Government Contractors Facing Increasing Employment-Related Regulations

The heavily regulated world of companies conducting business as federal government contractors is becoming even more heavily regulated. President Obama recently issued another new executive order setting out additional labor-related requirements for government contractors and subcontractors. The most recent executive order issued by President Obama, on July 31, 2014, includes these additional requirements for companies engaged as contractors or subcontractors for the federal government:   

Paycheck Transparency:  Contractors are now required to provide additional information to employees about their pay, including pay amount, specific hours worked, specific over-time hours worked, and all deductions to a paycheck, among other points.

Labor Law Violations Disclosures:  Contractors must make certain disclosures regarding adverse judgments in lawsuits, decisions in administrative/agency proceedings, and arbitration awards, in situations where the contract to be procured is valued in excess of $500,000.

Arbitration Agreement Restrictions:  Further restrictions were placed on the use of arbitration provisions concerning certain Title VII sexual harassment claims, in various settings.

The new requirements follow a series of executive orders issued by the President addressing companies engaged in business with the government, including, among others, decrees barring discrimination against LGBT employees (issued on July 21) and also setting an increased minimum wage for government contractors’ employees (issued in January and raising the minimum pay level to at least $10.10).