The U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee held a hearing on April 14 entitled Regulation Nation: The Hidden Small Business Tax , which examined the cost of new federal regulations to entrepreneurs in the small business community. During the hearing, members of the Committee heard from several small business owners who cited high compliance costs and expensive new mandates as a major impediment to expanding their businesses. 

On April 12, ABC submitted comments in response to the U.S. Department (DOL) of Labor Wage and Hour Division’s proposed rule on establishing paid sick leave for federal contractors. The proposed rule  requires certain federal contractors to offer employees up to seven days of paid sick leave annually, including paid leave for family care. The paid sick leave required by the proposal is in addition to a contractor’s obligations under the Service Contract Act (SCA) and Davis-Bacon Act (DBA). Therefore, a contractor may not receive credit toward its prevailing wage or fringe benefit obligation under the SCA and DBA for paid sick leave provided in satisfaction of the

On March 17, a group of lawmakers introduced ABC-supported legislation that would prevent the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from implementing its overtime proposal. The proposed rule issued last June more than doubles the salary threshold to qualify as a white-collar employee exempt from federal overtime pay requirements and would automatically increase the salary levels on an annual basis.

On April 1, ABC submitted comments in response to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) proposed revisions to the Employer Information Report (EEO-1), which would require employers with 100 or more employees to provide data on W-2 pay and hours worked, beginning in 2017. ABC urged the EEOC to withdraw the proposal because it imposes an unjustified burden on employers, fails to generate useful and reliable information to combat pay discrimination, and fails to protect the confidentiality of the information. 

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 23 – Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today issued the following statement in response to the release of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) final “persuader rule.” The rule will greatly limit the ability of employers, particularly small businesses, to obtain advice from labor relations experts, and in turn deprive employees of their right to obtain balanced information about union representation.

ABC’s General Counsel, Maury Baskin of Littler Mendelson, Washington, D.C., argued against the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) controversial “ambush” election final rule on March 3. Baskin argued against the rule, also known as Representation-Case Procedures, in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, New Orleans, La. on behalf of ABC of Texas, the Central Texas Chapter of ABC and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). A ruling in the case is expected in the late spring or early summer.  

On Feb. 25, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Wage and Hour Division released a proposed rule to implement Executive Order 13706 requiring certain federal contractors to offer employees up to seven days of paid sick leave annually, including paid leave for family care. ABC’s General Counsel Littler Mendelson, P.C prepared an in-depth analysis of the DOL proposal, which can be read here. 

On Feb. 17, ABC sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) expressing concern over several regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). 

On Jan. 20, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Wage and Hour Division Administrator David Weil released a detailed Administrator’s Interpretation (AI) and related guidance on the definition of joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA).  The new DOL guidance comes on the heels of recent, controversial expansion of the joint employer definition by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). According to the new DOL guidance, joint employment occurs “when an employee is employed by two (or more) employers such that the

On Jan. 29, 2016, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a proposed rule expanding the data that is collected from certain employers on the Employer Information Report (EEO-1). Currently, certain federal contractors with 50-99 employees and private employers with more than 100 employees must report annually the number of individuals they employ by job category and race, ethnicity, and sex on the EEO-1. Under the proposed rule federal contractors and private employers with 100 or more employees would have to report pay data and hours worked on the EEO-1 in addition to the current reporting requirements, beginning on Sept. 30, 2017. Employers would report this inform