DOL | The Contracting Education Academy

April 18, 2017 By cs

Wage violators retain lucrative federal contracts, says government watchdog

Government agencies are paying out millions of dollars to contractors that violate federal labor laws and affect more than 11,000 workers around the country, according to a new report from the Center for Public Integrity.

Examining 1,154 contractors recently investigated by the Department of Labor, the Center for Public Integrity found that between January 2015 and July 2016 federal contracts were modified or granted with 68 contractors with substantive violations, according to an exposé by Talia Buford and Maryam Jameel.

Some of the most egregious violators included Sterling Medical Associates (a health care provider for the Department of Veterans Affairs, among other agencies), the Corrections Corporation of America (the nation’s second-largest private prison firm) and Cornell University. In total, these three were flagged for nearly 3,000 violations and had to pay more than $2.4 million in back wages.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/wage-violators-retain-lucrative-federal-contracts-says-government-watchdog

August 31, 2016 By cs

‘Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces’ final rule and guidance released

Just in time for Labor Day, the Labor Department and FAR Council issued a final rule and accompanying “Guidance” to implement the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order.

Fair Pay & Safe Workplaces 2016 The new regulations will take effect on October 25, 2016. The regulations—which run to nearly 900 pages—contain a number of changes from the proposed regulations to demonstrate that the Department listened to stakeholders during the lengthy comment period.

Despite some concessions to industry comments, the final regulations still establish substantial compliance obligations.

In light of those burdens, the contracting community is well advised to invest time to understand these provisions. In this post, we summarize key changes and examine the way ahead for contractors.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2016/08/fair-pay-safe-workplaces-final-rule-guidance-released/

August 8, 2014 By cs

Executive order will mandate federal contractors report labor law violations

Contractors will have to report any labor law violations to federal agencies under an executive order signed by President Obama July 31, 2014.

Contractors will need to disclose any labor law violations from the past three years before a contract can be awarded to them. Violations include family and medical leave, collective bargaining and wages.

The order would also charge agencies with taking contractor labor law violations into account when awarding contracts.

Only contracts valued at more than $500,000 would be affected and the order will be implemented in 2016.

The order also lays out rules for agencies and contractors.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/executive-order-will-mandate-federal-contractors-report-labor-law-violation/2014-08-04

December 31, 2013 By cs

Study finds federal contracts given to flagrant violators of labor laws

A new congressional report criticizes the federal government for awarding tens of billions of dollars in contracts to companies even though they were found to have violated safety and wage laws and paid millions in penalties. Issued on behalf of the Democratic senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, the report cited examples over the past six years.

For instance, Imperial Sugar had $94.8 million in federal contracts last year, even though it paid $6 million in safety penalties over a 2008 factory explosion in Georgia that killed 14 workers. The report also noted that the federal government had awarded $4.2 billion in contracts to Tyson Foods since 2000, even though Tyson has faced more than $500,000 in safety penalties since 2007 and 11 of its workers have died on the job since 1999.

The report urges the government to weigh a company’s safety and wage violations more closely as it awards contracts, which are about $500 billion a year to companies employing 26 million workers, representing 22 percent of the nation’s work force. It stops short of recommending automatic suspension of contracts or debarring contractors that were found to have violated federal laws, partly because government agencies were sometimes at fault, a committee staff member said.

“Taxpayer dollars are routinely being paid to companies that are putting the livelihoods and the lives of workers at risk,” the report said. “Many of the most flagrant violators of federal workplace safety and wage laws are also recipients of large federal contracts.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/11/business/study-finds-federal-contracts-given-to-flagrant-violators-of-labor-laws.html

October 3, 2012 By cs

Sequestration memo sets stage of allowable costs

In its latest guidance, the White House has set the parameters under which it will let contractors bill the government for the cost of layoffs and contract changes caused by sequestration, if it occurs.

The Sept. 28 memo also reiterates the Labor Department’s position that potential for sequestration does not trigger the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, known as the WARN Act, that requires companies to give 60 days of notice before a layoff.

The White House said that contractors can bill the government for costs under two circumstances.

1. If sequestration occurs, and it causes a company to lay off workers or close a plant.

2. The contractor has followed Labor Department guidance on sequestration, and has competition costs for WARN Act liability as “determined by a court as well as attorney fees and other litigation costs.”

Keep reading this article at: http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2012/10/01/sequestration-memo.aspx

Just in time for Labor Day, the Labor Department and FAR Council issued a final rule and accompanying “Guidance” to implement the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order.

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