On Friday, May 1, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued its long-awaited confined spaces in construction standard. The new rule will cover activities on construction sites with one or more confined spaces such as manholes, crawl spaces, tanks and other confined spaces that are not intended for continuous occupancy with exemptions for work covered by the excavation and underground construction standards. The final rule is very similar to the general industry standard, but with some differences tailored to the construction industry. These differences include: controlling contractor requirements, continuous monitoring for hazards, and responsibilities of a competent person.
On April 29, ż CEO Stephen Sandherr testified during a hearing held by the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions on ways to further strengthen the multiemployer pension system. The bipartisan, noncontroversial hearing focused on the recommendations outlined in the joint labor-management proposal, Solutions Not Bailouts, to create a new “composite” type of multiemployer benefit plan that is distinct from either defined-benefit or defined-contribution plans. The new plan design was not included in last year’s bill that overhauled much of the multiemployer system, the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, which tracked other policy recommendations from Solutions Not Bailouts.
The Department of Treasury and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) recently issued separate “requests for information” to aid in their development of regulations to implement the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA) and ż joined with other construction industry stakeholders to submit detailed comments toTreasury and PBGC on April 6, 2015.
ż, along with a coalition of stakeholders, are urging Congress to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins). Perkins is an existing avenue that helps students prepare for secondary and postsecondary education by providing access to federal dollars to offset the cost of career and technical education (CTE) programs. The Perkins program’s authorization ended in 2013 but has been operating under annual funding bills since then. ż hopes Congress will reauthorize and reform the program this year.
Recently, ż sent a letter opposing the possible use of a project labor agreement (PLA) mandate posted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The letter addressed concerns about a possible PLA mandate for a command and control facility project at Fort Shafter, Hawaii.
Today, the House passed an ż-supported resolution that would nullify the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) rule on representation-case procedures, which will go into effect on April 14, 2015. The vote fell mostly along party lines with Republicans supporting and Democrats opposing. The resolution passed the Senate earlier this month and will now be sent to the president’s desk. However, President Obama has indicated his intention to veto the legislation, which Congress will be unlikely to overturn. Therefore, a lawsuit making its way through the court system may be the best and last chance at blocking the rule before the implementation date.
At ż of America, we know how important maintaining professional credentials are to those who hold such designations. Therefore, ż’s Construction HR & Training Professionals Conference will offer opportunities for HR, training and workforce development professionals to earn recertification credits from the HR Certification Institute (HRCI). At ż of America, we know how important maintaining professional credentials are to those who hold such designations. Therefore, ż’s Construction HR & Training Professionals Conference will offer opportunities for HR, training and workforce development professionals to earn recertification credits from the HR Certification Institute (HRCI).
On June 30, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) announcing proposed changes to the overtime regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The proposal is the result of a 2014 directive from President Obama requiring the Secretary of Labor to modernize and streamline the existing overtime regulations. The NPRM was officially published in the Federal Register on July 6.
On June 19, ż submitted comments to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regarding its proposed rule to amend the regulations and interpretive guidance implementing Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as they relate to employee wellness programs.
The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury (the “Departments”) recently finalized changes to regulations governing the summary of benefits and coverage (“SBC”), which were published in the Federal Register on June 16, 2015. The final regulations generally track the proposed regulations in codifying certain pieces of interim and informal guidance, including guidance regarding a plan sponsor’s responsibly to ensure compliance with the SBC rules if the plan sponsor chooses to contract with a third party with respect to SBC compliance.