The 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.
Read More
“…. 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.
Read MoreThe Contractor Minimum Wage goes up by 2.4%. It is, of course, an automatic increase mandated by President Obama Executive Order. The Trump Administration is no fan of minimum wage increases. No similar inflation adjustment happens to the FLSA.
Read MoreWhile President Trump has revoked several of the Obama era procurement-related executive orders, the so-called “Nondisplacement” Executive Order (“EO”) first issued in 2009 has survived.
Read MoreSuccessor contractors must be prepared to pay EO sick leave benefits in addition to the other benefits set forth in the CBA, and those EO sick leave benefits likely are not a credit towards either SCA vacation or H&W benefits.
Read MoreThe answer depends on when the contract was originally awarded and what clauses have been incorporated therein originally or by subsequent contract modifications. Read your contract(s)!
Read MoreContracts resulting from federal government solicitations issued on or after Jan. 1, 2017, and contracts awarded outside the solicitation process on or after Jan. 1, 2017 (collectively, “new contracts”) may be subject to the federal sick leave Executive Order (“EO”) 13706.
Read More