Employers may be surprised to learn that the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board” or “NLRB”) just issued a unanimous decision invalidating an employer’s mandatory arbitration agreement that could be reasonably interpreted as preventing employees from filing charges with the Board. The June 18 Prime Healthcare decision analyzed the employer’s arbitration agreement using the relatively new Boeing Co. standard for evaluating facially neutral policies and rules that potentially interfere with employees’ protected rights, but fell on the side of the workers. The Prime Healthcare decision may require you to adjust your arbitration agreements.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (“OLMS”) recently made technical changes to the poster that federal contractors and subcontractors are required to display under Executive Order 13496. The poster informs employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). The Department updated the poster to reflect a new telephone number for the National Labor Relations Board, the agency responsible for enforcing the NLRA, and to provide contact information for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. No other changes or updates were made at this time.
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
The AGC Labor and Employment Law Council (LELC) recently held its 35th Annual Construction Labor Law Symposium in Washington, DC. Attorneys and labor relations managers from across the country gathered to learn about labor and employment law developments relevant to construction employers.
Union contractors, labor representatives, and construction owner-clients alike project strong, stable growth in 2019, report The Association of Union Constructors (TAUC) and the Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) in their recently released fifth annual Union Craft Labor Supply Study. At the same time, survey respondents report growing craft labor shortages. The report shows that craft labor shortages in the union construction and maintenance industries are prevalent – reported in 69 percent of organizations – but are generally small, with 54 percent of respondents estimating a 12.5 percent shortage of craft workers. About a third of respondents reported no shortage or a surplus of workers.
The Social Security Administration recently resurrected its practice of issuing Employer Correction Request notices – also known as “no-match letters” – when it receives employee information from an employer that does not match its records. When receiving such a letter, AGC members should consider the taking following seven steps in conjunction with consulting with their employment counsel.