New SCA H&W rate increases are finally here and they are up about 7.3%. As to when they become effective, please read the blog. It is complicated.
Read MoreA Texas federal court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction that bars the U.S. Department of Labor from enforcing key elements of the updates to DOL’s Davis-Bacon Act. In so doing, the Court rolled back several of DOL’s attempts to extend DBA coverage more broadly.
Read MoreThe 1-800-MEDICARE call center contractor is being punished unfairly. A dangerous example is being made of Maximus. Its contract is being terminated. A new solicitation is being issued. It will have a “labor harmony requirement“ which will force the winning offeror to essentially accede to the demands of the union. That is not how the procurement system is supposed to work.
Read MoreLast week, the Supreme Court killed Chevron deference. Depending on your perspective, you either jumped for joy or you jumped off a bridge. To my mind, neither reaction makes a lot of sense.
Read MoreUnder the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”), taxpayers may obtain enhanced tax benefits in connection with certain clean energy projects so long as they they (or their contractors) pay prevailing wages, including fringe benefits, to all laborers and mechanics who are working on a project. So what are the prevailing wage and fringe benefits rates? What happens if you can’t find a rate?
Read MoreThe timing of when to add a new Service Contract Act (“SCA”) wage determination (“WD”) to a contract for remote workers can get rather complex. It depends on the facts. And the guidance is rather sparse. Here we try to parse the rules and offer some practical guidance.
Read MoreThe Government asks for past performance information in many, many solicitations. The Government usually will reserve the right to look at other information, not just that submitted by offerors. What happens if there’s information readily available to a contracting officer that he or she doesn’t review?
Read MoreCongress is seeking to legislate to restrict Federal employee remote work arrangements. Meanwhile, the private sector and government contractors are embracing remote work arrangements. Here are my own ambiguous views on remote work.
Read MoreThe Department of Labor announced the approval of a settlement of a subcontractor’s Davis-Bacon violations. The subcontractor’s close brush with debarment, the cost of a post-settlement compliance monitor, and the fact that the investigation lasted nearly three years all demonstrate the value of effective compliance efforts.
Read MoreThe Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (“CBCA”) holds that a Montgomery County, MD janitorial contractor cannot recover the costs under its Federal Government contract for a local county law requiring increases of the applicable minimum wage. Is the Board right? Can there be different facts with different results?
Read MoreBusinesses competing for federal contracts will be successful if they are able to offer high quality products and services for a reasonable price when compared with the offerings of their competitors. A recent bid protest decision issued by the Government Accountability Office offers a poignant reminder about how challenging it can be to come up with a price to perform a federal service contract.
Read MoreThe Department of Labor has issued a new bulletin meant to reiterate the need for human supervision and responsibility over artificial intelligence software used in the workplace for compliance with the FLSA and other requirements.
Read MoreWe’ve posted hundreds of blogs over the last six years. Looking back, three out of the top 10 posts are about Service Contract Act vacation rules. For a benefit that’s all about relaxation, it’s one of the most vexing SCA requirements—so much so that I believe they’re a poster child for the cliche that no good deed goes unpunished.
Read MoreA federal enclave doctrine has emerged that precludes the application of state laws to those contracts, including state wage and hour laws, which are being performed in enclaves where only the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction. But the devil is in the details of figuring out if an enclave exists. This blog is meant to identify a process to make that determination.
Read MorePaying workers in cash and off the books is unwise. Paying workers off the books to hide overtime violations isn’t just a bad idea - it’s a terrible idea.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division has only about 720 investigators. Once upon a time it had over 1,000 investigators. This means that those who would cross the lines set for child labor, minimum wage, and overtime pay, along with noncompliance with Government contract wage laws, are less likely to be found or punished.
Read MoreThe Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) of the US Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced last week that it recovered “$1.5 million dollars of back wages and damages for more than 400 workers” working for employers that had “federally funded” contracts. The announcement doesn’t convey the underlying cause of this multi-contractor compliance breakdown—the scale of which actually is extremely rare. I sure would like to know what happened here.
Read MoreSenator Bernie Sanders has proposed a new bill to make a 32-hour work week the standard and require that premium overtime be paid for all hours worked in excess of that amount. The bill looks unlikely to gain traction in this Congress, but the future of such legislation is more promising. For now I would propose more mandatory leave laws.
Read MoreThe Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) of the US Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced last week a three-year “collaborative agreement” with a union to educate workers and identify labor law violations. Is this an unfair thumb on the scale? Hopefully not, but this agreement arguably erodes the degree of independence that should accompany the Government’s enforcement of employment laws.
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