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Quick Hits Starting on July 1, 2026, B-1 and B-2 visitor visa applicants can pay a $750 fee to secure a consular interview appointment within ten business days at select U.S. embassies and consulates. The expedited option aims to help business and tourist travelers who need faster access to visa appointments due to short-notice travel needs. The State Department will announce participating consular posts before the program takes effect on…

Quick Hits A federal district court vacated the Trump administration’s $100,000 H-1B fee requirement. The court found that the fee exceeded presidential authority and violated the APA. The government is expected to appeal, and USCIS has not yet announced how it will implement the ruling. Background On September 19, 2025, President Donald Trump issued Proclamation 10973, invoking Sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to impose…

Quick Hits Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent executive order directs several state agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of AI’s impact on the labor market. The executive order’s mandates include potential revisions to existing worker protection laws and required notices with reductions in force. The order also emphasizes the need for transparency in AI-related employment data and highlights protections against automated decision-making discrimination. Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-6-26 directs multiple California…

Quick Hits Fragmentation—not convergence—now defines the global restrictive covenant landscape. Remote work has weakened the logic of traditional geographic restrictions. Mandatory compensation regimes materially change enforcement economics in several jurisdictions. Trade secret litigation is rising as noncompetes narrow—and it is significantly more complex across borders. A single global template creates inconsistent leverage and strategic vulnerability. The global noncompete model is breaking down—not because restrictive covenants are disappearing everywhere, but because…

The Additional Instructions significantly curtail the reporting obligations that federal agencies have maintained for more than two decades under Management Directive 715 (MD-715), the Commission’s primary framework for overseeing federal agency employers’ equal employment opportunity (EEO) programs. The directive relieves agencies of the obligation to report on barrier analysis, diversity and inclusion principles, gender identity, and key demographic workforce data broken down by race, national origin, and gender, and grants…

Quick Hits OCR will be divided into three divisions: the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, the Civil Rights Division, and the Health Information Privacy, Data, and Cybersecurity Division. HHS and plan sponsor Star Group (SG) reached an agreement to resolve alleged HIPAA violations related to Star Group’s health plan, imposing $245,000 in fines and an extensive corrective action plan. The two-year corrective action plan will require the health plan to…

Quick Hits A federal district court in New Jersey ruled that adult performers on an online streaming platform are independent contractors under the FLSA but qualify as employees under New Jersey’s stricter ABC test. The court found that the performers could not be classified as independent contractors under the ABC test because they operated within the operator’s usual course of business and not outside its places of business by providing…

Quick Hits The Third Circuit ruled that the FLSA does not recognize claims for “gap time,” which refers to unpaid hours that do not exceed overtime limits.  The court declined to rely on the DOL’s guidance suggesting gap time claims are cognizable, finding the FLSA to be unambiguous and the DOL’s guidance otherwise unpersuasive.  This decision eliminates certain gap time claims in the Third Circuit, an area of aggressive DOL…

Quick Hits Unless there is an individual or collective agreement in place, employees in Germany generally have no legal right to workation. Without an A1 Certificate, employers risk a double obligation to pay social security contributions. German law remains applicable during short-term workation within the EU, and mandatory foreign employee protection laws may also apply. A recent study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering and Organization shows how popular…

Quick Hits Louisiana’s newly enacted workplace violence prevention law, the “Louisiana Behind the Counter Protection Act,” will take effect on August 1, 2026. The law gives employees in customer-facing roles, primarily in retail and hospitality establishments, stronger protection against violence at work. The new law increases criminal penalties against offenders for threats and acts of violence against covered employees. Louisiana’s ‘Behind the Counter Protection Act’ The “Louisiana Behind the Counter…

Quick Hits Virginia Governor Spanberger has signed legislation that expands paid sick leave to all public and private employees. The paid sick leave legislation mandates one hour of paid sick leave for every thirty hours worked, with an annual accrual and use cap of forty hours, and includes provisions that could create challenges for employers, including very loose requirements on the notice employees must give before taking leave. The paid…