The President signed an Executive Order entitled “Buy American, Hire American” on April 18, 2017. The Order signed at Snap-On Tools in Wisconsin, directs the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Labor and State to crack down on fraud and abuse in the immigration system, across the boarder, to create higher wages and rates of employment for U.S. workers. Some necessary reforms envisioned in the Order will have to be legislative, but others can be accomplished administratively including: Increases in fees for H-1B visa petitions; Changes to the wage scale to institute higher prevailing wage requirements; greater focus on enforcement against gross and egregious law violations; and adjusting the lottery system to give Master’s degree holders priority. You can read more here: http://www.jacksonlewis.com/publication/h-1b-visa-executive-order
On April 12, 2017, OSHA announced that it has cited Atlantic Drain of Boston for willful, repeat and serious and other-than serious violations of workplace safety standards and is proposing 1.4M in penalties for those violations. This is the first OSHA Enforcement Action Press Release since the start of the Trump Administration. You can read more here: http://www.jacksonlewis.com/publication/osha-issues-first-enforcement-action-press-release-start-trump-administration
The Department of Labor received a third delay in its appeal of a Judge’s order to the Overtime Rule changes. The delay pushes back the deadline until June 30th for the DOL’s next filing in the case. The delay is, in large part, due to the delay in the Senate confirmation of Alexander Acosta – the President’s second choice to lead the Department of Labor. The Senate is expected to confirm Acosta’s nomination the week of April 24th after lawmakers return from a recess.
An Obama executive order mandating sick leave for federal contractor employees is likely here to stay. The order requires federal contractors to provide paid sick leave and this went into effect more than three months ago. The DOL’s 2016 rule implementing the executive order mandated that companies bidding on service and construction contracts must offer employees at least 56 hours of paid leave per year for a personal illness or to care for a family member. Based on the latest reports from Washington, it appears this executive order is here to stay, at least for now.
