On February 12, 2014 President Obama signed Executive Order 13658 establishing a minimum wage for federal contractors.  Effective January 1, 2015, the minimum hourly wage for workers performing work on covered contracts was $10.10.  The Executive Order gave the Secretary of Labor the authority to determine the hourly rate for subsequent years.

With this authority, the U.S. Secretary of Labor announced the new minimum hourly rate effective January 1, 2016 will be $10.15 – a $0.05 per hour increase.  The new minimum wage for tipped employees covered by the executive order will increase as well effective January 1, 2016 to $5.85 per hour.

The EEO-1 Joint Reporting Committee has extended the deadline for filing this year’s EEO-1 Reports.  The new deadline to file reports is now October 30, 2015.

This additional 30 days gives employers much needed time to adjust to and incorporate the new filing requirements.

There has been no extension at this time of the VETS-4212 reporting deadline.  The deadline to file the VETS-4212 reports remains September 30, 2015.

OFCCP announced this morning the release of the anticipated final rule implementing Executive Order 13665, commonly referred to as the Pay Transparency Executive Order.  The Rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register on September 11, 2015 and will take effect 120 days from publication –  January 11, 2016. The final rule applies to employers that enter into new, or modify existing, federal contract(s) after January 11, 2016 in excess of $10,000. The final rule amends Section 202 of Executive Order 11246 which already prohibits employment discrimination by federal contractors, and according to OFCCP “helps level the playing field for women and people of color and provides employers access to a diverse pool of qualified talent” by contributing “to building an economy that works for everyone” and helping to “make the contractor workforce more efficient.” Under the final rule employers are required to update their nondiscrimination policies to include a proscribed provision specifically addressing pay transparency.  This language must also be made available to applicants. We are in the process of parsing through the 118 page final rule and will provide additional insights and details soon.

To follow up on our report last month, President Obama has signed an Executive Order requiring federal contractors to give their workers the ability to earn up to seven days (56 hours) of paid sick leave each year.  The executive order will go into effect on January 1, 2017 and instructs the U.S. Secretary of Labor to issue regulations to implement the executive order by September 30, 2016.

The Order will apply to employees whose wages are governed by the Davis-Bacon Act, the Service Contract Act or the Fair Labor Standards Act, including those that qualify for minimum wage and overtime exemptions under the FLSA.

For these covered employees, the Order will apply to new contracts or contract-like instruments, as defined by the Secretary of Labor in the regulations, if the contract is:

  1. a procurement contract for services or construction;
  2. a contract or contract-like instrument for services covered by the Service Contract Act;
  3. a contract  or contract-like instrument for concessions, including any concessions contract excluded by Department of Labor regulations;
  4. a contract or contract-like instrument entered into with the Federal Government in connection with Federal property or lands and related to offering services for Federal employees, their dependents, or the general public.

Other details of the Order include:

  • An hour of paid leave is earned for every 30 hours of work
  • Leave can be used care for the worker or family members;
  • Unused leave can carry over from year to year;
  • Unused leave will be reinstated for employees rehired by a covered contractor within 12 months after a job separation;
  • Payment for unused leave upon job separation is not required

The Order also explicitly states “it does not supersede other federal, state, or local laws or collective bargaining agreements that provide greater benefits.”

Stay tuned for updates on proposed regulations and what will sure to be other developments in this area.

 

 

As we previously reported, the annual EEO-1 Reporting portal has opened and along with it some changes to the reporting requirements.  Probably the most impactful change is the new requirement that companies may no longer file more than one EEO-1 report for the same address if the North American Industrial Classification System Code (NAICS) is the same for more than one of the entities.   In other words, if your company has multiple entities at the same address and those entities, while legally distinct, engage in the same services, activities or product development you must now file a single consolidated report. For companies with complex organizational structures and/or significant acquisitions, this will require detailed review and assessment of your filings.

There is a mechanism for requesting a variance from this requirement, however the company will need to provide a basis to support the claim of an “undue hardship” which may require detailed company structure information to be submitted to the Commission for review.

In any respect, given all of the changes with this year’s reporting process and procedures, employers cannot wait to the last minute to prepare their reports and should be working to get them finalized now.

 

 

Last week in a divide opinion the National Labor Relations Board decided the case of Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., in which the Board announced a new standard for determining joint employer status under the National Labor Relations Act.  The Board’s decision significantly broadens the definition of “employer” under the Act to include unrelated companies that might share some direct or even indirect control over each other’s workforce. This is particularly prudent to those employers who utilize contract or temporary labor, as many government contractors do.

As OFCCP (and EEOC) continually to focus on the relationship between employers and temporary labor (specifically the use of staffing agencies), this NLRB decision is just the latest reason why contractors need to investigate and understand their contracts with third-party employers and the resulting implications on the employer-employee relationship.

Members of the Jackson Lewis Labor and Preventive Practices Group have digested the opinion and prepared an article setting out in more detail the implications of this decision.  They will also be presenting webinar on September 9th at 3 pm Eastern  to discuss this latest development for employers and to provide practical tips for evaluating current employment relationships.

 

 

In addition to filing annual VETS-4212 reports, federal contractors with 50 or more employees and $50,000 or more in contracts (and non-government contract employers with more than 100 employees) must file annual EEO-1 surveys.   The reporting portal for filing the EEO-1 reports opened today and will remain open until at least September 30.

Employers need a login and password in order to access the site and upload the required information.  The EEO-1 Joint Reporting Committee is reaching out to all past filers to provide them with the login ID for 2015 filing.  New this year, the notification letter no longer contains the reporting password; employers will need to “get password” to retrieve this information this year.  If you believe you should have received this notification and have not, you can contact the Committee at  1-877-392-4647 (toll-free) or email at e1.techassistance@eeoc.gov.

Additionally, employers now have the ability to reset their passwords through a “forgot password” link on the site.  In years past, employers had to contact the Committee to obtain this information.

Finally, a new requirement this year is the inclusion of the Employer Identification Number (EIN) on the reports. While this information is required for employers filing VETS-4212 reports, it has not been previously required for EEO-1 reporting purposes.  This additional data field may require employers update the pre-queried reports pulled out of HRIS systems, which may be time-consuming and costly for some organizations and likely cannot be implemented this reporting season.  As a result, manual modification of the reports may be required so make sure to plan accordingly.

Adding to the line of other states, Illinois now joins the ranks of jurisdictions that allows for employers to establish a voluntary veteran hiring preference.   The Illinois state bill becomes effective January 1, 2016.

The other 20 states that have previously passed similar laws include:

  • Arkansas
  • Arizona
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Iowa
  • Idaho
  • Indiana
  • Kentucky
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Montana
  • North Dakota
  • Nebraska
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • South Carolina
  • Utah
  • Washington

 

Adding to its growing list of available educational tools, OFCCP has published a new “InfoGraphic” to assist veterans determine whether they are covered under the Vietnam Era Veteran Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA).

Developed in response to requests from the veteran community, the Agency’s new tool does not provide any new information or modify any obligations but instead sets out the statutory definitions of the four protected veteran categories to assist veterans ascertain whether they are afforded protections under the regulations.  The four categories of protected veterans are:

  • Disabled
  • Recently Separated
  • Active Duty Wartime or Campaign Badge
  • Armed Forces Service Medal

Under the recently revised VEVRAA regulations, covered employers are required to solicit veteran status from applicants during both the application stage as well as at the post-offer phase of the hiring process.  Covered employers are also required to file annual VETS-4212 reports reflecting the number of protected veteran employees and new hires in their workforces.

As a continuation of its recent education and outreach efforts, OFCCP released a Checklist for Compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.   The checklist was developed by the U.S Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and covers obligations under Subpart C of the revised Section 503 regulations.

The checklist is not required and employers are cautioned (multiple times) that using the checklist “does not guarantee or equate to compliance” with Section 503 regulations.