The Service Contract Act (“SCA”) can apply to state and local governments, including public universities performing research and other government contracts. But when it comes to those public entities, they may have a loophole to get a special wage determinaton.
Read MoreThe Service Contract Act requires federal service contractors to provide certain fringe benefits to their employees. Some contractors pay cash in lieu of providing the benefits. Since the Fair Labor Standards Act requires payment of overtime based on a regular rate of pay, there’s a question as to whether cash-in-lieu payments must be added to wages to come up with the regular rate of pay. Read on to see how the Department of Labor and several courts reach different conclusions and how contractors should weigh their options.
Read MoreThe award of an emergency follow-on contract to a new successor contractor doesn’t change the operation of the Service Contract Act (“SCA”) Section 4(c) succcessor contractor rule. The follow-on contract is still subject to the wages and fringe benefits set forth in the collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) entered into by the predecessor contractor.
Read MoreThat seemingly benign boilerplate is not toothless throw-away verbiage. When negotiating a contract modification that pays a claim or resolves a dispute, consider whether there are contingencies you might be waiving. Bottom line - stop and think before you sign.
Read MoreThe SCA bars contractors from allocating their own plan administrative expenses towards compliance with the prevailing H&W fringe benefit However, this doesn’t bar an employer from claiming a credit for the expenses borne by the benefit plan. This dichotmy sometimes produces disputes and misunderstandings. Lately, DOL has been eying a more aggressive stance on administrative expenses.
Read MorePresident Joe Biden signed an Executive Order increasing the federal contractor minimum wage to $15.00 an hour.
Read MoreIncreasing service contract employee wages is laudable. Likewise, there should be robust and fair enforcement to ensure adherence to applicable laws, wage rates, and benefits. However, true reform must also include sound acquisition policy that incentivizes competitive compensation and benefits for employees and simplifies the process of finding the correct wage rates under the Service Contract Act.
Read MoreCan you get debarred and lose your federal contracts for a Service Contract Act violation? In a word, yes. However, proactive contractors can minimize the consequences of an otherwise honest mistake—the commission of which is not uncommon.
Read MoreIn with the new and out with the old. Marty Walsh takes the helm at DOL and new proposed rulemaking and pull backs of the Trump Administration’s tip credit initiatives continue apace. Elections have consequences.
Read MoreThe relationship between gig economy businesses such as Uber and Lyft and the people who do their work has come under considerable scrutiny as state and local governments have struggled over whether their wage and hour laws should apply to gig economy workers. But what happens to gig businesses if they have federal contracts? Will their workers be entitled to prevailing wages and benefits? Well—perhaps yes.
Read MoreWe’ve all heard the old adage that a deal’s a deal. The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals recently demonstrated how this adage can cost a federal contractor a fair chunk of change when it comes to the cost of increasing wages owed to service contract employees—especially for work performed overseas. Bottom line - carefully determine what your contract requires for service employee wages and benefits. Then, make sure your proposal meets those requirements and ensure that you’re protected from the shock of increased costs.
Read MoreFor many who are working remotely, it feels like decades since they’ve strolled down to the break room where they can view many notices required by various employment laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), the Service Contract Act (“SCA”), and the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (“EPPA”). A recent bulletin issued by the Department of Labor provides much needed guidance about how employers may use electronic posting to fulfill their posting obligations in the remote working world.
Read MoreThe future is unknowable. But here are some wage and hour predictions for 2021.
Read MoreDOL is on record of claiming jurisdiction over research and development (“R&D”) contracts under the SCA unless some other specific exemption applies.
Read MoreIn October of this year, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) published a study titled Federal Contracting – Actions Needed to Improve Department of Labor’s Enforcement of Service Worker Wage Protections (Oct. 2020). The GAO report has offered up some interesting factual nuggets on SCA investigations along with six rather bland recommendations to improve enforcement.
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 MoreDeclaring Election Day a national holiday isn’t exactly a novel idea. While the 2020 Presidential election may be the most participated U.S. election in recent memory, more can always be done to remove the obstacles faced by each voter. Accordingly, we make a modest proposal that Election Day be made a mandatory paid holiday with guaranteed time off to vote. Let’s tip a glass of cider to a new Democracy Day holiday!
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 MoreWhen new employees start work on a SCA covered contract, the employer faces a connundrum with respect to vacation bnefits. The employer can furnish the benefits immediately, and just pay benefits in excess of the SCA, resulting in payments above the minimum prevailing wage and impairing its right to a price adjustment the next option year. Or it can pay no vacation benefits, or just give leave without pay, and demoralize the new workers. But there is a third although relatively infrequently used course of action called an advanced or prepayment agreement or policy whereby the worker elects to receive the vacation benefit immediately on hiring, but the employer reserves the ability to get a credit for furnishing the benefit on the next anniversay date of employment.
Read MoreMany service contracts require that certain jobs, i.e., “key positions,” be held by highly qualified personnel dedicated to the project. So, what happens if that rock star project manager you spent months recruiting for a “key position” bails out on you in the middle of the competition to win the very contract the rock star was proposed to manage?
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