On August 31, 2018, President Trump signed an executive order designed to make it easier for smaller businesses to band together and offer retirement plans to employees. The order directs the Departments of Labor (DOL) and Treasury to propose regulations that allow unrelated businesses to offer what the order calls association retirement plans (ARPs) by relaxing the requirement that small business have a common interest to form what’s commonly known as a multiple employer plan, or MEP. The idea is similar to association health plans (AHPs), which received a regulatory boost when, in June, the Department of Labor finalized a rule to make it easier for small businesses to join groups or associations to offer insured health coverage in the large group market at potentially more favorable pricing with less restrictive requirements.

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced new directives, including new procedures for reviewing contractor compensation practices and a program to verify that contractors are in compliance with federal affirmative action program (AAP) requirements. These new directives are part of the Department’s efforts to maximize the effectiveness of compliance assistance outreach.

Prices for goods and services used in construction climbed 6.2 percent over the past year, intensifying a cost squeeze on contractors coping with widespread labor shortages, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new Labor Department data. Association officials noted that the cost increases come as many construction firms are already grappling with the impacts of labor shortages and the prospect of further tariffs on key materials.

Construction employment increased by 23,000 jobs in August and by 297,000 jobs over the past year, reaching a 10-year high, while the industry’s unemployment rate stood at an all-time low, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Even as firms continued to expand, a new report finds that most firms are struggling to find enough workers to keep up with demand.

Union contractors may not rely on contributions to typical vacation or welfare plans as a basis for claiming the temporary exclusion to the federal contractor paid sick leave rule, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has informed AGC. WHD provided the information to AGC in response to questions posed by AGC on behalf of questioning members. It supports AGC’s prior urgings that all union contractors working on federal projects should act promptly to come into compliance with the rule’s mandates.

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is announcing a minimum wage increase of $0.25 to $10.60 per hour to be paid to workers performing work on direct federal contracts and subcontracts covered by Executive Order 13658. Federally assisted contracts are not affected. The rate goes into effect on January 1, 2019.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has announced that in the upcoming weeks, it will hold public listening sessions to gather views on the Part 541 white collar exemption regulations, often referred to as the “Overtime Rule.”

On August 24, AGC filed joint comments in support of a proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluding the existing regulatory framework adequately prevents and contains discharges of hazardous substances.

Part One Kicks Off on Sept. 27 with a Look at Pollution Liability

Court Ruling Puts 2015 WOTUS Rule in Effect in 26 States