Withholding of money is an enforcement tool given to DOL. It is intended to serve the important remedial purposes of the prevailing wage laws. But it is a blunt instrument and can be used abusively and in violation of due process rights. DOL needs to curb those abuses. Withholding is becoming all too often routine and a means to secure the outcome DOL wants regardless of the merits.
Read MoreThe CBCA is now on record again that, same as the situation under the SCA, when a new EO sick leave benefit requirement is added to an existing contract, that constitutes a change to the contract and entitles the contractor to a full equitable adjustment in the contract price. The presence of an EPA clause does not alter that “straightforward and uncontroversial conclusion.”
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New Service Contract Act (“SCA”) health and welfare (“H&W’) rates for 2026 - 2027 have supposedly been determined but I cannot find any public official DOL announcement.
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With the Secretary of Labor’s resignation, the path cleared for Keith Sonderling to take the Department reigns more formally.
Read MoreThe misbegotten Biden-era attempt to apply the Davis-Bacon Act (“DBA”) by operation of law to contracts that omit the clauses and wage determinations is likely to soon be completely dead. And if you are a trucker or materialman business bringing goods to a DBA covered work site, you are now less likely to be caught up regulatory web and covered by the DBA.
Read MoreDOL and state labor departments are eyeing this summer’s FIFA World Cup events and monitoring wage and hour enforcement while trying to guide employers. Personally, I am skipping the Seattle event.
Read MoreSlotting and conformance are two distinct processes under the SCA and DBA used by both DOL and contractors to determine appropriate wage rates for employees when the provided WD does not explicitly list a specific job title. Slotting is the process of mapping a job to an existing, similar classification found in the WD based on comparable duties and skills. Conformance is a formal process used when no suitable classification exists in the WD, requiring the creation of a new, approved labor category and rate..
Read MoreIt is the inaugural National Apprenticeship Week (“NAW”), so let’s review the events this week at DOL.
Read MoreThe Trump Administration -- whether due to incompetence, malfeasance, ideological opposition, or plain obstinate refusal to obey the rule of law -- has failed to publish new 2026 civil money penalties (“CMPs”) for the wage and hour laws which were required to be issued by January 15th.
Read MoreCount me as one who hates change. I find the so-called “Revolutionary FAR Overhaul to be unnecessary, confusing, and likely to lead to more not less procurement disputes.
Read MoreA client asked me to write a step-by-step guide to Davis-Bacon Act (“DBA”) conformances. A conformance is the process for setting a prevailing wage and fringe benefit standard for job positions missing from a wage determination. This blog is meant for practitioners and contractors who must deal with conformances. It is an a summary adapted from my prior work product.
Read MoreIs roll call time compensable working time and included in the overtime calculation? The answer is ordinarily yes, and particularly so if you define it as working time in your CBA. Maybe there is an exemption you can fall in, but you have to meet the requirements of the exemption to avoid coverage.
Read MoreIt is the last day of an eventful year. I thought I would try my hand at predicting what happens in the government contract world in 2026.
Read MoreDOL completed part of its deregulatory efforts yesterday when it fully revoked the regulations issued by former President Biden’s Administration on so-called nondisplacement of workers. The new DOL action involved the rescission of regulations published by the previous administration in 2023 requiring contractors and subcontractors to give qualified employees the right of first refusal of employment with a successor contract.
Read MoreI have looked at the FAR Part 22 labor and employment provision changes in the proposed Revolutionary FAR Overhaul. To my eyes they don’t seem so “revolutionary.” Mostly, what they do is move the interpretive regulations to the new FAR Companion or other resources. That may reduce their importance. And that may make it easier to evade compliance. But that isn’t likely to change much for the prevailing wage field since the FAR regulations were simply a restatement of the Department of Labor’s (“DOL’s”) Part 4 and 5 regulations found in 29 Code of Federal Regulation. Those DOL regulations have been around for a long time. Taking provisions out of the regulatory book (yet leaving DOL’s regulatory scheme in place) and leaving existing statutory provisions on the books, does NOT constitute a “revolution.”
Read More“Freddy’s back!” Is it an nightmare on Elm Street? Once again DOL has instituted a PAID program for voluntary self-audit and payment of FLSA and FMLA errors. But think carefully before you dive in.
Read MoreThis back-to-basics blog just touches on a few of the many possible issues that come up under the SCA section 4(c) successor contractor rule. That rule can require successor contractor to pay not less than the wages and fringes set forth in the predecessor’s collective bargaining agreement. It is a very complex area of the law, and it is one place where the engagement of competent SCA counsel may aid in dealing with disputes.
Read MoreThe Trump Administration just revoked a Biden-era Executive Order that, among many other things, led to a ban on noncompete clauses in employment agreements. A Texas injunction rendered the FTC’s regulation a dead letter. President Trump’s order just made that dead letter deader.
Read MoreMy candidate for the most important law enacted by Congress is the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). This law had perhaps the greatest economic impact upon the most Americans of any legislation. And its legacy endures even today, as it makes an appearance in the so-called One Big Beautiful Tax Bill as the instrument to partially deliver Trump’s promised no tax on overtime.
Read MoreHow often employers must run their payroll for federal government contract work is dependent on the contract terms and where you are performing the work. The requirement usually varies from weekly to monthly, but employers need to review both your contract and state and local wage laws and regulations. The answer is that “it depends.”
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