On August 27, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) responded to ż’s request to review the Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA) information collection procedures of 19 different federal agencies. OMB indicated that the 19 agencies, which had been identified as out of compliance with all requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), have addressed those concerns and are using approved forms for their information collections.
ż is excited to announce the launch of our new Judicial Advocacy news feed, a dedicated resource that keeps you informed about our ongoing efforts in the courts to protect and advance the interests of the construction industry. This feed will provide real-time updates on ż's legal actions and the critical issues we're addressing that could impact your business.
On August 22, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) officially filed a notice of their intent to appeal the recent motion for a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the provisions being challenged by ż to the DOL’s expansion of Davis Bacon coverage. Pending any further action in court, the nationwide injunction remains in place. ż originally filed a narrowly tailored lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Department of Labor, challenging the agency’s unlawful expansion of Davis Bacon coverage to:
ż joined a U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court decision that creates roadblocks for trade associations and businesses challenging illegal federal agency actions.
A Texas federal judge has struck down the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent rule banning post-separation non-compete agreements nationwide. The ban was originally slated to go into effect on September 4th, but employers can now continue to maintain non-competes as their state laws allow.
On August 2, 2024, ż of America filed an amicus brief in a case concerning the scope of the "building and construction industry" exemption from multiemployer pension fund withdrawal liability under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The case, Walker Specialty Construction, Inc. v. Construction Industry & Laborers Joint Pension Trust for Southern Nevada et al. is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The brief supports Walker Specialty Construction’s (Walker) argument that demolition and abatement work fall within the exemption.
With the addition of two new federal bid protests, ż is aware that four ż-member construction firms have now filed federal bid protests objecting to project solicitations that require a project labor agreement (PLA). All four protests have led the government to voluntarily suspend the contract awards for the procurements while the protests are still pending. As reported recently in this article, the protests utilize a legal theory that ż helped create with outside counsel at Fox Rothschild. All four protests are pending before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case later this year on whether Clean Water Act (CWA) NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permits can include generic prohibitions that threaten the certainty that construction companies need to comply with environmental requirements. ż recently submitted a friend of the court brief advocating for clarity to protect contractors from enforcement and costly fines due to vague NPDES permit language. ż seeks to ensure that the Supreme Court’s decision preserves the successful permitting approaches used in construction general stormwater permits (CGP) issued by the U.S. EPA and states.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on July 19, 2024, granted the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB” or “Board”) motion to voluntarily dismiss its appeal of a district court’s order to vacate the Board’s 2023 “joint employer rule.” The vacatur was a major victory for ż and its co-plaintiffs that initiated the lawsuit challenging the Board’s regulatory effort to broaden the standard for determining when an employer may be deemed a joint employer of another company’s employees.
Successful Outcome Could Block Federal Officials from Including Project Labor Agreement (PLA) Mandate in Projects Valued over $35 million