Employers that test workers for COVID-19 should review their policies to ensure they comply with updated guidelines released July 12 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In prior guidance, the EEOC broadly allowed employers to screen workers for COVID-19 without running afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) due to the state of the pandemic. In revised guidelines, however, the agency said the employers may continue to administer viral tests as a condition of entering a worksite, so long as they can show that the testing practices are job-related and consistent with business necessity. The update “makes clear that going forward employers will need to assess whether current pandemic circumstances and individual workplace circumstances justify viral screening testing of employees to prevent workplace transmission of COVID-19,” the EEOC said.
In its latest Settlements Report, the AGC-supported Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) advises that construction-industry collective bargaining agreements settled from January through June of 2022 provide an average increase in wages and benefits of 3.6 percent or $2.17 in the first contract year. Along with the written report, CLRC has released a four-minute video highlighting key findings.
The Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) has developed a new customized report titled Contractor’s Cost Conundrum designed to explain some of the difficult economic and staffing challenges faced by contractors.
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), a company incurs withdrawal liability when it withdraws from a multiemployer pension plan. In its recent decision in United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan v. Energy West Mining Co., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that this liability must be calculated using an interest rate that is based on the anticipated future rate of return on the fund’s investment asset portfolio. The D.C. Circuit joins the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (KY, MI, OH, TN) in arriving at this conclusion.
Survey closes August 12
On June 21, 2022, the Biden Administration unveiled its Spring 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions mapping out federal agency priorities for the coming months. This bi-annual publication informs the public of regulations under consideration or planned by federal agencies. The present agenda includes several submissions by labor agencies.
The U.S. Department of Labor is proposing changes to its “WD-10 Davis Bacon Wage Survey Report of Construction Contractor’s Wage Rates” form to help improve collection of data for determining prevailing wage rates.
AGC of America and five other employer groups jointly submitted an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court on June 15 in support of a request for review of a Washington Supreme Court decision that prevents a company from recovering damages from a union that sanctioned destruction of company property.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), recently announced an extension of the Form I-9 flexibilities first announced in March 2020 and updated in March 2021. On February 18, 2022, President Biden issued a notice on the continuation of the state of the National Emergency concerning the COVID-19 pandemic (“COVID-19”). Due to the continued safety precautions related to COVID-19, DHS will extend the updated flexibilities until October 31, 2022.