NECA Gives an Update on Upcoming Federal Contracts Regulations
In advance of its annual conference October 7-10, 2016 in Boston, the National Electrical Contractors Association published its thoughts on recent Obama Administration Executive Orders (EOs) that affect federal contracts. Final regulations and guidance will implement the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces EO of 2014 but the final rule on the EO requiring paid sick leave for a federal contractor’s employees is still pending. Here’s more on the upcoming Federal contracts regulation.
NECA’s Look Ahead for Federal Contracts
President Obama signed the The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order in 2014 which requires contractors seeking federal contracts worth $500,000 or more to disclose violations within the previous three years of 14 Federal labor laws and Executive Orders and equivalent State laws. The requirements begin in October 2016. NECA said that although it was concerned about the intent of the EO, its suggestion was accepted that subcontractors can report any qualifying labor violations directly to the Department of Labor instead of prime contractors as initially proposed.
The forthcoming final rule that requires federal contractors to provide paid sick leave to an employee even if the employee is covered by a collective bargaining agreement will also have a significant impact on NECA members. It will add administrative burdens and costs as well as affect union employment. You can learn everything you need to know to navigate these rules at the 2016 NECA convention’s Federal Rules: Paid Sick Leave and Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces pre-convention workshop. For more information, visit http://www.necanet.org/.
One More Thing
Finally, the Alliance for Industrial Efficiency organized a coalition letter in support of the “HEAT Act.” The Alliance submitted a letter with the signatures of many influential business, energy, and environmental leaders who are committed to encouraging the use of combined heat and power (CHP) and waste heat to power (WHP) to enhance U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. NECA says this will strengthen local economies and support national energy policy goals and it is hopeful that this provision will be included in the conference report of the Energy Bill.
Our Take on Upcoming Federal Contracts Regulation
Without digging too deep into the irony behind the White House requiring federal contractors to increase the amount transparency through an executive order, the concern really falls under the law of unintended consequences. The concern is about the possibility of blacklisting companies that have had violations – even if there were immediate steps taken to correct the violation – despite their other qualifications. On the other side of the coin, corruption may turn toward bribery as companies with high stakes in federal contracts attempt to eliminate violations they could be cited for.
The rule requiring sick leave to be paid regardless of collective bargaining forcefully takes away a negotiating piece. Any additional regulation that was formerly a bargaining issue takes power away from the hands of men and women working together to find agreed upon working conditions and shifts it to regulators that rarely have experience in the industry.
