A final rule that prohibits federal contractors from being reimbursed for activities involving educating employees about joining a union was adopted by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council on Nov. 3.
The rule implements Executive Order 13494, and is the last of President Obama’s 2009 federal contracting executive orders to be implemented. It was adopted without change from the proposed rule issued in April 2010, despite comments from organizations, including ABC, expressing concern about the negative impacts of the rule.
In comments filed in June 2010, ABC called attention to the chilling effect the rule will have on employer free speech and described the substantially burdensome impact on contractors that are heavily involved in federal work. In addition, ABC raised practical recordkeeping and reporting concerns.
To read the complete rule, visit the Federal Register website.
The other executive orders that have been finalized since 2009 include:
- Executive Order 13502, which encourages all federal agencies to require project labor agreements on federal projects costing more than $25 million;
- Executive Order 13495, which requires federal contractors to post a notice displaying a list of select employee rights granted by the National Labor Relations Act; and
- Executive Order 13496, which requires federal contractors and subcontractors on service contracts to offer the right of first refusal to rank-and-file employees that worked on predecessor contracts or subcontracts.