The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announce that after June 14, 2019, www.WDOL.gov will be transitioning to https://beta.SAM.gov, which will become the new website for wage determination data.

On May 21, AGC submitted comments to the U. S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) in response to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) updating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime regulations. In line with AGC’s recommendations to the WHD, this NPRM is the second step the DOL is undertaking to revisit the Obama administration overtime rule that dramatically increased the salary threshold for exempt employees and would have resulted in unintended consequences, particularly for small construction companies construction employers in lower-wage regions, and construction personnel. In contrast to the Obama rule, this new proposal would simply update the salary threshold using current wage data, projected to January 1, 2020. The result would boost the standard salary threshold for exempt employees from $455 to $679 per week (equivalent to $35,308 per year).

Advises Caution in Selection and Execution of New Compliance Checks

On June 12, AGC submitted comments to the U. S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) updating the regulations governing regular rate requirements for the first time in more than 50 years. Regular rate requirements define what forms of payment employers include and exclude in the "time and one-half" calculation when determining workers' overtime rates. The NPRM focused primarily on clarifying whether certain kinds of perks, benefits, or other miscellaneous items must be included in the regular rate. Because these regulations have not been updated in decades, the proposal’s intent is to better define the regular rate for today's workplace practices.

Expands Employer and Employee Insurance Options

Construction employment increased by 4,000 jobs in May and by 215,000, or 3.0 percent, over the past 12 months, while the number of unemployed jobseekers with construction experience fell to a record low, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said that an extremely tight job market, rather than softening demand for projects, probably explains the modest employment increase in May.

The most recent Unified Agenda, released in late May, demonstrates that a robust agenda of regulatory reform continues as a theme of this Administration, yet it also shows little movement in the relevant policy AGC has been tracking.

Agency Removes ‘Joint and Several Liability’ from the Federal CGP

The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, released the following statement in response to the passage today in the U.S. House of Representatives of the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, a measure to offer conditional green cards and extend work authorizations to individuals who are in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (“Dreamers”) programs:

Construction spending was unchanged from March to April, with mixed results by project type for the month and for the year to date, according to an analysis today by the Associated General Contractors of America of new federal spending data. Association officials warned that tariffs and countermeasures by U.S. trading partners are adding costs and uncertainty to construction projects and are potentially reducing demand for numerous types of projects.