Incoming Administration Rescinds “Right of First Refusal” Requirements for Certain Employees of Federal Contractors
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 The EO had proven controversial among the business community and was widely expected to be rescinded.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 That order, however, was rescinded by the first Trump administration.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...