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A regulation issued by the National Labor Relations Board requiring most private-sector employers to post certain notices informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) will not go into effect as scheduled on April 30.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on April 17 issued an injunction putting the rule on hold until the court has fully considered the merits of a legal challenge brought by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (“CDW”), of which 51���� is a member, and its co-plaintiffs.  With oral argument not set until September, this means that the regulation will not go into effect – and employers need not comply with it – until fall at the very earliest, if at all.  The rule could become permanently invalidated by the court or rescinded by the Board later. 

OSHA Issues Memo on Employer Safety Incentive and Disincentive Policies and Practices On March 12, 2012, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a memo from Deputy Assistant Secretary Richard Fairfax to OSHA Regional Administrators and Whistleblower Program Managers detailing the agency’s policy regarding safety incentive programs and disincentive policies that can discourage employee reports of injuries which may violate section 11(c), or other whistleblower statutes.

51���� of America has released a white paper discussing the impact federal and nonfederal contractors, as well as other interested parties, can have on the accuracy of Davis-Bacon wage determinations.  The white paper, titled "Impacting Davis-Bacon Wage Determinations:  A Guide for Contributing to the Accuracy of Published Prevailing Wage Rates in Construction", is available for download on the 51���� website.

Recent investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) have found that apprenticeship and training funds are being misused for graduation ceremonies and advertising. In order to help clear up confusion, the DOL has issued a field assistance bulletin that gives definitions and examples of allowed and non-allowed expenses, particularly in regards to graduation ceremonies and promotional activities.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (IL, IN, WI) has upheld a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) decision that a grocery chain using nonunion construction contractors unlawfully ejected building trade council representatives handing out handbills adjacent to properties leased by the chain.   

An increase in I-9 audits over the past few years has spurred the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue guidance for employers that are the subject of an I-9 audit.  DOJ’s guidance shares best practices and steps employers should take to avoid charges of discrimination when faced with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) I-9 audit.

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (“CDW”) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (“Chamber”) have jointly filed a motion to intervene in a case challenging Pres. Obama’s latest appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”).  51���� is a member of both organizations.

A contractor must comply with an arbitration award assigning work to members of the Plasterers union rather than the Carpenters despite the fact that the contractor’s employees have elected the Carpenters as their exclusive collective bargaining representative, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has held.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency responsible for enforcing the federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee, has recently issued two guidance documents for employers, one on employer requirements that applicants have a high school diploma and the other on the employment of veterans with disabilities.  The guidance addresses the effect that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has on each hiring issue.

With several agencies sharing the task of issuing regulations and guidance regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), many questions are finally being answered about how the requirements of the 2010 law will actually be administered.