Labor & HR

The Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) has released a revised version of its annual Trends & Outlook Report now renamed Union Labor Costs in Construction.  The report includes general and detailed information about trends in collectively bargained compensation in the industry, including data analyses by region, by time, and by trade.  It can be a valuable resource when preparing for collective bargaining negotiations, particularly when used in conjunction with CLRC’s latest

May 2, 2019 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm ET

On March 28, a federal judge struck down portions of the U. S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) final rule intended to expand access to association health plans (AHPs) and increase flexibility for small employers to join groups or associations to offer insured health coverage in the large group market at potentially more favorable pricing with less restrictive requirements. U.S. District Judge John Bates of Washington, D.C., ruled that the bona fide association and working owner provisions exceeded the statutory authority delegated in ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and that the DOL rule "was intended and designed to end run the requirements of the ACA," the Affordable Care Act. Citing to a severability provision in the Final Rule, the judge has remanded the rule to the DOL to determine whether it can be saved without the invalidated provisions. Unless the ruling is reversed on appeal, this ruling will replace the prior restrictions on establishing AHPs under ERISA.

The U. S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) today announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) updating the regulations governing regular rate requirements for the first time in more than 50 years. Regular rate requirements define what forms of payment employers include and exclude in the "time and one-half" calculation when determining workers' overtime rates. The proposed rule focuses primarily on clarifying whether certain kinds of perks, benefits, or other miscellaneous items must be included in the regular rate. Because these regulations have not been updated in decades, the proposal’s intent is to better define the regular rate for today's workplace practices.