Whether your workplace has remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, is just reopening now, or will do so sometime later this year, employers should be prepared for the possibility that some employees may refuse to work due to COVID-related safety concerns.

A federal district court on May 30 invalidated portions of a rule issued by the present National Labor Relations Board to modify the prior Administration’s regulation (often referred to as the “quickie” or “ambush” election rule) on union representation-case procedures. The Board swiftly responded by announcing that it would implement the remaining portions of the AGC-supported rule as of May 31.

Viral Tests for Active Cases Still Allowed

AGC and other contractor associations seeking multiemployer pension reform jointly released a new study on June 1 finding that composite retirement plans would have fared better during the coronavirus pandemic and related market declines than traditional defined-benefit multi-employer plans, allowing participants to receive higher benefits and attracting more employer participants. The study makes it clear that employees and employers stand to benefit once Congress authorizes the use of composite plans.

According to the latest Contractor Compensation Quarterly (CCQ) published by PAS, Inc., contractors are projecting 2020 construction staff wages to increase an average of 3.55% (excludes 0% projections), reported by over 300 companies in the 38th edition of the Construction / Construction Management Staff Salary Survey. For pay increase comparison, according to the WorldatWork, across all industries exempt professionals saw 2019 increases of 3.2% and they are projecting 2020 increases of 3.3%. For construction they reported a 3.9% increase in 2019 and are projecting 3.3% for 2020.

Employers May Need to Take Action Courts have struggled to uniformly decide whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate because of a person’s “sex,” protects employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or transgender status. Specifically, courts have not consistently interpreted Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination “because of . . . sex.” Originally, courts considering the question held that Title VII’s ban did not cover employees who were gay, and most said it did not protect employees based on transgender status. Within the last decade, however, many courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began to interpret “sex” to include LGBTQ employees. Not all courts, nor the Department of Justice, agreed with this interpretation. This issue was presented to the Supreme Court of the United States through three cases.

This week AGC joined with construction employers and building trades union in support of multiemployer pension reform. The letter to congressional leaders urges Congress to include common sense pension reform for the nation’s troubled pension plans and to authorize a Composite Plan option for healthy plans. Reforms called for include a special partition program from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The COVID-19 crisis and the resulting investment losses and reduction in contributions has further worsened many plans and has made reform more urgent.

Contains Q&A Section of Common Workplace Questions

Contains Q&A Section of Common Workplace Questions

During the last half of May 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) issued four decisions upholding the legality of employer facially neutral work rules. Two of the decisions applied the Boeing standard to assess the legality of work rules or policies while the other two decisions restored past precedent to find that an employers’ property rights outweighed employees’ right to engage in protected activities under §7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”). The key highlights of those decisions, including guidance on drafting work rules and policies that are lawful under the Boeing standard, are summarized below.