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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has posted updated and expanded technical assistance related to the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing questions arising under the federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws. The EEOC also posted a new resource for job applicants and employees, explaining how federal employment discrimination laws protect workers during the pandemic. These publications are provided to help employees and employers understand their rights and responsibilities at work during the pandemic.

Expands Renewable Energy & EV Tax Credits; Attaches Labor Requirements

Other Senate Committees Must Act on Transit, Rail Programs

In April, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued updated COVID-19 FAQs related to contractor vaccine policies. The FAQs established that when vaccination is mandated by employers, adverse reactions related to employees receiving the vaccine are a recordable injury/illness, and, in some cases, may be recordable even when contractors only recommend, or encourage, employees receive the vaccine (for background, click here).

AGC of America’s Union Contractors Committee will hold its next quarterly virtual meeting  on June 16, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. EASTERN Daylight Time.  All interested AGC members and chapter staff are invited.  The meeting is not open to nonmembers.  The agenda will include updates from AGC staff and a roundtable discussion.  The remaining agenda is under development.

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) has decided to maintain its longstanding contract-bar doctrine, despite AGC-supported signals by the Board that changes would be coming.

Union contractors, labor representatives, and other stakeholders in the unionized sector of the construction and maintenance industry expressed continued but reduced optimism regarding growth in early 2021 as compared to early 2020, according to the 2021 Union Craft Labor Supply Study(link is external) recently released by The Association of Union Constructors (TAUC) and the Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC). 

Learn more at July 20-22 virtual conference, free to AGC members

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed an update to its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Construction General Permit (CGP) covering stormwater discharges from construction activities. EPA has also released a proposed 2022 CGP Fact Sheet, which includes a summary table of some of the changes. Forty-seven states use EPA’s permit as a model for their own permits, so its impact extends beyond the three states (New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Massachusetts), territories and other areas that use it exclusively.

On May 20, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released a new initiative to permit, on an experimental basis, contractors to utilize geographic, economic, or other hiring preferences on federal-aid highway projects. This “local hire” initiative will be carried out as a pilot program for a period of 4 years (unless extended) under FHWA’s existing experimental contracting authority. AGC is broadly opposed to local hire preference policies.

In late April, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued updated COVID-19 FAQs related to contractor vaccine policies.