Your Top Destination for Human Resources Compliance Knowledge

On April 22, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced a proposed rule to address joint employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). This is an area of the law where components of legislative, executive, and judicial branches — at both the federal and state levels — have presented widely varying tests and standards.

Workplace culture encompasses how employees interact with each other, engage with their teams and jobs, and how they feel about their coworkers, managers, and the organization. Because it has so many parts, workplace culture could be viewed as a large and sensitive creature.

Why sensitive? Because workplace culture is easily damaged, and hard to repair once broken. Despite the well-intended mission statements and values that an organization publishes on jobsites and in handbooks, it’s the day-to-day behaviors that can hurt or even kill company culture.

According to 2026 Gallup data, only 2 in 10 U.S. employees feel connected to their organization’s culture. While any number of factors could have caused the remaining eight employees to disconnect, here are five top workplace culture “killers:”

1. Unclear roles and expectations. When job duties and responsibilities aren’t made clear, it’s frustrating and confusing for workers. This can decrease productivity and engagement, as well as hurt the organization’s culture.
2. Inconsistently applied policies. If employees see peers being treated differently, feelings of unfairness can breed hostility and lead to disengagement.
3. Siloing. When teams or departments look out for their own interests rather than the good of the organization, the lack of collaboration can hurt innovation, create a toxic environment, and negatively affect culture.
4. Not recognizing success. A workplace culture that ignores achievements can quickly become negative. Employees might even develop a “why bother” type of attitude.
5. Leadership that doesn’t model company values. Hypocrisy by managers and leadership can cause workers to disengage. Seeing a disconnect between the company’s stated values and actual practices can destroy culture.

On April 6, Congressman Brad Schneider (IL), along with Congressmen Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Don Beyer (VA), and Sean Casten (IL), reintroduced the Sarah Grace-Farley-Kluger-Barklage Act (HR 8207), a bill to ensure that parents who’ve lost a child are entitled to 12 weeks of bereavement leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The measure has been introduced many times before, however, and has yet to gain any traction toward becoming law.

Currently, the FMLA provides eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain life events, such as birth or adoption, a serious health condition, or to care for an immediate family member. During this leave, an employer may not terminate an employee who qualifies for such leave.

If passed into law, the Sarah Grace-Farley-Kluger-Barklage Act would amend the FMLA to add “death of a son or daughter” to the list of eligible life events for unpaid leave and allow parents the time to grieve without the fear of losing their jobs.

The bill is named in memory of Sarah Grace Weippert, Noah and Katie Farley, Erica Kluger, and Blake Barklage, whose parents have worked tirelessly to ensure other grieving parents who’ve lost a child are afforded the time to heal in the face of unimaginable loss.

Details of the Act’s leave requirements include:

• Employees would need to take the leave within 12 months of the death.
• Employers wouldn’t need to allow employees to take the leave intermittently or on a reduced schedule, but they may agree to do so.
• When the need for leave is foreseeable, employees would need to give notice to the employer as it is reasonable and practicable.
• Employers could require that the leave be supported by a certification, as prescribed by the U.S. Department of Labor regulations.

Although this bill is at the federal level, many states are beginning to enact bereavement leave laws. Illinois, for example, passed the Child Extended Bereavement Leave Act — which took effect on January 1, 2024 — and gives eligible employees 6–12 weeks of bereavement leave depending on the size of the employer.

Employers in states with bereavement laws on the books should be aware of their obligations.

Key to remember: The FMLA could expand to include time off for employees who are mourning the death of a child if this bill gets enacted.

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected time off for qualifying reasons, and up to 26 weeks of time off to care for a family member in the military.

Employees are eligible to take the leave if they:

• Have worked for the company for at least 12 months (those months don’t have to be consecutive),
• Have performed at least 1,250 hours of work, and
• Work at a location with at least 50 company employees within 75 miles.

Employers might think they determine if employees meet these three criteria when employees ask for leave. That, however, isn’t true. The FMLA regulations have different dates employers must use to determine if employees are eligible for FMLA leave.