Compliance Stuff

  The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide a landmark case that could significantly limit the ability of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions – a move that could have a profound impact on the workplace. Injunctions are court orders that tell the parties to either start or stop doing something, and when issued nationwide, they have stalled employment policy for both Republican and Democrat administrations over the last decade . While the underlying case concerns the Trump administration’s move to eliminate the Fourteenth Amendment right to birthright citizenship, the Supreme Court has been asked to decide only whether federal district courts have the power to issue nationwide injunctions blocking the executive order while the lawsuits are pending . The ruling could carry broad implications, especially for employers who’ve been caught in the crossfire of sweeping federal policies halted (or enforced) through coast-to-coast injunctions over the past decade. Here’s what yo...

  President Trump just rescinded an executive order that mandated a higher minimum wage for workers on federal contracts. The Biden-era order initially set the wage to $15 an hour in 2022, and it was ultimately raised to $17.75 earlier this year. Trump’s move was part of a March 14 order rescinding 18 actions from the prior administration – in addition to the 78 nixed on his first day in office. What does this mean for federal contractors and what should you do now? Although Biden’s minimum wage order is no longer in effect, federal contractors still have wage obligations under federal, state, and local laws. Here’s an overview of how we got here and what you should consider doing now. Key Points for Federal Contractors Biden’s Order Raised Contractor Wage:  Under President Biden’s Executive Order 14026, the applicable minimum wage rate for workers performing work on or in connection with certain covered federal contracts was raised to $15 in 2022. The order provided a boost ...

  Among the first actions taken by the incoming administration was to rescind   Executive Order (EO) 14055 . Titled “Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts,” EO 14055 required certain federal contractors to offer jobs to their predecessor’s employees. The EO had proven controversial among the business community and was widely expected to be rescinded. Now that it has, federal contractors will not have to offer jobs to their predecessor’s employees before hiring new workers. What was EO 14055? In 2009, the Obama administration issued  EO 13495 , which would have applied to federal contractors covered by the  Service Contract Act . Under the EO, any covered contractor who won new work from the government would have had to give a “right of first refusal” to certain employees of its predecessor. That order, however, was rescinded by the first Trump administration. Then, in 2021, the Biden administration issued EO 14055. That EO effectively revived...