Compliance. Small businesses scored a major victory when the U.S. Treasury Department announced that more than 32 million small business owners are no longer subject to penalties for failing to comply with Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting rules. Effective March 2, the Treasury Department will no longer enforce the Corporate Transparency Act or the associated beneficial ownership information reporting requirements. It intends to issue revised rules to focus the reporting obligation to foreign reporting companies only. Read more.

Immigration. Employers who face the risk of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inspections and audits should understand that mere inaccuracies in filling and maintaining Form I-9s may lead to not just warnings, administrative fines, and penalties, but to possible criminal prosecution. ICE may identify technical errors or substantive violations. Read more about the type of errors that are allowed to be corrected and what kind of violations will result in an employer fine. Missing or incorrectly completed Form I-9 (in other words, a civil fine ranging from $272 to $2,701 for each missing I-9 for each employee for bad or missing paperwork, and fines can be as high as $27,000 per worker for serious or intentional violations.

Safety Compliance. Under OSHA’s electronic reporting requirements, your company MUST electronically submit 300A data to the ITA if your establishment meets one of the following criteria:

1. 250 or more employees and is not in an industry listed in the Exempt Industries list in Appendix A to Subpart B of OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation of 29 CFR Part 1904 
2. 20-249 employees and is in an industry listed in Appendix A to Subpart E of 29 CFR Part 1904.
3. YOU MUST also submit 300/301 data if your establishment(s) has 100 or more employees and is in an industry listed in Appendix B to Subpart E of 29 CFR Part 1904

You can use the ITA Coverage Application to help decide about reporting.

Benefits. Under the FMLA, if an employee’s protected leave is unpaid, the employer may require the employee to use any accrued vacation, PTO, or sick time. However, if the employee’s protected FMLA leave is paid through workers' compensation or a short-term disability policy, then the employer may not require the employee to use any of their accrued vacation, PTO, or sick time. FMLA2025-1-A, (Opinion Letter) states that employers are likewise prohibited from requiring employees to use accrued vacation, PTO, and sick time if they are on a protected FMLA leave while receiving compensation from a paid family leave program. Although Florida does not have mandated state disability benefits, if you have remote employees in these states, this would apply.

Workers' Compensation. There is a Going and Coming Rule and Traveling Employee provisions of Section 440.092, Florida Statutes. Travel to and return from work is usually not compensable. An employee was involved in an accident while traveling to his first remodeling job of the day as directed by the employer. The claimant claimed he was a "traveling employee" which is an exception to the going and coming rule in Section 440.092(4), Florida Statutes that excludes workers' comp benefits. The court determined that only if the Claimant is entitled to remuneration under the terms of employment, is he considered "at work" for work comp coverage, and can use the traveling employee provision. Case summary.