The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently announced a series of virtual compliance seminars to provide information on prevailing wage requirements for federally funded construction and service contracts. Each seminar will offer separate sessions focused on Davis-Bacon Act and Service Contract Act compliance.

On Jan. 30, 2024, ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓsubmitted a letter requesting a 30-day extension of the comment period on the U.S. Department of Defense’s proposed rule and guidance documents implementing the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0 Program.

The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council’s final rule, Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects, took effect on Jan. 22. The final rule implements President Joe Biden’sÌýExecutive Order 14063, which requires federal construction contracts of $35 million or more to be subjected to controversialÌýproject labor agreements.

The Biden administration continues to roll back Trump-era initiatives and institute new, pro-union policies that challenge ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓmembers’ ability to win work. ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓcontinues to fight against these proposed rules and regulations affecting merit shop contractors and advocate for open competition and free enterprise.

The Construction Specifications Institute is looking for new members on its MasterFormat Task Team—a group of eight specification, architecture, engineering, construction and owner professionals selected to serve the industry by investing time, expertise and effort in the updating and maintenance of the MasterFormat classification standard. The deadline to apply is Jan. 30.

On Jan. 17, 2024, the Federal Register published the controversial 626-page U.S. Department of LaborÌýproposed ruleÌýthat would make significant revisions to the National Apprenticeship System that will affect ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓmembers, chapters, apprentices and other industry stakeholders participating in government-registered apprenticeship programs.

On Jan. 11, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a final rule to adjust for inflation the civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced by the DOL, pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The Inflation Adjustment Act requires that the agency annually adjust its civil money penalty levels for inflation by Jan. 15 of each year. However, due to a federal holiday on Jan. 15, the new OSHA penalty amounts went into effect on Jan. 16.

ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓmembers and chapters are encouraged to register for anÌýÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓmembers-only webinarÌýfrom 2 to 3:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, where experts will discuss the rule, the OMB memo and ABC’s legal, advocacy and public relations strategies to fight federal PLA requirements.

On Jan. 9, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour DivisionÌýannouncedÌýtheÌýfinal rule on Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which rescinds theÌýABC-supported 2021 final ruleÌýand replaces it with a confusingÌýmultifactor analysis to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. The final rule takes effect on March 11.

UPDATE: The DOL webinar has been postponed to a later date. On Jan. 30, 2024, from 2 to 3:15 p.m. ET, ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓis offering an ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓmembers-only webinar on the proposed rule where you will learn about the problematic and beneficial provisions of the rule and hear how you can best participate in regulatory and advocacy efforts to help improve this extensive regulation. Encourage ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓmember and chapter education professionals, human resources, management professionals and other stakeholders to register to attend the webinar. In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration is sponsoring a webinar on Jan. 11, 2024, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET.