Employment & Labor Law

Virginia is on its way to becoming a marijuana-friendly state, but not if you are an employer. Beginning on July 1, 2020, it will be a crime for a Virginia employer to ask applicants to reveal if they have been charged or convicted of simple marijuana possession. The new law…

On May 13, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Small Business Administration revised their Frequently Asked Questions concerning the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) to provide additional guidance on how it would review a borrower’s certification that “[c]urrent economic uncertainty makes this [PPP] loan request necessary to support…

The spread of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 has precipitated an unprecedented interruption to the United States, as many residents are forced to stay home, and businesses required to temporarily shutter their doors, or operate with a scaled-back workforce.  However, for businesses employing foreign nationals, “pausing” the employment relationship…

KANSAS v. GARCIA, ___ U.S. ___, No. 17-834 (3 March 2020) Until 1986, federal law did not prohibit employing illegal aliens.  In 1986, Congress enacted the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) that makes it illegal to knowingly hire an illegal alien to work in the United States. …

In 2019, Virginia became one of the few states in the nation to pass legislation aimed ataddressing one of the many issues exposed by the #MeToo movement: Non-Disclosure Agreements. Non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, are a legal contract between two parties agreeing to keep confidential, or to limit the disclosure, of…

Commonly used non-compete restrictions often found in employment agreements are facing mounting scrutiny on a nation-wide level. Several states, such as California, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, have already largely banned the use of non-competes, and many other states are taking a similar approach to varying degrees. With recent statistics from…

It is time for employers in Virginia to take steps to evaluate their employment records and payroll practices. The Virginia General Assembly enacted an employment records disclosure law requiring employers to furnish current and former employees certain personnel documents upon request. That law took effect on July 1, 2019. …

For one year only, certain Liberians living in the United States may have a path to permanent residence.  Under the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) Act, enacted on December 20, 2019, a national of Liberia who has been continuously present in the United States since November 20, 2014 –…

Recent Court Decisions Attempt to Clarify Status and Futures of “Gig Workers” A recent string of legal decisions regarding workers in the “gig economy”, the free market system in which temporary positions are common, point to control as the crux of their classifications. The court decisions hold that gig…