Background Screening & Verification
Legislative and regulatory updates affecting how employers collect, use, and act on background check information including FCRA changes, Ban-the-Box laws, adverse action requirements, and identity fraud in hiring.
Virginia Clean Slate Law Takes Effect July 1, 2026
Virginia's Clean Slate Act takes effect July 1, 2026, allowing automatic and petition-based sealing of certain misdemeanor convictions after seven years and some felony convictions after ten years. Under Virginia Code Section 19.2-392.15, all public and private employers will be prohibited from requiring applicants to disclose any arrest, charge, or conviction that has been sealed, and sealed records will not appear on most standard background checks performed in the state. Employers operating in Virginia are advised to review their screening vendor methodology, update hiring policies and training materials, and confirm that sealed records are not used in adjudication decisions.
Source: Clean Slate Virginia | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
CFPB Raises FCRA Section 612 Disclosure Fee Cap to $16 for 2026
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule increasing the maximum allowable charge under section 612(f) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act to $16.00, effective January 1, 2026, a $0.50 increase from the prior year. The cap was calculated by applying the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers from September 1997 through September 2025 to the statute's $8.00 baseline. Consumer reporting agencies that charge fees for additional file disclosures should confirm their fee schedules reflect the new ceiling and that supporting consumer-facing materials are updated.
Source: National Law Review | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Workforce Trust & Safety
Real-world incidents and liability cases that illustrate what happens when workforce risk goes unmanaged negligent hiring verdicts, criminal incidents involving employees or contractors, and employer safety failures.
EEOC and Menzies Aviation Settle Religious Accommodation Lawsuit for $55,000
Menzies Aviation (USA), Inc. entered a five-year consent decree with the EEOC on May 7, 2026, agreeing to pay $55,000 to a former Fort Lauderdale-based employee who said the company refused to accommodate her Sabbath observance from Friday sundown through Saturday and that she was forced to resign in December 2023 as a result. Under the decree, Menzies must implement a comprehensive religious accommodation policy, train managers and employees on accommodation obligations, and report future religious accommodation requests and complaints to the EEOC. The agency framed the resolution as part of its continuing focus on Title VII religious accommodation cases.
Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Employee Shoots Coworker at Missouri Plastics Plant; Suspect in Custody
Nixa, Missouri police responded to Diversified Plastics at 120 W. Mt. Vernon Street on May 8, 2026 after an employee shot a coworker in the chest during a workplace altercation. The suspect, also an employee, had already been subdued by other workers when officers arrived and was taken into custody without further incident. The victim was transported to a hospital for treatment, and the Nixa Police Department continues to investigate the circumstances that led up to the incident.
Source: KY3 News | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
COMPLIANCE & EMPLOYMENT LAW
Federal and state employment law changes that affect hiring and workforce management covering EEO guidance, drug testing policy shifts, I-9/E-Verify updates, wage and hour developments, and fair chance legislation.
EEOC Files Suit Against The New York Times Alleging DEI-Driven Reverse Discrimination
The EEOC sued The New York Times in May 2026, alleging the company engaged in race and sex discrimination in promotion decisions against a white male employee in connection with its diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. The filing marks one of the first major EEOC enforcement actions targeting a media employer under the Commission's stated 2026 priority of scrutinizing DEI programs for Title VII compliance. The Commission is seeking back pay, compensatory damages, and injunctive relief, and the case will proceed in federal court.
Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Gig & Contingent Workforce
Regulatory and legal developments specific to non-traditional workforce arrangements, independent contractor classification rulings, platform liability, staffing agency regulations, and gig worker rights.
Aviation Staffing Firm Sued Over Alleged Per Diem Overtime Scheme
A proposed collective and class action filed May 1, 2026 in federal court alleges that Georgia-based Complete Aviation Services and Modification used an untaxed $24-per-hour per diem combined with a lower taxable base wage to suppress overtime pay for an avionics technician and more than 100 similarly situated workers, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act. The complaint says the structure caused the named plaintiff's overtime rate to be calculated on the taxable wage only, yielding $13.13 per hour rather than the $49.13 she would have received if the per diem were treated as wages. The Fifth Circuit ruled against a similar per diem split in 2010, and the case will test how lower courts apply that precedent to modern aviation staffing models.
Source: HR Dive | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Industry-Specific Incidents
Vertical-specific news across Transportation, Healthcare, Childcare, Youth Sports, Food Service, Retail, Light Industrial, Education, and more including sector regulators like DOT/FMCSA and CMS.
Florida Daycare Worker Charged With Aggravated Child Abuse After Surveillance Review
A Lake City, Florida daycare worker was arrested on May 4, 2026 and charged with aggravated child abuse after surveillance footage reviewed by detectives allegedly showed her tossing an infant into a bouncy chair hard enough for the child's head to strike a metal bar, then dropping the same infant from height onto a changing table about 20 minutes later. The infant remained in pediatric intensive care at the time of the arrest. The case highlights the role of continuous monitoring and incident-review systems in catching abuse that pre-hire screening alone cannot prevent.
Source: News4Jax | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Data Privacy & Tech in Hiring
Emerging regulation around AI hiring tools, algorithmic fairness, biometric data, and candidate privacy covering federal guidance rollbacks and the growing patchwork of state-level AI employment laws.
Connecticut Passes AI Responsibility and Transparency Act Regulating Employment Decision Tools
Connecticut's General Assembly passed Senate Bill 5, the Artificial Intelligence Responsibility and Transparency Act, on May 1, 2026 by a 32 to 4 Senate vote and a 131 to 17 House vote, and Governor Ned Lamont's office has indicated he will sign the bill. The law regulates automated employment-related decision technology by requiring developers to provide compliance information to deployers, requiring employers to notify applicants and employees of the technology's use, and clarifying that use of such a tool is not a defense to a discrimination claim. The framework, anti-discrimination amendments, and a related WARN-notice disclosure take effect October 1, 2026, with interactive disclosure and pre-decision notice obligations following on October 1, 2027.
Source: Littler Mendelson | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Labor Market & Workforce Trends
Macro hiring data and workforce behavior trends, jobs reports, quit rates, labor force participation, and hiring volume by sector that frame the environment organizations are hiring into.
Indeed Hiring Lab: U.S. Labor Market Stabilizes at Lower Activity Floor in April
Indeed Hiring Lab's April 2026 U.S. Labor Market Snapshot, published May 14, 2026, reports that job postings, unemployment, and openings have oscillated within a narrow band since late 2025, suggesting that the prior low-hire, low-fire dynamic is now functioning as a steady state rather than a continued slide. The unemployment rate sits at 4.3 percent, the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio has fallen to 0.9, and posted wage growth has slowed to 2.3 percent while CPI inflation has reaccelerated to 3.8 percent. AI-related postings now exceed 5 percent of all listings on Indeed, while the information sector layoff rate has doubled to 2.4 percent year over year.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Hiring & Employment Fraud
Emerging and evolving fraud targeting employers; synthetic identity fraud, deepfake interview candidates, credential misrepresentation, and coordinated fraud schemes — drawn from law enforcement, fraud research, and industry data.
LexisNexis 2026 Cybercrime Report: Synthetic Identity Fraud Up Eight-Fold Year Over Year
The LexisNexis Risk Solutions 2026 Cybercrime Report, drawn from 116 billion online transactions and released March 26, 2026 with sustained May 2026 industry coverage, finds global fraud rates rose 8 percent over the year, with synthetic identity fraud growing eight-fold and now accounting for more than one in ten frauds observed. Bot attacks jumped 59 percent, and the report identifies synthetic identities, real-time deepfakes, and AI-generated identity documents as the dominant attack vectors used against onboarding and identity verification systems. In Latin America, synthetic identities already account for 48 percent of regional fraud, which the report treats as a forward indicator for other regions including North America.
Source: Security Boulevard | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
