad recording bans can be illegal under the National Labor Relations Act. Retail employers may want to engage in an interactive process for accommodation requests related to smart glasses to avoid potential lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Recording Problem: Know the State Laws Unlike cellular…

Quick Hits Germany’s Federal Labor Court ruled that recurring seasonal allergies like hay fever may be considered a continuation of the same underlying condition rather than new illnesses. Employers can contest sick leave claims for recurring seasonal allergies if the employee has been absent for more than six weeks within the relevant periods, shifting the burden of proof to the employee. Employers are generally protected against liability for allergic reactions…

Quick Hits Expanded worker protections are becoming the norm across nearly all jurisdictions. Reduced working hours are trending globally. AI regulation in HR is accelerating, from the EU AI Regulation affecting Germany, to Ontario’s AI disclosure rules in Canada, to the UAE’s use of AI for enforcement. Compliance and reporting standards continue to rise, including enhanced pay transparency requirements and contractor classification rules. From sweeping labor code consolidations to new…

Quick Hits Twenty states and the District of Columbia recently filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, challenging the USDA’s new funding conditions related to anti-DEI, gender ideology, and immigration requirements. Similar certification requirements are emerging across federal agencies, including a certification recently proposed by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). Federal grant recipients and contractors may wish to evaluate their DEI-related programs and monitor…

Quick Hits In Walsh v. HNTB Corp., a former employee sued an architectural design firm for age discrimination and constructive discharge after it placed her on a performance improvement plan (PIP). The First Circuit found that the facts of this case did not meet the standard for an adverse employment action established with the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis. While a…

Quick Hits Law 2466 of 2025 introduces significant labor reforms in Colombia, including prioritizing indefinite-term contracts, redefining work schedules, and expanding paid leave. The reform mandates hiring quotas for people with disabilities, strengthens anti-discrimination protections, and introduces new teleworking modalities. Night shifts will continue to carry a 35 percent premium, and work on Sundays and holidays will see a gradual increase in pay, reaching a 100 percent premium by July…

Quick Hits A Massachusetts federal court extended a temporary restraining order halting new data reporting requirements for state colleges and universities until April 6, 2026, while considering a preliminary injunction. Seventeen states claim the Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS) survey imposes unlawful burdens and violates administrative laws by politicizing data collection. The federal government argued that states will not face irreparable harm from the reporting deadline and asserted that…

Quick Hits On March 18, 2026, the State Department added twelve countries to the visa bond program: Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, and Tunisia. The visa bond program now includes a total of fifty countries. The State Department expanded its list of designated ports of entry to include all commercial airports, including CBP preclearance locations. This measure is aimed at reducing visa…

Quick Hits Utah has enacted H.B. 380 to address and reduce workplace violence in healthcare, requiring hospitals to implement comprehensive reporting systems for such incidents. The law, which takes effect on May 6, 2026, mandates detailed tracking of workplace violence incidents, protection for employees reporting these incidents, and annual reporting of data to the state health department. The collected data is intended to drive improvements in prevention strategies, such as…

Quick Hits On March 23, 2026, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed a bill into law that will ban noncompete agreements for employees and independent contractors. The law will declare all current employment-based and independent contractor-based “noncompetition agreements” to be void and unenforceable, and will prohibit employers from enforcing them. The law will prohibit entering into new employment-based and independent contractor-based noncompetition covenants. The ban will not apply to certain other…