Final Rule and Guidance on Fair Pay & Safe Workplaces Released

Today the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council published its Final Rule and the U.S. Department of Labor issued its Final Guidance to implement President Obama’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. The new documents are quite lengthy, and we will provide a more thorough analysis of them after we have time to review them in more detail.

In the meantime, here are highlights of the differences from the Proposed Rule and Guidance, on which we previously reported.

Phased-in Compliance

The following is quoted from the DOL website:

• Week of September 12, 2016: Preassessment begins, through which current or prospective contractors may come to the DOL for a voluntary assessment of their labor compliance history, in anticipation of bids on future contracts but independent of any specific acquisition.

• October 25, 2016: The final rule takes effect. Mandatory disclosure and assessment of labor law compliance begins for all prime contractors under consideration for contracts with a total value greater than or equal to $50 million. The reporting disclosure period is initially limited to one (1) year and will gradually increase to three (3) years by October 25, 2018.

• January 1, 2017: The Paycheck Transparency clause takes effect, requiring contractors to provide wage statements and notice of any independent contractor relationship to their covered workers.

• April 25, 2017: The total contract value threshold for prime contracts requiring disclosure and assessment of labor law compliance is reduced to $500,000.

• October 25, 2017: Mandatory assessment begins for all subcontractors under consideration for subcontracts with a total value greater than or equal to $500,000.

Subcontractor Reporting

Subcontractors will report their labor law violations directly to the government, as opposed to providing information to higher level contractors.
We will be back with a more detailed assessment of the regulations and guidance, and will announce the date and time for our webinar on this topic.

For a printer-friendly copy, click here.