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Quick Hits Beginning no later than January 3, 2028, eligible Maryland employees will be entitled to up to twenty-four weeks of paid family and medical leave for certain specified reasons. The MDOL’s FAMLI Division has significantly overhauled its website to provide new and expanded guidance to employers and employees in advance of the start of the paid family and medical leave insurance (FAMLI) program. The FAMLI Division’s employer-focused resources include…

Quick Hits The California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, held that ambiguities in three arbitration documents did not defeat the parties’ mutual intent to arbitrate. The ambiguities involved Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) applicability, arbitrator selection, and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) waivers. The court found only a low level of procedural unconscionability, typical of adhesive employment agreements, and no substantive unconscionability. The agreement’s severability clause allowed the court to…

Quick Hits A Massachusetts federal court extended its preliminary injunction blocking the ACTS survey mandate for twelve intervenor-plaintiffs, representing approximately 178 additional institutions of higher education. The court found that the intervenor-plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the ACTS survey was adopted in an arbitrary and capricious manner in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The court concluded it had the statutory authority…

Quick Hits The DOJ ordered the reclassification of certain marijuana and marijuana-containing products from Schedule I to Schedule III controlled substances, potentially reshaping medical research and employer policies around its use.  Reclassification could lead to more medical research on marijuana and other non-employment-related impacts. Reclassification could also have implications for employers, including the handling of employees who are medical marijuana cardholders, analysis of workplace accommodation requests, and maintaining drug testing…

Quick Hits The D.C. Circuit held that an off-site repair facility located near a mine and used primarily to service coal haul trucks qualified as a “mine” under the Mine Act but avoided addressing broader MSHA jurisdictional questions. After the Supreme Court returned the case following Loper Bright, the D.C. Circuit adopted a fact-intensive test asking whether a facility is “necessarily connected with the use and operation of extracting, milling,…

Quick Hits Starting no later than January 3, 2028, the FAMLI program will provide most Maryland employees with up to twelve weeks of paid leave for certain family and medical reasons, with a possible additional twelve weeks of leave for parental bonding, per application year. The program is funded through employer and employee payroll contributions, which will commence on January 1, 2027, and be administered by the MDOL’s FAMLI Division.…

Quick Hits A coalition of higher education/academic and minority trade associations has filed a lawsuit against President Trump’s executive order on DEI initiatives that imposes contractual consequences on federal contractors and subcontractors. The lawsuit alleges that Executive Order (EO) 14398 unlawfully equates DEI with racial discrimination and violates the First Amendment by chilling speech and association on matters of race and diversity. The plaintiffs contend EO 14398 is overly broad…

Quick Hits New clause FAR 52.222-90 declares contractor compliance “material” to the government’s payment decisions, creating direct False Claims Act liability for contractors who maintain prohibited programs. Agencies must bilaterally modify existing contracts to include the new clause by July 24, 2026, and if a contractor refuses, agencies are told to consider whether the contract should be terminated for convenience. Prime contractors must flow the clause down to all tiers…

Quick Hits The minimum wage in the U.S. Virgin Islands will increase to $12.00 per hour starting April 24, 2026, The increase is part of recent amendments enacted in January 2026 that call for annual increases to the minimum wage rate each year until 2028 and call for potential future adjustments by the Virgin Islands Wage Board after 2029.  Employers may want to review and update their wage schedules and…

Quick Hits The WHO and several other organizations have jointly developed “Framework Guidelines for Addressing Workplace Violence in the Health Sector,” signaling a unified global commitment to ending workplace violence in healthcare. Despite the absence of a federal OSHA standard, the agency is actively investigating and citing employers that fail to protect healthcare workers from workplace violence. Several states have also taken the initiative to provide workplace violence prevention requirements…

Quick Hits Starting no later than January 3, 2028, the FAMLI program will provide most Maryland employees with up to twelve weeks of paid leave for certain family and medical reasons, with a possible additional twelve weeks of leave for parental bonding, per application year. The program is funded through employer and employee payroll contributions, which will commence on January 1, 2027, and be administered by the MDOL’s FAMLI Division.…

Quick Hits The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has rescinded agreements protecting transgender and LGBTQ+ students across several school districts and one community college, reflecting a policy shift under the Trump administration. The office explained these agreements incorrectly interpreted Title IX, stating that protections apply only to sex and not gender identity. Such changes to Title IX enforcement and antidiscrimination obligations have significant implications for educational institutions…