Newsline

In a Dec. 19, 2017 Newsline article, ABC reported that the Republican majority members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) overruled the board’s 2015 decision in Browning-Ferris Industries and returned to the previous joint employer standard that was in place for more than 30 years. The reversal was a victory for employers nationwide. However, on Feb. 26, the NLRB moved to vacate a recent joint employer decision (Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors Ltd.) and as a result, the board’s December action on the Browning-Ferris Industries is of no force or effect.

On Feb. 15, ABC joined the Coalition to Save Local Business in a letter to Senate Leadership recommending that the Senate take up and pass H.R. 3441, the Save Local Business Act. H.R. 3441 will restore the “joint employer” standard that has been in place for over 30 years, bringing stability back into the economy for contractors and subcontractors across the country.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website, the OFCCP mailed 1,000 Corporate Scheduling Announcement letters (CSAL) to federal contractor establishments on Feb. 1. The CSAL is a notification to an establishment that has been selected by the Federal Contractor Selection System to undergo a compliance evaluation during the scheduling cycle.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) President and CEO Michael D. Bellaman issued the following statement on President Donald Trump’s infrastructure proposal: “ABC applauds the president for sending Congress a plan to rebuild America’s infrastructure. It is now time for lawmakers to develop legislation and policy to efficiently modernize America’s infrastructure and drive economic growth and prosperity for all Americans.

On Feb. 6, the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published a final rule adding an applicability date of Feb. 6, 2020 to the 2015 rule defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). The agencies finalized the rule in order to provide the regulated community clarity and certainty about which definition of WOTUS is applicable nationwide.

On Jan. 26, the National Labor Relations Board announced an extension for the public to submit responses related to its Request for Information on the 2014 “ambush” election final rule, also known as Representation-Case Procedures. The deadline for submitting information has been extended from Feb. 12 to March 19, 2018. 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has completed its mailing of the 2017 EEO-1 survey notification letters, according to a Jan. 24 press release issued by the agency. The annual survey requires all private employers with 100 or more employees and federal government contractors or first-tier subcontractors with 50 or more employees and a contract/subcontract of $50,000 or more to file the EEO-1 report. 

The Clean Power Plan proposed and finalized during the Obama administration would increase electricity costs by $40.5 billion while reducing the GDP by an average of $59 billion each year, cutting more than 375,000 jobs by 2030, ABC told the Environmental Protection Agency on Jan. 16. ABC submitted comments in support of the agency’s proposed rule to repeal the 2015 rule.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced that covered employers can now electronically report their calendar year 2017 Form 300A data through OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application (ITA). Covered establishments are required to submit the information by July 1, 2018. Learn which establishments are covered by this requirement and need to provide their 2017 data through OSHA’s ITA.

Over the last year, the Trump administration has taken major steps to roll back burdensome rules and regulations issued by the Obama administration. In his first two months in office, President Trump signed Executive Order 13777, “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,” and Executive Order 13771, “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,” which create regulatory reform task forces to remove burdensome regulations and prevent agencies from issuing unnecessary regulations with a so-called “one in, two out” policy.