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Each October, construction industry professionals in HR, training and workforce development gear up for the industry’s premier learning and networking event, �鶹��ý’s Construction HR & Training Professionals Conference, and this year is no different. The 2020 event has gone completely virtual and will be held Oct. 6-8, 2020.

On September 21, �鶹��ý CEO Stephen Sandherr expressed support of a bill to streamline the federal environmental review process for infrastructure projects. Key Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced the bill, BUILDER Act -- Building U.S. Infrastructure through Limited Delays & Efficient Reviews, this week. “Congressional Committee leaders’ newly-introduced legislation will provide needed enhancements to the National Environmental Policy Act,” Sandherr said.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced a proposed rule clarifying the definition of employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as it relates to independent contractors. �鶹��ý has long called for federal clarification of the independent contractor status and preservation of legitimate independent contractor relationships, such as those that have historically existed in the construction industry.

�鶹��ý Seeks to Protect Employers’ Right to Maintain Safe Workplaces

While not ideal, enactment of a short-term continuing resolution (CR) will ensure federal agencies remain open and ongoing projects for direct federal contractors (e.g., those with contracts directly with the U.S. Army Corps, Navy, General Services Administration, etc.) remain uninterrupted through December 11. However, federal construction projects that need fiscal year 2021 funds to begin or start a new phase are prohibited from moving forward. That does not mean that all or many direct federal construction projects will grind to a halt, because the majority continue to utilize funds from previous fiscal years (thus falling outside the new project starts prohibition). Fully funding the government will be back at center stage in December. Nevertheless, �鶹��ý has resources available to your company in the event of a partial or complete federal government shutdown: What Contractors Should Know in the Event the Government Shuts Down.

One-Year Extension of the FAST Act Included

The U.S. Department of Labor announced a proposed rule clarifying the definition of employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as it relates to independent contractors. �鶹��ý has long called for federal clarification of the independent contractor status and preservation of legitimate independent contractor relationships, such as those that have historically existed in the construction industry.

Each October, construction industry professionals in HR, training and workforce development gear up for the industry’s premier learning and networking event, �鶹��ý’s Construction HR & Training Professionals Conference, and this year is no different. The 2020 event has gone completely virtual and will be held Oct. 6-8. For more information or to register, visit here.

In a move sure to frustrate employers and usher in a wave of confusion, a New York federal court judge just struck down critical portions of the Labor Department’s new joint employer rule that went into effect a few months ago. Concluding that the agency’s rule has “major flaws,” U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods decided yesterday that the rule did not comport with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The September 8 ruling tosses out the new standard that had applied to “vertical” employment relationships (when staffing company or subcontractor workers are contracted to work with another entity, for example), while keeping intact the rarer “horizontal” relationships between related entities that employ the same worker – which was not significantly changed by the final rule. Affected employers may have to chart a more difficult course in order to ensure they are not deemed liable in joint employer situations.

California & Vermont Lost the Most Jobs for the Year, Utah & South Dakota Added the Most; Hawaii & Nevada Lost the Most Jobs Between July and August, New Mexico & California Added the Most