The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division published additional guidance to address the requirements and protections under several of the laws enforced by the agency as workplaces reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 30, the Trump administration released its Spring 2020 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The agenda lists upcoming rulemakings and other regulatory actions from each agency that the administration expects to publish through the end of the year and into 2021. ABC has prepared a summary of the actions of interest to ABC members by agency.

On June 30, the Senate passed legislation by unanimous consent that would extend the application period for the small business Paycheck Protection Program through Aug. 8. The application period ended on June 30, and the bill still needs to be approved by the House and signed into law by President Trump.

On June 25, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a compliance directive designed to ensure uniformity in inspection and enforcement procedures when addressing respirable crystalline silica exposures in general industry, maritime and construction.

On June 8, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division published its final rule on the Fluctuating Workweek Method of Computing Overtime in the Federal Register. The rule will go into effect on Aug. 7, 2020.

In an ABC member survey conducted May 20-June 3, 80% of survey responses indicated their firm had applied for and received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program.

In March, the AFL-CIO sued the National Labor Relations Board to block its 2019 final election rule, officially known as Representation-Case Procedures, which would modify procedures for union elections and scale back provisions of the Obama-era “ambush” election rule. On May 30, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked several aspects of the NLRB’s 2019 final rule, which were scheduled to go into effect on May 31.

On May 19, President Trump signed the Executive Order, “Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery,” which encourages federal agencies to review burdensome regulations in order to jumpstart the economy and get Americans back to work.

ABC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce appreciate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to provide clarification to the interpretation of the term “begin actual construction” in regulations implementing the major New Source Review permitting program, they wrote in a May 11 letter.

A new PPP FAQ was released on the good-faith certification, which would clarify that borrowers with loans of less than $2 million are deemed to have made the certification in good faith.