Paid Leave, Employee Misconduct, False Claims Act Settlement

What employers should know about key developments this week:

Paid Leave Reductions: The District of Columbia (DC) reduced paid family leave from 12 to six weeks, paid medical leave from 12 to 10 weeks, and the maximum weekly benefit to $1,100, effective October 1, 2026, for claims filed before October 1, 2030.
Employee Misconduct During Protected Activity: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will no longer use its 1979 Atlantic Steel standard and will return to its 2020 General Motors test, making it easier to discipline employees for misconduct during a strike or other protected activity.
Accenture False Claims Act Settlement: Accenture agreed to pay $25 million to settle claims that it used race and sex in hiring and promotion decisions in violation of the False Claims Act. It is the third major settlement announced under the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative.

DC Cuts Paid Leave, NLRB Reverses Course, Accenture Settles for $25 Million
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October 7, 2026

Transcript

[00:00:03] George Whipple: Welcome to Employment Law This Week. I’m George Whipple. Washington, D.C. rolls back paid leave benefits - The District of Columbia is bucking the trend of increased paid leave, reducing benefits under its Universal Paid Leave program. The recently approved Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act has reduced the maximum amount of weekly wage replacement benefits to $1,100.

[00:00:36] George Whipple: While there is no change to the amount of allowable parental or prenatal leave, DC's paid family leave has been cut in half—from 12 to six weeks—and paid medical leave is also reduced from 12 to 10 weeks. This reduction in paid leave took effect October first and will apply to all claims filed before October 1, 2030, which marks the end of D.C.’s four-year budget period.

[00:01:04] George Whipple: The NLRB makes it easier to discipline employees for misconduct during a strike or other protected activity. The National Labor Relations Board will no longer use the standard it adopted in 1979 to determine when an employee's words or actions lose protection under the NLRA. The board will instead return to the test it adopted in its 2020 General Motors decision, which it had abandoned during the Biden administration.

[00:01:35] George Whipple: The General Motors standard puts the burden on the NLRB to prove that any discipline against an employee for their misconduct during protected activity was motivated by that otherwise protected conduct. This reversal follows the Fifth Circuit's 2024 rejection of the Atlantic Steel standard. Now that the Republican majority on the board is fully constituted, we expect to see more reversals in the near future.

[00:02:04] George Whipple: The Department of Justice False Claims Act strategy wins another DEI settlement. Tech company Accenture has agreed to pay $25 million to settle claims that it used race and sex in hiring and promotion decisions, in violation of the False Claims Act. The DOJ also alleged the employer used these factors to limit training and development programs.

[00:02:30] George Whipple: This is the third major settlement announced under the Department’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative. That’s it for this week. Thanks for watching. We’ll see you next time.

In Case You Missed It

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