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New Va. Whistleblower Law Offers Broad Employee Protection. … Last week, Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law a wide range of employment laws, including robust legislation barring LGBTQ discrimination, combating wage theft, barring noncompetes for low-wage workers and prohibiting retaliation against whistleblowers

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Helen Thornton, 64, lost her income caring for people’s dogs while they’re away because her clients in Olympia, Washington, are staying home and have canceled appointments into May and June. After Gov. Jay Inslee issued an order prohibiting all non-essential businesses from conducting activities and operations on March 25, Thornton was forced to contact her mortgage company to ensure she wouldn’t have to make payments for the next six months, and she is trying to get in touch with her energy and utility companies as well to tell them she can’t pay those bills either.
On top of everything, Thornton, whose longtime partner, Marge Brown, died in 2006, faces another cruel reality: Like a number of other LGBTQ Americans, she has been denied survivors benefits by the U.S. Social Security Administration, thanks to a requirement that someone be married to their spouse for at least nine months before their death.

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The image went viral: a young woman, looking frankly at her phone as she takes a mirror selfie. She’s wearing scrubs, and there are angry red bruises pressed into a half-moon below each eye, on the bridge of her nose, and on her forehead. The widely circulated caption is in Italian; it explains that the poster is a nurse, and her injuries were caused by the face mask she has to wear to protect her own health while she does her job during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m physically tired because the protective equipment hurts, the gown makes me sweat and once I’m dressed I can’t go to the bathroom or drink for six hours,” the caption reads. “I am psychologically tired, and so are all my colleagues who have been in the same condition as me for weeks