Comments on new independent contractor proposed rules are due by Oct. 22, 2020. Don’t expect any major changes in the final rules as a result of your comments.
Read MoreThe Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued guidance regarding an employer’s obligation under the FLSA to track the number of hours of compensable work performed by employees who are teleworking. Essentially, employers are required to exercise reasonable diligence in monitoring work hours without discouraging employees from reporting their legimate hours worked. Read on to learn our take on this new guidance.
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 MoreA Contracting Officer’s choice of what industry classification (aka NAICS code) applies to a contract can determine whether a business is or is not eligible to compete for a small business set aside contract. It all comes down to the size standards applicable to the chosen category. Read on to learn more about the implications of such classifications and whether you can do something about a bad choice.
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 MoreThe Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) has certain recordkeeping requirements that employers need to observe. This blog covers some of those requirements and the timekeeping and rounding practices that are permissible.
Read MoreThe Small Business Adminstration (“SBA”) recently changed the process by which companies can obtain certification as Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB) or Economically Disadvantaged Small Businesses (EDWOSB). Self-certification no longer is an option. Here’s what companies need to know to obtain new certifications or to figure out if your current certification might be in jeopardy.
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 MoreDon’t let the Boards of Conract Appeals fool you. Contractors have 120 days to appeal decisons to the Federal Circuit. Sitting on your claim for reimbursement is never a good idea. Once you get a final decision, the appeal clock is running.
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 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?
Read MoreThe DOL has issued final FLSA regulations defining the joint employmrent relationship and narrowing the application of the rule.
Read MoreThe Government has several avenues to pursue damages when a contractor commits fraud, including bringing its own False Claims Act suit or joining a proxy qui tam lawsuit. But what happens when the Government’s mistake leads to a contractor’s damages? In a recent case, a contractor invoked the so-called Spearin doctrine to recover legal fees from an erroneous qui tam lawsuit.
Read MoreDOL requires the annual use or cash out of the vacation benefit under the SCA and does not allow covered workers to bank or carry forward the unused vacation leave into another anniversary period .
Read MoreEmployers facing the pressure of Covid-19 or different business slowdown, and considering a reduction of exempt employee pay and hours of work, may be relieved to know that a bona fide reduction of hours due to financial exigencies will not prevent an employee from still qualifying as exempt. if still paid over the miminum salary threshold.
Read MoreThe Government is entitled to procure supplies and services that are carefully focused to meet its needs. However, if a solicitation’s terms preclude otherwise qualified companies from competing for the award, then the solicitation might unduly restrict competition.
Read MoreNew law school graduates face special burdens in the age of the pandemic arising from delays in the bar exam process.
Read MoreEven in the era of a pandemic, or especially in the era of a pandemic, the wage and hour machine grinds onward.
Read MoreThe Court of Federal Claims sustained the protest of a contractor that argued that the Government could not hire a replacement contractor through the use of an improperly justified sole source acquisition. The Court set aside the new award—a result that likely will require the Government to continue working with a contractor with which it allegedly was dissatisfied. Should an agency have the ability to make a change using a sole source procurement? In the commercial world, feathers might get ruffled, but a jilted vendor wouldn’t be able to get a court to throw out a replacement. In our world, it’s all different.
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