Just out — a White House memorandum directing all federal contracting agencies to hire labor advisors to help coordinate with DOL and comply with the laws regarding labor and employment which pertain to federal procurements. This includes especially the Service Contract Act and the Davis-Bacon Act, but also many other labor requirements and Executive Orders.
Read MoreCivil money penalties (“CMP”) for the FLSA, CWHSSA and the PCA just went up based on inflation rate and a formula used to round them to the nearest dollar. These CMPs affect child labor and willful FLSA violations. They also impact overtime penalties for federal contractors.
Read MoreThe Wall Street Journal got the minimum wage wrong. But the good news is they issued an errata shortly thereafter correcting the mistake.
Read MoreThe states are the laboratories of minimum wage laws, with additional increases set for 2023. Meanwhile, the FLSA minimum wage languishes at $7.25 an hour. Of course, the two Contractor Minimum Wage Executive Orders pick up some of the slack.
Read MoreDoughnut chain agrees to future compliance at company’s 242 US locations for failure to include bonus income in calculating regular rate of pay due for overtime
Read MoreWith the new year comes new minimum wage rates applicable to employees who work on or in connection with many federal contracts. Consider this a courteous nudge to make sure you’re complying with the correct minimum wage requirements.
Read MoreThe Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 gives tax benefits to project owners who assure the payment of Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wages and benefits on certain energy construction projects. The devil, of course, is in the details.
Read MoreThe Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) authorizes the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to investigate, gather data, interview employees, enter and inspect work sites and review records as well as to gather data about hours worked and compensation paid. It can be quite intrusive; however, cooperation is certainly preferable to a perp walk. Read on to learn more about how an employer found himself arrested by the U.S. Marshal.
Read MoreThe Biden Administration has issued an Executive Order and proposed regulations for project labor agreements which will likely get finalized and become effective in 2023. it is time for construction contractors to get prepared.
Read MoreDoD recently issued a “new” rule to implement a prohibition of confidentiality agreements that would forbid employees or subcontractors to report waste, fraud or abuse. While there’s nothing actually “new,” read on to refresh your understanding of the rule and how you can ensure that your confidentiality agreements won’t run astray.
Read MoreWorkers don’t get to pick whether they should be classified as independent contractors or as employees. The burden is on the employer to do the classification analysis. And that burden will just get tighter when the Biden Administration proposed regulations get finalized.
Read MoreThis blog will serve as my final blog at Abrahams Wolf-Rodda. I have accepted a position with another law firm located in Washington D.C. in the Labor and Employment practice group. Thank you to all of the readers of my blogs. By Kirby M. Rousseau.
Read MoreBack in August 2022, I was puzzled by the small annual increase in the Service Contract Act (“SCA”) health and welfare rate which jumped by only 5%. At that time raging inflation was exceeding 8%-9%. Now I think I have some idea of what was going on. The CPI was overestimating the health insurance inflation.
Read MoreMany (if not most) of the myriad laws, regulations, and executive orders that apply to federal contractors each come with their own requirements to notify employees of the existence of these laws and their rights under them. For every rule, there’s a poster. News flash: they change - All. The. Time.
Read MoreA New Hampshire Federal Court orders a North Conway restaurant to pay $148,128 in back wages and liquidated damages to 31 employees for violating the FLSA.
Read MoreFreddy’s back! DOL is tinkering with the independent contractor rules yet again. And one Philadelphia medical staffing company had to cough up $9.3M to cover the back wages, liquidated damages, and civil money penalties for going to far.
Read MoreThe presumption that agency officials act in good faith often excuses lackluster contract administration. In this case, the Court of Federal Claims held that, even when officials “earnestly” do their best, a lack of guidance can constitute a breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing.
Read MoreDOL publishes a Notice on the Federal Register listing the new Federal Contractor Minimum Wage rates starting January 1, 2023.
Read MoreGovernment contractor stocks have generally performed mediocre over the last 21 months and have been a losing bet in an inflationary world.
Read MoreFederal contractors who hold multi-year fixed price contracts are feeling great pressure from this year’s high rates of inflation. DoD guidance issued in May essentially stated that these contractors should consider themselves up a well-known creek without a paddle. New guidance issued earlier this month offers a glimmer of hope by providing Contracting Officers a couple of options to provide relief to struggling contractors.
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