Employers May Need to Take Action Courts have struggled to uniformly decide whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate because of a person’s “sex,” protects employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or transgender status. Specifically, courts have not consistently interpreted Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination “because of . . . sex.” Originally, courts considering the question held that Title VII’s ban did not cover employees who were gay, and most said it did not protect employees based on transgender status. Within the last decade, however, many courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began to interpret “sex” to include LGBTQ employees. Not all courts, nor the Department of Justice, agreed with this interpretation. This issue was presented to the Supreme Court of the United States through three cases.

This week AGC joined with construction employers and building trades union in support of multiemployer pension reform. The letter to congressional leaders urges Congress to include common sense pension reform for the nation’s troubled pension plans and to authorize a Composite Plan option for healthy plans. Reforms called for include a special partition program from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The COVID-19 crisis and the resulting investment losses and reduction in contributions has further worsened many plans and has made reform more urgent.

Contains Q&A Section of Common Workplace Questions

Contains Q&A Section of Common Workplace Questions

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The Trump Administration recently issued two executive orders (EO) that focus on supporting economic recovery during the pandemic and recovery that could bring opportunity for environmental regulatory relief as well as risk.

On May 19, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule to establish consistent requirements and procedures for the issuance of guidance documents. AGC has raised concerns previously with the use of guidance documents as “back-door regulations.” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler called the proposal, “…[A] major step toward increasing transparency in EPA processes and ensuring that EPA is not creating new regulatory obligations through guidance.” Comments are due on the proposal by June 22, 2020.

During the last half of May 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) issued four decisions upholding the legality of employer facially neutral work rules. Two of the decisions applied the Boeing standard to assess the legality of work rules or policies while the other two decisions restored past precedent to find that an employers’ property rights outweighed employees’ right to engage in protected activities under §7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”). The key highlights of those decisions, including guidance on drafting work rules and policies that are lawful under the Boeing standard, are summarized below.

AGC’s Construction Safety, Health & Environmental Conference is the industry’s foremost annual conference to hone in on the most critical safety, health and environmental compliance and risk issues impacting the business of construction. As a leader in construction safety, health and environment, our top priority is the safety and health of our members, attendees, speakers and staff. We have been closely monitoring the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and, due to phased re-opening restrictions in our host city, Louisville, Kentucky, we will be pivoting to a completely virtual experience for our July 14-16 schedule of events. Join us, wherever you are, for the same superior educational content and peer-to-peer engagement that you have come to expect from AGC.

Gains in May Reflect Temporary Support from Paycheck Protection Program Loans and Easing of Construction Restrictions, But Hobbled Economy and Tight State and Local Budgets Risk Future Job Losses