On December 22, 2023, the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) published a final rule that could have consequential effects for federal construction contractors and subcontractors. The rule, which implements President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14063, directs agencies awarding “large scale construction contracts” to require the use of project labor agreements (PLA).
Continue Reading Final Rule Requires Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Contractors
Meredith Gregston
Federal Court Rules EEO-1 Reports Not FOIA-Exempt
On December 23, 2023, a federal District Court in California issued an order compelling the OFCCP to produce formerly-withheld EEO-1 reports to a news organization who submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for the reports. This order is significant because it compels the OFCCP to produce the EEO-1 reports for all federal contractors between 2016 and 2020. The plaintiff news organization submitted four FOIA requests to the OFCCP between 2019 and 2022 requesting all EEO-1 reports submitted by all federal contractors from 2016 through 2020. OFCCP published a notice in the Federal Register informing all contractors of the requests and an opportunity to object. OFCCP released all EEO-1 reports from all non-objecting contractors. The instant litigation relates to the EEO-1 reports of the objecting contractors.
Continue Reading Federal Court Rules EEO-1 Reports Not FOIA-Exempt
USDOL Finalizes Right of First Refusal Regulation for Federal Contractors
On December 14, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule that restricts federal contractors in who they can employ when carrying out federal service contracts under the Service Contract Act (SCA). …
Continue Reading USDOL Finalizes Right of First Refusal Regulation for Federal Contractors
Federal Contractor Minimum Wage in Flux
In April 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14026, which increased the minimum wage for federal contractors to $15.00 per hour for contracts under the Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon Act. The U.S. Department of Labor subsequently issued a final rule implementing the Executive Order, and the new $15.00 minimum wage for federal contractors took effect in January 2022, with annual increases thereafter. …
Continue Reading Federal Contractor Minimum Wage in Flux
New OFCCP Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing Increases Burden on Federal Contractors
On August 25, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced an updated Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing that places a more onerous information disclosure burden on federal contractors in responding to a Supply and Service compliance audit. In particular the updated Scheduling Letter, OMB No. 1250-0003, now requires federal contractors to produce more documentation for a variety of Items and increases both the scope and breadth of requested compensation data.
Continue Reading New OFCCP Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing Increases Burden on Federal Contractors
OFCCP Publishes Final Rule on Pre-Determination Requirements and Conciliation
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) recently published a final rule titled “Pre-enforcement Notice and Conciliation Procedures.” This rule rescinds the evidentiary standards from the 2020 rule titled “Nondiscrimination Obligations of Federal Contractors and Subcontractors: Procedures to Resolve Potential Employment Discrimination,” which required specific pre-determination notice requirements and certain evidentiary standards. In a blog post, the OFCCP explains that the “new final rule restores flexibility to OFCCP’s pre-enforcement and conciliation procedures, promotes efficiency in resolving cases, strengthens enforcement and promotes alignment of the standards of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” …
Continue Reading OFCCP Publishes Final Rule on Pre-Determination Requirements and Conciliation
TikTok “Bytes” the Dust for Federal Contractors and Other Important Updates
Federal contractors have had a flurry of headlines to keep up with over the last few months. Most prominent among them is the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council’s interim rule barring federal agencies and contractors from using TikTok or any other ByteDance product (the “Covered Applications”). …
Continue Reading TikTok “Bytes” the Dust for Federal Contractors and Other Important Updates
Pay Equity Claims Are on the Rise – How Are Courts Interpreting the Differences in State and Federal Laws?
As discussed in prior blog posts, here, here, and here, pay equity is a hot topic for employee retention and compliance. This principle of equal pay for equal work has been mandated since the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and reiterated in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. More recently, legislators at the federal, state, and local level have increased their focus on pay equity and pay transparency initiatives. …
Continue Reading Pay Equity Claims Are on the Rise – How Are Courts Interpreting the Differences in State and Federal Laws?
Pay Equity – A Patchwork Legal Landscape
As pay equity has drawn more attention in recent years, employers need to stay abreast of the patchwork of federal, state, and local laws related to pay equity issues. Importantly, employers should understand the varying standards for protected characteristics, appropriate comparators, and accepted defenses under the varying laws of different jurisdictions. At a high level, this post summarizes the federal and state legal frameworks for pay equity claims and highlights the important differences in analyzing such claims.
Continue Reading Pay Equity – A Patchwork Legal Landscape
Pay Disclosure and Transparency Efforts Across the Country
As pay equity and transparency continues to trend in the news, states and localities have passed pay disclosure and transparency laws to further assist employees in evaluating whether they are being paid fairly. These laws vary in scope – some require the disclosure of pay ranges on job postings, others require employers to provide the pay scale for a position upon an applicant or employee’s request, and others require employers to automatically provide pay scale information at the time of hire. Despite their differences, all of these pay disclosure laws are aimed at adding transparency to conversations about pay. …
Continue Reading Pay Disclosure and Transparency Efforts Across the Country