Regent University appreciates the opportunity to comment in response to the Virginia Employment Commission’s Notice of Intended Regulatory Action regarding the establishment of a paid family and medical leave program as required by Chapters 981 and 1093 of the 2026 Acts of Assembly.

Regent is a nonprofit Christian university in Virginia Beach. It educates students across a broad range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, and it serves one of the largest online and distance student populations in the Commonwealth. As an employer, Regent supports its academic mission through a workforce that includes faculty, staff, and a substantial number of student employees. Because Regent teaches and employs both on campus and remotely, its workforce spans on-site and remote arrangements, and many of its employees perform services from outside Virginia.

Regent supports and incorporates the comments submitted by the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia but writes separately to address several issues of particular importance to institutions like Regent.

First, the treatment of student compensation. Regent shares CICV’s questions about whether and how the unemployment-law student-service exclusions carry into PFML and adds that its graduate and professional programs compensate student workers in varied forms, including stipends, tuition remission, hourly wages, and housing allowances. Regent asks the VEC to confirm how each form is treated for eligibility and contributions, and whether excluded student services nonetheless generate wages for PFML contribution purposes. The regulations should also address the transition point when a student’s exclusion ends. Regent asks the VEC to specify whether wages earned while the exclusion applied count toward monetary eligibility afterward, how enrollment breaks such as summer terms are treated, and what standards define enrollment and regular attendance for part-time and online students.

Regent also requests examples or safe-harbor guidance addressing common higher education scenarios, including graduate assistants, work-study participants, resident assistants, teaching assistants, and students who move between student and non-student employment within the same base period.

Second, remote and multi-state work. Regent employs a large remote workforce, yet it is unclear whether the § 60.2-217 localization rules govern coverage under the new PFML program. Regent asks the VEC to confirm if and how the localization rules determine coverage for out-of-state and remote work, whether wages localized outside Virginia are excluded from contributions and eligibility, and how employers should report when a worker’s location changes during a benefit year.

Regent further asks the VEC to address coordination with other states’ paid leave or unemployment systems so that employers are not required to report or contribute on the same wages in multiple jurisdictions absent clear statutory direction.

Third, the treatment of adjunct faculty. Regent’s adjunct faculty are paid a contracted amount per credit hour or per student. Regent asks the VEC to clarify how adjunct faculty compensation is treated for eligibility and contributions. Because most adjunct faculty hold primary employment elsewhere, and many work from outside Virginia, Regent also asks how primary and secondary employment and out-of-state work bear on eligibility.

Fourth, coordination with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Regent asks the VEC to address how PFML and FMLA coordinate, including how concurrent use is administered and how the differing eligibility rules interact.

Regent appreciates the Virginia Employment Commission’s engagement and welcomes continued discussion.