Howell Law Group, PLLC

05/29/2026

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued four new opinion letters today relating to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA):

• FLSA2026-5: Discusses whether an exempt employee can perform additional work in a secondary role at an hourly rate and related overtime implications

• FLSA2026-6: Discusses a quarterly bonus program where the bonus was calculated as a fixed percentage of employees’ total earnings—including overtime pay; employers do not need to recalculate employees’ regular rates or pay additional overtime on the bonus

• FLSA2026-7: Discusses whether time spent during a meal break voluntarily traversing an employer’s premises and passing through a controlled access entry and exit is compensable under the FLSA when the employer allots employees a 30-minute meal period during which they are allowed to remain on the premises

• FLSA2026-8: Discusses whether certain pre-shift activities by hospital employees are compensable work and, if so, whether the hospital’s practice of rounding employees' clock-in time to their scheduled shift start time is permissible.

The full opinion letters can be found at:

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

05/28/2026

Beginning August 1, 2026, employers will no longer be able to log into the Virginia Employment Commission’s Employer Self Service (ESS) system through the Virginia Department of Taxation website. Users will instead need to access ESS through the VEC website (https://employerselfservice.vec.virginia.gov/welcome) and sign in with ID.me (green button).

Likewise, employers will no longer be able to access Virginia tax online services (iFile) using their VEC account number. Instead, you will need your FEIN.

If you don’t have an ID.me account, you’ll need a government-issued photo ID and your social security number.

05/25/2026

Governor Spanberger signed mandatory paid sick leave into law in Virginia last week. Under the new law, which is effective July 1, 2027, all employers must pay every single employee (part-time, full-time, seasonal, temporary, etc.) in Virginia one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked — up to 40 hours per year. The leave can be used within the year accrued or carried over to the next year, but employees may not accrue or use more than 40 hours of paid sick leave during any year (i.e., 12-month period established by the employer), unless the employer permits a higher amount.

If an employer already has a paid leave policy in place, that policy can satisfy legal requirements if the employer permits the leave for the same purposes and under the same conditions. Notably, what qualifies for sick leave under this law is extensive, including mental or physical illnesses, injury, health conditions (diagnosis, care, treatment or preventative care) not only for the employee but for any family member, which is defined extremely broadly (e.g., covers anyone the employee claims responsibility for providing or arranging health or safety-related services as well as anyone “related by…affinity”). Leave also must cover absence due to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking of the employee or a family member, under certain circumstances.

Under the law, employees can make verbal requests and need only include anticipated duration “when possible.” Employers may require notice of the need for sick leave, but only pursuant to a previously-distributed written policy. Employees must “make a good faith effort” to provide notice and minimize disruptions where the need for leave is foreseeable.

Paid sick leave must be used in hourly increments, unless specified by the employer.

Employers may not require disclosure of “details” about the need for leave, unless the leave is for three or more consecutive work days, in which case an employer is permitted to request “reasonable documentation.” The law claims that reasonable documentation includes “the employee’s written statement that the use of paid sick leave” is for a qualifying reason. All information provided must be kept confidential.

Employees transferred to a separate division or location of a company, or whose employment relationship is taken over by a successor employer, remain entitled to previously accrued paid sick leave.

Enforcement can be through penalties assessed by the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, including reasonable attorney’s fees, or an employee may file a lawsuit and recover double the amount of any unpaid sick leave, double actual damages, injunctive relief, reinstatement, lost wages and benefits, attorney’s fees, etc.

The law will impact employers in phases:

July 1, 2027 - 50 or more employees;

January 1, 2028 - 25 or more employees; and

January 1, 2029 – 1 or more employees

Posting and handbook policies are required, with more details in regulations that must be promulgated by July 1, 2027.

Retaliation, including threats about using leave or disciplining an employee for telling others about their rights to take this leave, is prohibited.

Send a message to learn more

05/21/2026

REMINDER: Since the Biden Administration, the NLRB has taken the position that severance agreements cannot contain broad nondisparagement or confidentiality provisions or limitations on a person's right to recover damages as a result of filing an Unfair Labor Practice Charge. A simple statement that provisions should not be interpreted to interfere with Section 7 rights is not enough to get over the bar.

The recipient does NOT have to sign the severance agreement for the employer to have committed a violation.

This position was reinforced recently by an ALJ at the NLRB: https://apps.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d4584275da7

PLEASE have your severance agreements reviewed before presenting them.

04/28/2026

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice reclassified medical ma*****na as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), so long as it is manufactured, distributed, and dispensed by an entity with a state-issued license. Further, it introduced an expedited DEA registration process for any entity holding a state-issued medical ma*****na license.

Notably, this DOES NOT legalize ma*****na for recreational use under federal law, even where state law does.

For employment law purposes, this means that applicants and employees who previously would not have been protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because they were engaged in the “illegal use of drugs” may now be protected to the extent they are using lawfully-obtained medical ma*****na. Further, employers will likely be required to make reasonable accommodations for employees with a medical ma*****na prescription just as they would other lawfully-obtained medication.

Employers may still conduct drug testing and prohibit employees from certain activities such as recreational and illegal ma*****na use, being impaired or under the influence at work, and possessing ma*****na while on work premises. It does make it more difficult to prove that a positive ma*****na test violated company rules and the law. (This has been the case, however, since Virginia legalized ma*****na for recreational use.)

For DOT-regulated employees, the DOT regulations continue to prohibit all ma*****na use in safety-sensitive positions. Further, the Order does not affect the Drug Free Workplace Act for federal contractors but does make legally obtained medical ma*****na use lawful.

Send a message to learn more

04/24/2026

The General Assembly accepted the Governor’s amendments to legislation on Wednesday, with the following becoming new Virginia law:

1. Employers are prohibited from entering into, enforcing, or threatening to enforce a covenant not to compete with a "health care professional", which is defined as any person licensed, registered, or certified by the Board of Medicine, Nursing, Counseling, Optometry, Psychology, or Social Work. Violations subject the offender to a penalty of $10,000 per violation.

This law is effective July 1, 2026. See the link to SB128 below for more details. (Still must be signed by the Governor, which is expected shortly.)

2. Employers are prohibited from (a) seeking the wage or salary history of a prospective employee; (b) relying on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in considering the prospective employee for employment; (c) relying on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in determining the wages or salary the prospective employee is to be paid upon hire; (d) refusing to interview, hire, employ, or promote or otherwise retaliating against a prospective or current employee for not providing wage or salary history or requesting a wage or salary range; (e) failing or refusing to disclose in each public and internal posting for each job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity the wage, salary, or wage or salary range; and (f) failing to set a wage or salary range in good faith.

The bill creates a cause of action with damages between $1,000 and $10,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater, reasonable attorney fees and costs, and any other legal and equitable relief as may be appropriate.

This law is effective July 1, 2026. See HB 636 below.

3. Law allows employees to bring civil actions for minimum wage, misclassification, and prevailing wage violations and expands retaliation protections for employees who make good faith reports of suspected legal violations. See HB 238 link below.

4. Law adds domestic workers (e.g., nannies, housekeepers) to overtime pay requirements effective 7/1/2027. See SB28 below; and

5. Law requires Virginia agencies to establish prevailing wage rates, in addition to the federal wage rates already established, for workers on public construction projects. See HB569.

6. Law creates paid family medical leave program. See prior post.

https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB128/text/SB128ER2
https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB636/text/HB636ER2
https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB238
https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB28
https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB569

04/24/2026

On Wednesday, Virginia passed a law requiring creation of a statewide paid family and medical leave program. Virginia employers AND employees will be required to remit payment for this program through payroll contributions beginning April 1, 2028. (All employees must pay, but there are some exceptions for employers with 10 or fewer employees. Employers who offer paid leave through a private plan may also obtain an exemption.) The Virginia Employment Commission, who is tasked with administering the program, must issue regulations prior to that date. It will start accepting claims for payouts December 1, 2028.

Eligible employees may receive up to 12 weeks of job-protected paid leave with benefits, with wage replacement of up to 80% of the employee’s average weekly wage, subject to a cap. Employees may use leave in broader circumstances than provided in the federal FMLA. They must attempt to avoid undue disruption to business operations. The leave would run at the same time as FMLA, if applicable.

Employers must provide written notice to each employee on hire and annually thereafter, as well as when the employee requests leave or the employer acquires knowledge of an employee’s intent to take leave.

Virginia employers should review their policies and practices and make necessary adjustments, assess payroll readiness, and monitor for VEC guidance.

04/19/2026

Virginia passed several new employment laws recently, including raising minimum wage and creating a new protected category for voluntary emergency responders (see earlier posts). In addition, the following were signed into law this week:

1. Non-competes entered into after July 1, 2026 are unenforceable if an employee is fired “without cause” unless the employer provides “severance benefits or other monetary payment” which must be “disclosed upon execution” of the agreement. The law does not define “cause,” “severance benefits,” or “other monetary payment.” (SB 170 incorporating SB 569)

2. Charges of Discrimination may now be filed with the Office of Attorney General (OCR) for up to two years (increased from 300 days) after the alleged discriminatory act; broadens the definition of “employer”; broadens the definition of a "place of public accommodation" to include educational institutions; extends age-discrimination protections to employers with at least five employees (SB 637)

3. The exemption from Virginia's minimum wage requirements for persons employed as farm laborers or farm employees was removed. Employers must pay these workers minimum wage effective January 1, 2027.

Several other bills were sent back by the Governor for amendments. We will keep you posted!

04/14/2026

For those tracking new legislation in Virginia, note that the Governor has proposed amendments on the mandatory sick leave, paid family medical leave, and collective bargaining bills. More to come...

Abigail D. Spanberger, Commonwealth, Governor of Virginia, governor, virginia, VA

04/10/2026

Virginia created another protected category in employment relationships today. Employers are now prohibited from firing or taking other retaliatory action against an employee for missing work while serving as a volunteer emergency responder. More details are at:

04/10/2026

Virginia passed a law today increasing minimum wage to $13.75 per hour on January 1, 2027 and $15.00 per hour on January 1, 2028.