Last week, on the 50th anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act — which prohibits disability discrimination by federal contractors and other programs receiving federal funds — the EEOC and Department of Labor issued a resource guide for recruiting, hiring, and employing individuals with disabilities. The resource guide provides a helpful synopsis of the Rehabilitation Act’s
For more than 50 years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has required certain employers to submit annual EEO-1s with workforce demographic data (i.e., number of employees by job category and by sex and race or ethnicity). Additionally, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs regulations require certain federal contractors to file this data as well.
Recently the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule that provides, among many other things (the rule is more than 700 pages long), (1) an update to the formula DOL uses to set “prevailing wages” under the Davis-Bacon Act and related regulations, (2) enforcement options for DOL to penalize employers for retaliation, and
If you take on a federal contract, does that make you a state actor? No, according to a unanimous Sixth Circuit panel in Ciraci v. J.M. Smucker Company.
During World War II, the Army included Smucker’s apple butter in its ration kits, resulting in a federal contractor relationship that has “stuck” ever
Questions about COVID-19 vaccines are hard, particularly if you contract or want to contract with the federal government. The scenario is familiar: You run a business that has or seeks to contract with the federal government. You read about the Biden administration’s Executive Order mandating that your employees be fully vaccinated for you to qualify
In the quest to hire the best employees, employers often look at an employee’s past — past jobs, credit history, and criminal history. If you are conducting background checks, you know you have to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), but what other federal, state, and local laws are out there? Below are
Employers in Tennessee need to hold off on requiring COVID-19 vaccine proof from employees because they might run afoul of a newly minted law. On November 12, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed an omnibus COVID-19 bill into law and as a result, most Tennessee employers cannot mandate their employees and applicants show proof of COVID-19
Yesterday, President Biden announced that he is entering two Executive Orders requiring COVID-19 vaccines for federal workers and contractors and that administrative agencies (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) will be issuing requirements establishing vaccine protocols for large employers and healthcare providers. President Biden expressed his
With Delta variant infections on the rise, the Biden administration recently announced that “every federal government employee and onsite contractor will be asked to attest to their vaccination status,” and that anyone who “does not attest to being fully vaccinated will be required to wear a mask on the job no matter their geographic location,
On July 21, the DOL announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to enforce the Biden Administration’s Executive Order raising the minimum wage for workers under federal contracts to $15 per hour. The proposed rule would go into effect on January 30, 2022. This announcement begins a comment period that will end on August 23, 2021.