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.
California Fast-Food Worker Charged in Hot-Oil Attack
A 23-year-old McDonald’s employee in Yuba City, California, was charged with felony battery causing serious bodily injury, mayhem, and assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly throwing hot cooking oil on a 20-year-old shift manager. The manager was hospitalized in intensive care with burns to his face, neck, arm, and back. The suspect was held without bail at the Sutter County Jail, according to a report published June 9, 2026.
Source: The Washington Times | 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.
Tennessee Bans Noncompetes for Workers Under $70,000
A new Tennessee law that takes effect July 1, 2026, bars employers from enforcing noncompete agreements against workers who earn less than $70,000 per year. The measure adds Tennessee to a group of states that limit noncompete covenants based on a worker’s income. Employers in the state are reviewing existing agreements ahead of the effective date.
Source: Ogletree Deakins | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Nebraska Enacts State WARN Law for Mass Layoffs
Nebraska’s Legislative Bill 921 requires employers with 100 or more workers to provide at least 90 days of notice before a mass layoff or business closing. The law takes effect July 18, 2026. It creates a state notice obligation that operates alongside the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
Source: Ogletree Deakins | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Connecticut Sets Standards for Warehouse Worker Quotas
A Connecticut law effective July 1, 2026, establishes workplace standards for large warehouse employers, including written notice of performance quotas and retention of work-speed data for three years. It applies to employers with 250 or more employees at a single Connecticut warehouse distribution center. The law also protects covered nonexempt employees from adverse action for exercising their rights under it.
Source: Ogletree Deakins | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Maine Pay Transparency Law Requires Salary Ranges
Under Maine’s Legislative Document 54, employers must include the prospective pay range in all job postings. The law takes effect July 29, 2026. It adds Maine to the states that require pay disclosure in job advertisements.
Source: Ogletree Deakins | 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.
California ‘No Robo Bosses’ Bill Targets AI in Firings
California Senate Bill 947, the ‘No Robo Bosses Act’ reintroduced by Senator Jerry McNerney in 2026, would bar employers from relying solely on automated decision systems to discipline or terminate workers and would require human oversight and independent verification of those decisions. It would also restrict systems that use workers’ personal data to predict future behavior and require employers to disclose when such systems factor into employment actions. The bill passed the California Senate and is advancing through the Assembly.
Source: Crowell & Moring | 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.
DOJ Sentences Man in $89 Million Payroll Scheme
The Justice Department announced on June 25, 2026, that a Honduran national was sentenced to 96 months in prison for operating a years-long off-the-books cash payroll scheme that facilitated the employment of workers without work authorization. From 2015 to 2022, he and others used shell companies to cash about $89 million in checks from construction subcontractors, allowing those firms to pay workers in cash without withholding payroll taxes. Prosecutors said the scheme also defrauded workers’ compensation insurers and caused a tax loss of more than $38 million.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice | 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.
Jobless Claims Fall to 215,000 as Continued Claims Climb
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 12,000 to 215,000 for the week ending June 20, 2026, in data released June 25. Continued claims rose to 1,821,000 for the week ending June 13, the highest level since the spring, while the four-week moving average of initial claims edged up to 224,250. The figures reflect low layoff activity alongside slower re-hiring.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Employers Announce Tens of Thousands of June Job Cuts
Several large employers announced workforce reductions in June 2026, including enterprise-software firm ServiceNow on June 24, Papa John’s on June 23, and video-game publisher Ubisoft on June 22. Layoff-tracking data counted tens of thousands of cuts across roughly three dozen companies during the month. A majority of 2026 layoff announcements have cited artificial intelligence or automation as a contributing factor.
Source: Newsweek | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
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.
Illinois Clean Slate Law Automates Sealing of Records
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the Clean Slate Act, House Bill 1836, on January 16, 2026, making Illinois one of the states to adopt automated criminal-record sealing. Beginning January 1, 2029, the Illinois State Police and circuit clerks will systematically seal eligible nonviolent records, with records created from 1970 through 2028 sealed in waves through January 1, 2034. Advocates estimate about 1.74 million of the state’s 2.2 million adults with records could be eligible. Sealed records will remain available to law enforcement and courts but not to the public or private background-check providers.
Source: Capitol News Illinois | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Florida Requires Level 2 Screening for Youth Coaches
Beginning July 1, 2026, Florida requires athletic coaches affiliated with independent youth sports organizations to pass a Level 2 background screening, including fingerprinting, before working with minors, under Florida Statute 943.0438. The requirement was originally set for January 1, 2025, and was extended to July 1, 2026. Screening is moving to the state’s Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse, and organizations must retain results for at least five years.
Source: Florida Recreation and Park Association | 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.
DOJ Health Care Fraud Takedown Charges 455 Defendants
The Justice Department announced its 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown on June 23, charging 455 defendants, including 90 doctors and other licensed medical professionals, in schemes involving more than $6.5 billion in alleged false claims. As part of the action, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services suspended 1,079 providers and revoked billing privileges for 1,403 providers. The cases spanned 56 federal districts and included charges tied to patient harm.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
Former Daycare Worker, Ex-Lawmaker Sentenced for Exploitation
The Justice Department announced on June 23, 2026, that a former Massachusetts daycare worker and a former New Hampshire state representative were sentenced in federal court for child exploitation and child pornography offenses. The daycare worker, who took unlawful images of children at a Tyngsborough facility in 2022 and 2023, was sentenced on June 2 to 262 months in prison, and the co-defendant was sentenced on June 18 to 400 months. Prosecutors said all identified victims and their families have been contacted by law enforcement.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice | 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.
Court Deems Platform Performers Employees Under State Test
On May 29, 2026, a federal court in New Jersey ruled in Tomasello v. ICF Technology Inc. that performers on an online streaming platform were correctly classified as independent contractors under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act but not under New Jersey’s stricter ABC test, making them employees under state law. The court found the performers worked within the platform operator’s usual course of business and not outside its places of business. The decision shows how the same worker can be classified differently under federal and state law.
Source: National Law Review | SEE FULL ARTICLE →
