AGC of America submitted extensive comments on the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division’s proposed rule implementing Executive Order 13706, Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors, on April 12.
Each October, construction industry professionals in HR, training and workforce development gear up for the industry’s premier learning and networking event, AGC’s Construction HR & Training Professionals Conference, and this year is no different. The 2016 event will be held Oct. 5-7 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. For more information or to register visit www.agc.org/HR_TED.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has scheduled six upcoming seminars throughout the country to educate federal and federally assisted contractors on the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts and other federal contracting wage laws the agency enforces. Each two-and-a-half day seminar will address such topics as the process of obtaining wage determinations and adding classifications, compliance assistance and enforcement procedures, and the process of appealing wage rates. There is no cost to attend, but space is limited.
On April 1, AGC submitted comments to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opposing its proposal to revise the Employer Information Report (EEO-1). The proposal intends to collect compensation and hours-worked data, in addition to already collected race and gender data, from all employers with 100 or more employees. Prime and first-tier subcontractors who perform work directly for the federal government and have 50 or more employees would be required to submit the currently used EEO-1 report that does not include compensation and hours-worked data. Employers with fewer than 100 employees, second-tier and lower federal subcontractors with fewer than 100 employees, all federally-assisted contractors with fewer than 100 employees, and prime and first-tier subcontractors with fewer than 50 employees will not be required to complete either version of the EEO-1 report.
AGC Opposed to New Rule Overall, but Attained Some Improvements Over Proposed Rule
On March 23, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued final regulations revising the “advice exemption” and requiring employers and consultants (broadly defined) to report labor relations advice and services under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act's (LMRDA) "persuader activity" regulations. The effective date of the new regulations is April 25, 2016. The rule will be applicable to consultant arrangements and agreements as well as payments made on or after July 1, 2016.
Two of the industry’s top labor leaders addressed contractors at AGC of America’s 2016 Annual Convention on March 10 in San Antonio, TX. AGC CEO Steve Sandherr engaged Terry O’Sullivan, general president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, and Eric Dean, general president of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental & Reinforcing Iron Workers, in a discussion about their unions’ current initiatives and other matters of concern to union contractors. The session was hosted by AGC’s Union Contractors Committee and opened by Committee Chairman Vic DiGeronimo, Jr.
From Columbine High School to the rock concert in Paris, active shooter scenarios have become all too common. And while we remember most the students and concert attendees who tragically lost their lives, we must also remember that before these establishments were schools or concert venues, they were first workplaces -- workplaces that employed teachers, janitors, and office staff. And before that, they were workplaces that employed construction workers. During AGC’s 2016 Construction HR and Training Professionals Conference, retired police commissioner Bo Mitchell, will share best practices for planning and training employees for active shooter and other workplace violence situations.
This week the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing titled, “The Multiemployer Pension Plan System: Recent Reforms and Current Challenges”, which examined benefit suspension tools for deeply troubled plans under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014; the proposed benefit suspensions for participants in the Central States Pension Fund; the funding challenges of the United Mine Workers Pension Plan; the projected insolvency of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC); and the proposed new composite plan design.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a proposal that would revise the Employer Information Report (EEO-1). The new report would require all employers with 100 or more employees to submit compensation data and hours worked in addition to the racial, ethnic and gender status data currently required by the federal government. The new form would also apply to federal contractors with more than 100 employees, and, if implemented, will replace the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program’s (OFCCP) proposed Equal Pay Report for federal contractors.