Of all the accommodations considered reasonable under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), perhaps the most frustrating is when an employee requests additional time off after their 12 weeks of Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave ends. This is particularly true since the ADA, unlike the FMLA, provides no statutory or regulatory parameters indicating the amount of additional leave employers must provide. However, a federal appeals court has just handed employers a milestone victory in one such legal battle that might ease the frustration levels for some.

Jenny Grounds, BOUDREAUXThe idea of performing market research can often feel like a burden for small marketing groups. The everyday tasks already on your to-do list can easily fill up a 40-hour work week. Where do you find the time to research, compile, and analyze piles of data on top of everything else? Market research doesn’t have to be complex or require robust, expensive studies to be effective. By breaking it into small, manageable pieces, you can gather information that will directly benefit your A/E/C firm without overtasking your teams.

On November 30, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) appealed a Texas judge’s decision to toss out an Obama administration rule that would have nearly doubled the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) salary threshold for exemption from overtime pay. The Trump administration DOL is defending its authority to create an overtime rule, but not the salary limit set by the Obama administration. The agency filed its notice to appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and once docketed, the agency — through the Department of Justice — will file a motion to hold the appeal in abeyance while the DOL undertakes further rulemaking to determine what the salary level should be.

Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs between September 2016 and September 2017, while 26 states added construction jobs between August and September as some state employment levels were impacted by recent hurricanes, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of Labor Department data released today. Association officials noted that construction employment in many parts of the country would have been higher if more qualified workers were available.

The Business Development Best Practices are an ongoing effort by the AGC Business Development Forum Steering Committee to bring more BD resources and best practices to the AGC membership. Written and developed by industry experts in Business Development, these best practices cover a wide range of topics, from relationship building and sales to marketing and proposals. This month, the Business Development Forum Steering Committee highlights: Companies spend significant resources on online marketing only to be left wondering why it’s not working. It’s not surprising. Gaining traction through content alone is not easy—especially if you want to do more than build awareness. In her article, “First Contact: Using Incentives and Automation to Spur Web Visitors to Action”, Ida Cheinman, Substance151, walks you through her strategy to nurture your website visitors so that they are ready to be engaged prospects.

California & Oregon Have Biggest Job Gains for the Year, Iowa and Missouri Have Largest Declines; Monthly Changes Reflect Hurricane Impacts, as Texas Adds the Most Jobs but Florida Has Huge Loss

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt signed an agency-wide directive (and accompanying memo) on Oct. 16 that imposes steps to end the practice known as “sue and settle” – which is a quick resolution of citizen suits by environmental groups against the EPA, involving the agency’s failure to comply with statutory deadlines for issuance of regulations. Such agreements are oftentimes reached with little to no public input or transparency, EPA said, calling such a practice “regulation through litigation.” AGC has long expressed concern that special interest groups are using these lawsuits to force the EPA to issue regulations that advance their interests and priorities. The chief executive officer of AGC praised EPA for “putting an end to back room agreements ... [and] making sure that all affected parties have an opportunity to contribute to the discussion about measures needed to protect our environment.”

On October 18, AGC submitted recommendations to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), highlighting the regulatory burden on the construction industry and offered specific program modifications and solutions relating to performing work with USACE.

Construction-industry collective bargaining negotiations settled so far this year resulted in an average wage-and-benefit increase of 2.6 percent or $1.44, according to the latest Settlements Report issued by the AGC-supported Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC). Settlements reported between January and September 2017 resulted in an average first-year wage-and-benefit increase of 2.8 percent or $1.62. For newly negotiated multiyear agreements, the average second-year increase was 2.9 percent or $1.69. Settlements this year maintain an upward trend that has continued since 2011.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce recently approved the Save Local Business Act, which would clarify that two or more employers must have “actual, direct, and immediate” control over employees to be considered joint employers under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The changes are significant and have the potential to disrupt the long-standing standards in labor law and the well-settled subcontracting practices in the construction industry. Due to the significance of the changes, AGC delivered a letter to Congress in advance of the committee action encouraging support of the legislation.