States continue to incubate and drive workplace regulatory change, and early developments signal that 2026 will be a particularly active year.
Virginia pushes for expanded paid leave, higher minimum wage: The Virginia legislature passed a package of bills that would create new family and paid sick leave requirements for employers and push the state minimum wage to $15/hour.
- Paid leave bills: HB 5 and HB 1207 would allow employees to accrue and use up to 40 hours of paid time off for their own or a family member’s illness and up to 12 weeks paid time off for the birth or adoption of a child or personal or family member’s serious medical condition, respectively.
- The family leave legislation would be state managed, give workers 80% of their wage rate (capped at the average state weekly wage – the rate and cap are both comparable to other state laws), and be funded by a payroll tax.
- Virginia would become the 18th state with a paid sick leave law and the 14th with a paid family leave law.
- Minimum wage increase: The state minimum wage would increase to just under $14/hour in 2027 and $15/hour beginning in 2028 (the current rate is $12.77).
- Each bill now awaits new Gov. Spanberger (D)’s signature – there are no indications thus far that she would veto any of the three.
Takeaways: With Democrats now in control of both legislature chambers and the governor’s mansion, expect Virginia to join New York, Minnesota, Colorado, and other states in pushing for progressive workplace regulation (California, of course, being in a league of its own).
Rights for independent contractors continue to spread: More and more states are providing rights for independent contractors that are generally reserved for full-time employees, either through laws creating mandates on employers or voluntary programs established through legislation.
- These portable benefits include paid leave, health insurance, and retirement benefits.
- Five states have already enacted laws providing these types of benefits to gig workers ((Massachusetts, New Jersey, Tennessee, Utah, Alabama), while eight more have bills pending (Florida, Georgia, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Mississippi, Kansas, Wyoming)).
Takeaways: These laws continue to crop up regardless of which party holds power, even as a federal solution remains elusive. The Association has long advocated for a compromise approach that allows employers to provide certain benefits to contractors without creating a legal employer-employee relationship.
Challenges to captive audience laws meeting roadblocks: A judge dismissed a legal challenge to Connecticut’s “captive audience” meeting ban, in the latest setback for employer groups seeking these types of laws’ invalidation. The judge ruled that the group challenging the law did not have proper standing, and did not rule on the validity of the law itself.
- A dozen states currently have laws banning “captive audience” meetings (mandatory employer-held meetings that touch upon workplace conditions, which are often held in union campaign settings).
- Despite the laws’ perceived vulnerability on free speech and federal labor law preemption grounds, lawsuits challenging them have proven unsuccessful so far, with legal standing of those challenging the laws proving to be a roadblock.
Takeaways: Captive audience meeting bans will continue to spread in the absence of successful legal challenges, hindering employers’ ability to convey messaging on union representation – or even to hold general meetings that touch upon workplace conditions.
Want to learn how new state laws impact your compliance and business strategies? Join us next week for our state-law focused webinar: States of Play: 2026 State Law Developments Worth Watching
