labor law | The Contracting Education Academy

April 25, 2018 By AMK

President revokes ‘Fair Pay And Safe Workplaces’ EOs

President Donald J. Trump has loosened the federal government’s grip on businesses looking to secure federal contracts.

On March 27, 2017, the president signed Executive Order 13782 revoking executive orders by President Barak Obama that had regulated the conduct of federal contractors. President Trump’s EO 13782 expressly revokes Obama’s EO 13673, also known as the “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” order, as well as subsequent amendments, set forth in Section 3 of EOs 13683 and 13738.

President Obama issued EO 13673 on July 31, 2014, with the stated purpose of ensuring that federal contractors comply with applicable labor laws. EO 13673 contained three major provisions that separately addressed (i) disclosure of compliance with labor laws, (ii) paycheck transparency and (iii) arbitration clauses for claims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and discrimination.

More specifically, EO 13673 required federal agencies to include provisions in their solicitations to potential service providers directing them to disclose “whether there has been any administrative merits determination, arbitral award or decision, or civil judgment” for violations of certain labor laws issued against them within the preceding three years.
EO 13673 also required all agency solicitations and contracts to include that service providers must issue to individuals performing work under the contract a document containing information on “that individual’s hours worked, overtime hours, pay and any additions made to or deductions made from pay.”
EO 13673 further required agencies to include in their solicitations and contracts a provision that service providers are prohibited from including in their contracts with employees clauses requiring the arbitration of claims arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, or sounding in any tort relating to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=692996

November 9, 2017 By AMK

Admin tells agencies to strip contract provisions guarding against wage theft

Federal contractors will not face requirements aimed at protecting employees from wage theft and unsafe working conditions under a rule the Trump administration finalized on Monday, Oct. 6, 2017.

The rule follows a resolution Republican lawmakers passed and President Trump signed in March under the Congressional Review Act, which voided an Obama administration push for more transparent compliance with workplace laws for employees working on federal contracts. While most of the provisions of the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces initiative were never enforced after a federal court blocked their implementation, the Trump administration noted at least one key reform may have made its way into some contracts.

President Obama pushed a rule known as “paycheck transparency,” which required contractors to provide detailed statements on their hours worked and compensation earned. That provision was never enjoined in court, meaning some federal contracts signed in 2017 with an estimated value of more than $500,000 may have already included the requirement. The goal of provision was to ensure employees were protected against wage theft by their employer.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2017/11/trump-admin-tells-agencies-strip-contract-provisions-guarding-against-wage-theft/142337

April 18, 2017 By AMK

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 8, 2014 By AMK

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 AMK

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

President Donald J. Trump has loosened the federal government’s grip on businesses looking to secure federal contracts.

Federal contractors will not face requirements aimed at protecting employees from wage theft and unsafe working conditions under a rule the Trump administration finalized on Monday, Oct. 6, 2017.

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