Labor & Employment

‘Ban the Box’ Hiring Law Applies to Federal Contractors As of December 20, 2021, federal contractors can no longer inquire about an applicant’s criminal history before extending a conditional job offer to work on a government contract. This does not preclude federal contractors from asking an applicant about criminal history after a conditional offer...

OSHA Suspends Enforcement of COVID-19 Vaccination-or-Test Requirement On Thursday, November 4, 2021, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released its COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard(ETS), which requires employers with more than 100 employees to mandate their workers are fully vaccinated or test at least weekly for COVID-19....

The FAR Council, the Department of Defense (“DoD”), and the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (“CAAC”) have released guidance for federal government contractors on COVID-19 safeguards required by President Biden’s September 9, 2021, Executive Order 14042 (the “Order”) and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force’s September 24, 2021, Guidance, COVID-19 Workplace Safety: Guidance for Federal...

On February 19, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) withdrew an opinion letter that had previously provided guidance on when certain businesses may classify workers as independent contractors under federal wage and hour laws. Opinion letter FLSA 2019-6, issued in 2019 during the Trump Administration, had given employers a...

The Minority Small Business and Capital Ownership Development Program—commonly known as the “8(a) Program”—provides participating small businesses with training, technical assistance, and contracting opportunities in the form of set-aside and sole-source awards. The SBA administers the 8(a) Program.  Eligibility for the program is generally limited to small businesses “unconditionally owned and controlled by one...

There is little doubt that the Biden Administration will pursue policy changes that will have a noticeable impact on the business and legal communities. While some policy changes will be industry sector-specific (the Keystone XL pipeline is a good example), there are some overarching policy areas that will likely see changes that will have...