On March 18th, 2020, President Donald Trump signed H.R.6201 or the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) into law providing emergency leave benefits for workers unable to perform their job duties due to the pandemic. The law marks a victory for those seeking to expand sick, family and medical leave rights of workers.
Read MoreThe Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and sent to the Senate this week. The bill would allow for two weeks of fully paid sick leave and up to 10 weeks of partially paid leave (at two-thirds pay) for workers of small business employers meeting certain conditions. The leave would be financed by a tax credit.
Read MoreWhen it comes to the timing of negotiating and implementing a Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”), the Service Contract Act (“SCA”) can be unforgiving. Contractors must give timely notice of a newly-minted CBA if they want a price adjustment for the increased costs of SCA compliance under the CBA. A recent decision from the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (“ASBCA”) reminds us that there is a vital prerequisite to this general rule: the Government has its own notice obligations.
Read MoreHow frequently do employers have to pay their workers? The answer is it depends. Some of the variables it can depend on include wheher the employer is working on a government construction contract, what state the worker is performing labor in, what is the classification of the worker (exempt or nonexempt), and how much is the worker paid.
Read MoreThe Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) recovered a record of $322 million in back wages that were owed to workers in fiscal year 2019.
Read MoreThe Davis-Bacon Act (“DBA”) still applies to military privitization construction projects, and they are treated differently than the commercial development litigated in the City Center case.
Read MoreUnder the FAR SCA Price Adjustment clause, notice must be furnished to the Government within 30 days of receipt of a new wage determination to be incorporated into a contract in the option or extended period of performance. But that notice proviso is not interpreted strictly and it should not be used to bar price adjustment claims as per se untimely after the 30 day window has past.
Read More
A dispute over the obligation to deliver replacement batteries for golf carts illustrates how years of contract performance can create confusion (and discord) over what happens at the end of a contract.
Read MoreWhile the civil money penalty for violation of the overtime laws by federal contractors is suposed to be increased by the rate of inflation every January, this year the $27 penalty is being held steady. However, violation of the overtime laws done in prior years, but uncovered and enforced now, will still be assessed the $27 a day current penalty rather than the lesser fines in existance at the time of the violation.
Read More
In tennis, foot faults are minor, yet sometimes game changing, errors. Three recent bid protest decisions demonstrate how seemingly technical glitches in the presentation of key personnel qualifications created potentially insurmountable errors.
Read MoreDOL issues new joint employment rules under FLSA meant to clarify and narrow the definition of an “employer” and provide more protection to franchisors, contractors, and businessess who indirectly engage workers through other employers.
Read MoreComments filed by employers and employees in response to the DOL’s proposed fluctuating workweek (“FWW”) method regulations demonstrate again that the two parties see different things in the same proposed regulation.
Read MoreLook for changes in the salary basis exemption threshold, the Government Contractor Minimum Wage, state minimum wage laws, and the federal employee paid family leave law to take effect here in 2020.
Read MoreThe GAO recently found that a contract modification was so far outside the scope of a contract that it should have been the subject of a new procurement. Read on to learn what happened and what to consider when a contract is significantly modified such that it almost seems like a whole new beast.
Read MoreThe Department of Labor (“DOL”) has announced that the minimum wage for federal contractors will increase to $10.80 per hour beginning on January 1, 2020. This is just a minimum. Sometimes contractors have to pay more.
Read MoreDOL is cleaning up some (but not all) of the confusion surrounding the use of the Fluctuating Work Week (“FWW”) / half-time method of paying overtime to salaried workers. DOL has proposed that bonuses and other payments in addition to the salary will not get in the way of the payment of a half-time overtime premium to otherwise salaried workers.
Read MoreThe Service Contract Act once had an expansive exemption for certain commercial contracts, but the current iteration of the DOL and FAR rules cut back on that significantly and left a very restricted SCA prime and subcontract exemption that few contractors can use.
Read MoreYou just won a contract. You brought that brilliant project manager on board. Then, your competitor files a protest and you have to stop work. What do you do to keep that manager in the stable? A recent case at the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals denied a contractor the cost of doing something quite reasonable—keeping the manager on board.
Read MoreWhen government service contractors unionize, they can pass the cost of any well-timed wage and benefit increases to the US government under the Service Contract Act Price Adjustment clause.
Read MoreNew proposed tip credit rules are out to implement the statutory changes. Comments are due in December 2019.
Read More