On March 1, the U.S. Department of Labor sent its Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees final rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget for final review. The rule would alter overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The review at the OIRA is usually the final step in the process before a rule is officially published in the Federal Register. ABC will be meeting with the OIRA to express its serious concerns about the rule.

ABC is conducting an important survey of contractor members and chapter staff to gauge opinions on the U.S Department of Labor’s controversial proposed rule, which significantly overhauls regulations for government-registered apprenticeship programs. Ensuring as many members and chapters as possible respond to this survey will be vital so ABC can provide effective, informed comments that seek regulatory clarity and push back against concerning aspects of the DOL’s proposed rule. ABC has extended the survey deadline to Feb. 22 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

On Feb. 9, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent its Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process final rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget for final review. The rule would allow employees to choose a third-party representative, such as an outside union representative or community activist, to accompany an OSHA inspector into nonunion facilities. The review at the OIRA is usually the final step in the process before a rule is officially published in the Federal Register. ABC will be meeting with the OIRA to express its serious concerns about the rule.

ABC is conducting an important survey of contractor members and chapter staff to gauge opinions on the U.S Department of Labor’s controversial proposed rule, which significantly overhauls regulations for government-registered apprenticeship programs. Ensuring as many members and chapters as possible respond to this survey will be vital so ABC can provide effective, informed comments that seek regulatory clarity and push back against concerning aspects of the DOL’s proposed rule.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is hosting a webinar on electronically submitting workplace injury and illness data using the Injury Tracking Application on Feb. 7 from 1-2 p.m. ET. Registration is free.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently announced a series of virtual compliance seminars to provide information on prevailing wage requirements for federally funded construction and service contracts. Each seminar will offer separate sessions focused on Davis-Bacon Act and Service Contract Act compliance.

On Jan. 17, 2024, the Federal Register published the controversial 626-page U.S. Department of Labor proposed rule that would make significant revisions to the National Apprenticeship System that will affect ABC members, chapters, apprentices and other industry stakeholders participating in government-registered apprenticeship programs.

On Jan. 11, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a final rule to adjust for inflation the civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced by the DOL, pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The Inflation Adjustment Act requires that the agency annually adjust its civil money penalty levels for inflation by Jan. 15 of each year. However, due to a federal holiday on Jan. 15, the new OSHA penalty amounts went into effect on Jan. 16.

On Jan. 9, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced the final rule on Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which rescinds the ABC-supported 2021 final rule and replaces it with a confusing multifactor analysis to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. The final rule takes effect on March 11.

UPDATE: The DOL webinar has been postponed to a later date. On Jan. 30, 2024, from 2 to 3:15 p.m. ET, ABC is offering an ABC members-only webinar on the proposed rule where you will learn about the problematic and beneficial provisions of the rule and hear how you can best participate in regulatory and advocacy efforts to help improve this extensive regulation. Encourage ABC member and chapter education professionals, human resources, management professionals and other stakeholders to register to attend the webinar. In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration is sponsoring a webinar on Jan. 11, 2024, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET.