By Guest commentary Sunday, July 12th, 2026

By Jonathan Fraser Light

Now that almost half of 2026 is in the rearview mirror, it may be a good time to revisit employment and related laws to make sure your company is in compliance.

IT

There are new and little-known Department of Justice disability compliance rules for websites that address access and usability standards. Other new laws apply to the use of cookies, notices, and social compliance audit certification. Check with your webmaster about these issues. It is almost certainly time for an upgrade.

BANKING

It is usually not the banker’s fault when a company provides ACH or other electronic information to a customer, client, or vendor, and phishing crooks intercept it. It is almost always your company’s responsibility. Never provide such information by email or text. All information should be conveyed by phone with verification of who is on the line.

PAYROLL SERVICES

Although payroll companies provide much-needed services and are generally solid, employers need to check their work. One large payroll company recently instituted new algorithms that were supposed to facilitate gross-up bonus calculations for overtime. Unfortunately, something was amiss. A client’s overtime rate for its workers was $45, based on a regular hourly rate of $30. Inexplicably, the new algorithm bumped the OT rate to $121. No one in management discovered it (and the employees apparently kept mum) for four months.   

Payroll services also provide “attestations” that employees use to confirm that they took their meal and rest breaks. Attestations should be done daily, with language that actually is meaningful. One large service instituted an attestation in which employees affirmed at the end of the pay period that they had been paid for all time on their timesheets. Curiously, the attestation was required before the employees actually received their paycheck to make that comparison. 

HR CONSULTANTS

Whether from outside professionals or from your payroll service, be wary of aggressive cookie-cutter advice, especially when it comes to leaves of absence and termination. For example, I would never (well, let’s say 99%) terminate an employee on leave or very recently off leave unless there was blatant fraud or they were part of a larger layoff in which it was abundantly clear that they were logically part of the layoff group. 

When an employee ends an employee’s protected leave time, usually 12 weeks, do not terminate. At that point, the employer must conduct a “reasonable accommodation” analysis under state and federal law to determine whether they can allow the employee to remain on leave for a period of time. Accommodation doesn’t have to be indefinite, but employers must tread lightly and generally should agree to leave extensions to avoid litigation.

WORKERS WAIVING RIGHTS

Workers cannot agree to waive their rights under the employment laws, so beware of accommodating such requests. Home care workers, for example, frequently try to be independent contractors when they are almost always employees. 

Construction companies have been known to allow employees to work on Saturdays in a “mutually beneficial arrangement” situation: “We will pay you straight time because we can’t afford the overtime, but we’ll pay you cash so you don’t pay taxes.” This strategy works great until an attorney steps in representing a disgruntled ex-employee.

SEVERANCE AGREEMENTS

Consider severance agreements even for marginal employees being terminated. Keep it simple; there’s usually no need for eight to 10 pages of legalese when it can be summarized in a letter format in three pages, using simple English for the most part. Have documents translated if there’s any doubt about the employee’s English skills.

ARBITRATION

Arbitration agreements are a larger employer’s best tool to block class-action wage-and-hour cases and to avoid juries. Remember, however, that the employer must pay for the arbitrator. I saw a bill recently from an arbitrator for 10 days of arbitration and eight days of pre- and post-arbitration hearings, preparation and writing the opinion: $300,000. 

Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) will cover it, but if the employer doesn’t have that coverage, it will come out of the company’s pocket. Smaller employers, those with fewer than 25 to 30 employees, likely won’t be a target for a class action lawsuit, so they may want to rethink the arbitration option if they don’t have EPLI.

INSURANCE

EPLI isn’t automatically part of the primary general liability policy. It’s a standalone. Ask your insurance broker about it, along with cyber insurance and directors and officers liability insurance, to see if those are additional coverages the company should have. 

Also consider umbrella or excess liability policies depending on the nature of the business. Extra layers of protection never hurt, but price can be a deterrent. EPLI policies don’t cover wage-and-hour cases Employers can buy a wage rider under the primary EPLI policy, but the rider doesn’t cover settlement or loss; only attorney’s fees up to usually $100,000 after a relatively large deductible has been exhausted.

The common thread running through all of these reminders is to pay attention to the details, verify the work of your vendors and consultants, and don’t assume that silence from employees means everything is fine.

• Jonathan Fraser Light is the managing partner at LightGabler LLP, devoted exclusively to representing management in employment law issues and litigation.