The Department of Labor announced yesterday the Wage and Hour Division plans to hire 100 investigators this year. For sure, they’ll be earnest and energized. That’s why a solid grounding in the wage and hour laws affecting the government contractor community will be a powerful tool to ensure you get a fair shake.
Read MoreThe $15 Minimum Wage Executive Order (“MW EO”) only applies on or after January 30, 2022, and then only to new contracts. It doesn’t apply to the time period worked in the prior contract under the old MW EO. For that period in 2022, all that is legally due is the $11.25 MW or any higher prevailing wage. While DOL is specifying the new $15 MW was intended to apply to hours spent performing on that new contract in 2022, that just means the new contract hours. Service and construction contractors should wait patiently for the new option year, or when the new MW EO clause is added to the contract ,and get a price adjustment for any extra costs.
Read MoreIncreasing a minimum wage rate sounds simple enough. However, in our world of federal contracting, simple ideas often get kinda complicated. Here are some of the tasks you need to do as the new Contractor Minimum Wage Executive Order gets rolled out.
Read MoreOn November 18, 2021, President Joe Biden resurrected the Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contract Executive Order after President Trump revoked the Obama administration’s prior Executive Order on the same subject.
Read MoreThe Department of Labor has now issued its final rule implementing a raise in the minimum wage for workers who perform on or in connection with federal contracts. Here are some thoughts about the new regs and how the new $15 per hour rate may require contractors to devote renewed attention to whether their employees are receiving the required minimum.
Read MoreThe evolving COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal employees and contractor employees are a work in progress. New Executive Orders that will require near universal vaccination of employees are replacing the vaccine-or-test mandate issued mere weeks ago. Read on for more about the new requirements and the confusion that may ensue in the meantime.
Read MoreUPDATE: President Biden is expected to announce executive orders that will mandate universal vaccination for federal workers and contractor employees with no testing option. We will post an update when the expected orders are issued. Federal contractor employees who work on Government sites must comply with President Biden’s vaccine or test policy. Must contractors pay employees for their time to get tested if they refuse to get a vaccine? Must contractors foot the bill for the tests? So far, these questions are going unanswered.
Read MoreOn July 21, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) published proposed regulations that implement President Biden’s Executive Order establishing a $15 an hour minimum wage for workers who perform on or in connection with federal contracts. While this is a new rule, it’s nearly identical to the existing federal contractor minimum wage requirements. Thus, what was clear before is still clear. What wasn’t, isn’t.
Read MoreThe new Federal Contractor Minimum Wage will make it difficult for contractors to bid on new contracts without knowing how the Government will compensate them for the cost of increased wages.
Read MorePresident Joe Biden signed an Executive Order increasing the federal contractor minimum wage to $15.00 an hour.
Read MoreRegardless of the ultimate outcome of the electoral process, government contractors wonder whether there will be wholesale changes for them, particularly with respect to their employment policies. Well, as with most things, the unsatisfactory answer is yes and no. Here are some examples of what might be on the horizon.
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“…. insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war -- seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.”
— Lincoln, Second Inaugural
Read MoreIf you are inclined to inform on your neighbor or employer, the Trump Administration has set up a new hotline number at 202-343-2008 or you can email OFCCPComplaintHotline@dol.gov and let them know if a government contractor is violating the new diversity training Executive Order.
Read MoreThe Trump Administration isn’t necessarily a lame duck, but it sure is acting like it by rushing employment law regulations and Executive Orders into place like this is their last chance. We have seen this show before, and it usually doesn’t end that well.
Read MoreEffective January 1, 2021, Federal Government contractors will be required to pay certain employees working on or in connection with a Government contract at least $10.95 an hour. This is a 15 cent an hour increase (i.e., 1.4%) over the current Contractor Minimum Wage.
Read MoreA new Executive Order was issued on August 3, 2020 to require reports be created by federal contracting agencies on use of foreign labor on government contracts and to discourage the employment of H-B1 Visa holders on federal government contracts.
Read MoreA final rule amending the FAR to delete the the Executive Order Nondisplacement rules effective June 5, 2020 was finally issued ending the requirement to offer a first right of refusal for employment on government service contracts to certain workers.
Read MoreOFCCP issued an exemption for certain new coronavirus related contracts providing “relief” from certain parts of Executive Order 11246 (EO 11246), as amended, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 503), as amended, and Section 4212 of the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), as amended. Generally, contractors performing under a covered contract no longer have to abide by the sections that require affirmative action to ensure the hiring of employees without regard to their sex, sexual orientation, religion, color, race, disability status, or veteran status. However, this waiver only applies to the exempted contracts.
Read MorePresident Trump revoked EO 13495 on Oct. 31, 2019, without formal rulemaking, and thereby set up a situation where new and existing solicitations, and current contracts containing the Nondisplacement Executive Order clause, will likely be subject to some confusion until the regulatory situation is resolved. But the bottom line is the service employee first right of refusal requirement has been revoked and there will be no more DOL enforcement actions.
Read MoreUnlike the Copeland Anti-Kickback Act, which covers most US Government construction projects, the Service Contract Act does not dictate the weekly payment of wages. So while Davis-Bacon Act covered construction workers' wages must be paid weekly, other federal laws like the SCA do not necessarily require such frequency of payment.
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