Compliance Stuff

Real World Impact:   The United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in a sex discrimination case as it sided with a straight woman on the standard to be used in pleading disparate treatment on the basis of her sexual orientation . The Court granted certiorari from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Background on  Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services This case arises from a claim that Ames was not promoted – and, later, was demoted – as a result of her sexuality . In 2004, Ames was hired as an executive secretary at the Ohio Department of Youth Services. In 2014, she was appointed program administrator. In 2018, Ginine Trim, a gay woman, came into the Department as Ames’s supervisor. Under Trim’s leadership, Ames received positive performance evaluations. However, when she applied for a promotion in 2019, she was denied . Instead, a gay woman with less experience and no college degree was chosen over Ames. Not long after being denied a promotio...

  Now that President Donald Trump has returned to the oval office, federal contractors should be on the lookout for big changes that are likely to continue in the coming days and months. The president has already curtailed affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs – and a controversial Biden-era order that raised the minimum wage for workers on covered federal contracts could be next . You should note that the minimum wage mandate is still effective as of now for most federal contractors, even though it has faced challenges in several courts and the U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to weigh in on the issue. Here’s what you need to know about the executive order and what you might expect from the new administration. How Did We Get Here? Contractor Minimum Wage Order : Under President Biden’s Executive Order 14026, the applicable minimum wage rate for workers performing work on or in connection with covered federal contracts was raised to $15 in 2022 . The...

  The Supreme Court on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, declined to take up a decision addressing the president’s authority under the Procurement Act to issue a minimum wage mandate for employees working on federal government contracts. The denial of the petition for certiorari keeps a circuit split intact, and leaves federal contractors to navigate the wage mandate’s uncertain legal status while complying with the latest minimum wage hike to $17.75 per hour, which took effect Jan. 1. President Biden issued Executive Order (EO) 14026 in 2021, which increased from $10.95 to $15 the minimum hourly wage for employees working on federal government contracts, and provided for annual increases to the minimum wage. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued regulations implementing the EO. In the case rejected by the Supreme Court, a Colorado federal court refused to grant a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the wage mandate. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affir...