The Beltway Buzz is a weekly update summarizing labor and employment news from inside the Beltway and clarifying how what’s happening in Washington, D.C., could impact your business.
State Department Stops Visa Processing. On January 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of State announced on social media that the Department would “pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.” The pause will commence on January 21, 2026, and continue indefinitely. Nonimmigrant visas, such as H-1B visas, are not impacted by the announced pause. The seventy-five countries are listed by the State Department here.
Independent Contractor Proposal on the Way? The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) a proposed regulation relating to “Employee or Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.” Although the proposal has not been released to the public, according to the abstract, “The Department intends to rescind the 2024 IC rule and is considering how it will proceed with respect to independent contractor classification under the FLSA employee [sic] or under the FLSA.” Thus, while it is a safe bet to assume that WHD will propose rescinding the existing independent contractor regulation, it is unclear at this time whether the...
$556M federal agreement includes Colorado-based operations Affiliates of Kaiser Permanente have agreed to pay $556 million to resolve federal allegations that improper diagnosis codes were submitt...