On April 15, ABC submitted comments on the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s notice of proposed rulemaking, which would amend the FAA’s 2016 final rule and allow the operation of small unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, at night and over people under certain conditions without obtaining a waiver.

On March 29, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General released an audit report on the prevailing wage rates mandated by the Davis-Bacon Act on federal or federally assisted construction projects. 

On March 28, 2019, a federal judge ruled that parts of the Trump administration’s 2018 final rule on association health plans were invalid. The U.S. Department of Labor has been directed to reconsider how the rest of the rule is affected by this ruling.

ABC is observing Construction Safety Week 2019 from May 6-10 with an awareness campaign highlighting member achievements in safety performance and our collective commitment to creating the conditions for all to do their work without incident and go home safe and healthy every day.

ABC will be celebrating the seventh annual Infrastructure Week, May 13-20, with an awareness campaign highlighting the critical importance of infrastructure to America’s economic competitiveness, security, job creation and in the daily lives of Americans. The future of America will be shaped by the infrastructure-related choices we make today—so let’s all prepare to #BuildForTomorrow!

ABC members should continue to monitor developments after a recent court order dealing with the EEO-1 form enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The form has long required employers with more than 100 employees and government contractors with more than 50 employees to list the number of their employees in job categories by race, ethnicity and gender. This data, known as “Component 1 data” is due t

Last week, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs issued the latest Corporate Scheduling Announcement List and an updated hiring benchmark for veterans protected under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.   

On April 1, the U.S. Department of Labor’ Wage and Hour Division announced it is issuing a proposed rule to update and clarify its interpretation of joint-employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act. According to the proposal, the changes are designed to promote certainty for employers and employees, reduce litigation and encourage innovation in the economy.

On March 29, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it would make 30,000 H-2B visas available for previous H-2B workers who have worked in the United States for one or more of the past three fiscal years. Earlier this year, Congress included a provision in the Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2019 (Pub. L. 116-6) that allowed for DHS to release more than 69,000 additional H-2B visas above the 66,000 annual cap. 

ABC joined a coalition of construction and business associations urging President Trump to eliminate government-mandated project labor agreements and allow for the vast majority of qualified contractors and their skilled employees to compete for federal and federally assisted taxpayer-funded construction projects.