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. 

The proposed rule would cover four major categories of contractual agreements entered into with the federal government on or after January 1, 2017, including:

Procurement contracts for construction covered by the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA);
Service contracts covered by the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA);
Concessions contracts, including any concessions contracts excluded from the SCA by DOL’s regulations at 29 CFR 4.133(b); and
Contracts in connection with Federal property or lands and related to offering services for Federal employees, their dependents, or the general public.

Under the proposed rule, permissible uses of paid sick leave would include: 

1) Physical or mental illness, injury, or medical condition of the employee; 
2) Obtaining diagnosis, care, or preventive care from a health care provider by the employee; 
3) Caring for the employee’s child, parent, spouse, domestic partner, or any other individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship who has any of the conditions or need for diagnosis, care, or preventive care described in (1) or (2); or 
4) Domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, if the time absent from work is for the purposes described in (1) or (2) or to obtain additional counseling, seek relocation, seek assistance from a victim services organization, take related legal action, or assist an individual related to the employee as described in (3) in engaging in any of these activities. 

Further, paid sick leave required by the proposed rule is in addition to a contractor’s obligations under the SCA and 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 requirements of the proposed rule.  

The federal rulemaking process could take several months. The public may comment on the proposed rule until March 28, 2016.  ABC will continue to keep members informed of any developments about this proposal in Newsline.

For more information about the proposed rule, please consult the resources below:

DOL Fact Sheet 
DOL Frequently Asked Questions 
Additional DOL resources