ABC Sept. 19 sharply criticized pending regulatory proposals from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in response to a hearing held by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions. The hearing, titled, “The Future of Union Organizing,” and ABC’s letter highlighted the Obama administration’s efforts to eliminate employer involvement in the union representation process.

The Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Sept. 9 issued proposed regulations related to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer and insurer information reporting requirements under Internal Revenue Code sections 6055 and 6056. 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published two final rules Sept. 24, drastically revising Section 4212 of the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, which require federal contractors and subcontractors to maintain affirmative action and nondiscrimination plans for veterans and individuals with disabilities, respectively. The rules will go into effect March 24, 2014. 

A study completed by the Tax Foundation found that, with pass-through businesses surpassing traditional corporations in number, individual tax rates with higher burdens impact hiring and other investment plans, causing an already struggling economy to remain unstable.

The National Council for Public-Private Partnerships (NCPPP) and the Association of Defense Communities are co-hosting the ABC sponsored 4th Annual Federal Energy Workshop and Defense Energy Partnership Forum, October 8-9, Arlington, Va., which will focus on finding solutions to the issues facing the federal energy market. Register here.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued two surveys soliciting comments from the construction industry on the potential use of a project labor agreement (PLA) for projects in Fort Greely, Alaska and the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2014, individuals and employees of small businesses will have access to health insurance coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace (or Exchange). Open enrollment for coverage through the Marketplace begins Oct. 1, 2013. Section 18B of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), as added by section 1512 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), requires employers to provide all new hires and current employees with a written notice about the Marketplace. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Sept. 4 became the second court to deny a request by the NLRB to review a decision to invalidate the NLRB’s August 2011 “Notification of Employee Rights” rule. Under the rule, employers would have been required to display a poster in their workplace that contained a biased and incomplete list of employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

ABC and members of the newly formed Construction Industry Safety Coalition, a group of national construction industry trade associations, expressed concern over a proposal from OSHA addressing crystalline silica exposure in the construction industry.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Aug. 27 released two final rules that drastically alter federal contractors’ existing affirmative action and nondiscrimination obligations for individuals with disabilities and veterans. ABC was critical of the rules because they, “set infeasible compliance requirements for federal construction contractors, despite the agency’s inability to demonstrate that contractors fail to meet the previous requirements under federal law.”