On August 24, 2020, the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL) published guidance addressing employer obligations to track employee hours while teleworking. The DOL emphasized that though the guidance is being issued in part due to the increase in teleworking arrangements with COVID-19, it applies to all telework or remote work arrangements, not only those caused by the pandemic.
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On August 3, 2020, the Southern District of New York’s August 3, 2020, ruling in New York v. U.S. Department of Labor, et al., No. 1:20-cv-03020 vacated portions of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations implementing the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The following Q&A details the many ways in which the ruling will impact employers, including which DOL regulations were struck down by the order, the conditions under which employees can take FFCRA leave and the emergence of FFCRA-related lawsuits.
For the full alert, visit the Faegre Drinker website.
On August 3, 2020, President Donald Trump signed an executive order and released a related fact sheet in furtherance of the White House’s continued efforts to ensure that federal agencies focus on using United States labor in their federal contracts. This new executive order, which is arguably in furtherance of the previous Buy American Hire American executive orders, requires federal agencies to review their contracts and subcontracts from fiscal years 2018 and 2019 to assess whether their contractors used temporary foreign labor to perform the contracts in the United States or performed such contracts in foreign countries when the work had previously been performed in the United States. Federal agencies are then required to determine whether these temporary foreign labor hiring practices and/or offshoring practices negatively affected opportunities for United States workers. Within the next six months, agencies are required to submit reports to the Office of Management and Budget with their findings and to recommend, if necessary, any proposed corrective actions and the timelines to implement such actions.
In June, the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor, the division tasked with enforcing the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), revised its model forms for employers to give to employees to support certain FMLA-qualifying reasons for leave. The new forms are intended to clarify compliance requirements and streamline administration of FMLA leave.
For the full alert, visit the Faegre Drinker website.
The Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) released three new directives on April 17, 2020 that formalize its mediation procedures, seek to further increase the efficiency of its compliance evaluations (audits) and expand the role of the agency’s Ombudsman. The OFCCP’s recent directives were designed to further reduce the burden on federal contractors, and further confirms that the agency remains operational and committed to its enforcement efforts.
For the full alert, visit the Faegre Drinker website.
In the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many federal contractors are questioning to what extent the Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) will continue to operate and whether recently passed legislation includes any relief for federal contractors. While the OFCCP has made it clear that it remains “virtually” operational, it will not be “business as usual.”
For the full alert, visit the Faegre Drinker website.