Human Resources & Labor

The U.S. Department of Labor announced a new digital platform, Apprenticeship.gov. This innovative web portal features an Apprenticeship Finder tool that offers career seekers a platform to search for apprenticeships by city, state, and occupation, as well as connects job seekers to high-skilled, high-paying careers.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced  the creation of the Office of Compliance Initiatives (OCI), a cross-agency effort coordinated by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy. DOL said that OCI will “promote greater understanding of federal labor laws and regulations, allowing job creators to prevent violations and protect Americans' wages, workplace safety and health, retirement security, and other rights and benefits.” OCI also “will work with enforcement agencies to refine their metrics to ensure the efficacy of the [DOL's] compliance assistance activities.”

On August 31, 2018, President Trump signed an executive order designed to make it easier for smaller businesses to band together and offer retirement plans to employees. The order directs the Departments of Labor (DOL) and Treasury to propose regulations that allow unrelated businesses to offer what the order calls association retirement plans (ARPs) by relaxing the requirement that small business have a common interest to form what’s commonly known as a multiple employer plan, or MEP. The idea is similar to association health plans (AHPs), which received a regulatory boost when, in June, the Department of Labor finalized a rule to make it easier for small businesses to join groups or associations to offer insured health coverage in the large group market at potentially more favorable pricing with less restrictive requirements.

Union contractors may not rely on contributions to typical vacation or welfare plans as a basis for claiming the temporary exclusion to the federal contractor paid sick leave rule, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has informed AGC.  WHD provided the information to AGC in response to questions posed by AGC on behalf of questioning members.  It supports AGC’s prior urgings that all union contractors working on federal projects should act promptly to come into compliance with the rule’s mandates.