Author: agcnews

Courts have struggled to uniformly decide whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate because of a person’s “sex,” protects employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or transgender status. Specifically, courts have not consistently interpreted Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination “because of . . . sex.” Originally, courts considering the question held that Title VII’s ban did not cover employees who were gay, and most said it did not protect employees based on transgender status. Within the last decade, however, many courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began to…

This week AGC joined with construction employers and building trades union in support of multiemployer pension reform. The letter to congressional leaders urges Congress to include common sense pension reform for the nation’s troubled pension plans and to authorize a Composite Plan option for healthy plans. Reforms called for include a special partition program from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The COVID-19 crisis and the resulting investment losses and reduction in contributions has further worsened many plans and has made reform more urgent. Last week a report was released showing that Composite Plans would have fared better during the COVID-19 emergency than traditional multiemployer…

publication addressing questions arising under the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Laws related to the COVID-19 pandemic.The publication, “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws,” provides approaches employers may adopt as they plan for employees returning to the workplace, including providing information to all employees about who to contact with requests for disability accommodation or other flexibilities, and inviting employees to make any requests in advance that the employer will consider on an individualized basis. The updates begin at Q&A G.6.The updates also address requests for accommodation in the employer’s process for workplace…

The Trump Administration recently issued two executive orders (EO) that focus on supporting economic recovery during the pandemic and recovery that could bring opportunity for environmental regulatory relief as well as risk. The first, Executive Order on Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery (May 19, 2020), encourages continued deregulatory actions and enforcement discretion. The second, Executive Order on Accelerating the Nation’s Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 Emergency by Expediting Infrastructure Investments and Other Activities (June 4, 2020), directs agencies to take all reasonable measures to speed infrastructure investments—such as expediting projects under the agency’s authority and using emergency measures to streamline environmental permitting. The…

On May 19, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule to establish consistent requirements and procedures for the issuance of guidance documents. AGC has raised concerns previously with the use of guidance documents as “back-door regulations.” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler called the proposal, “…[A] major step toward increasing transparency in EPA processes and ensuring that EPA is not creating new regulatory obligations through guidance.” Comments are due on the proposal by June 22, 2020. The proposal would– The proposal comes in response to Executive Order 13891, Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents (October 9, 2019),…

During the last half of May 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) issued four decisions upholding the legality of employer facially neutral work rules. Two of the decisions applied the Boeing standard to assess the legality of work rules or policies while the other two decisions restored past precedent to find that an employers’ property rights outweighed employees’ right to engage in protected activities under §7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”). The key highlights of those decisions, including guidance on drafting work rules and policies that are lawful under the Boeing standard, are summarized below. Key Points Government Investigation…

Get the key facts on how the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 makes significant improvements to the original program that will allow businesses more flexibility in using their loan funds. AGC’s tax, fiscal affairs and accounting expert Matt Turkstra walks through the notable changes regarding how borrowers can spend the funds, and how long they can take to spend the funds, and still qualify for loan forgiveness. This episode also covers new safe harbors for hiring or rehiring qualified employees, as well as changes in the terms of the loan and the repayment timing of any unforgiven loan…

Construction employment rebounded by 464,000 jobs in May, but the total remained 596,000 below the latest peak in February and the industry’s 12.7 percent unemployment rate was the highest for May since 2012, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released today. Association officials cautioned that the future job losses are likely as temporary federal support programs end, state and local officials deal with tighter budgets and private sector demand declines later this year. “The huge pickup in construction employment in May is good news and probably reflects the industry’s widespread receipt of…

“This new law improves upon the original Paycheck Protection Program by extending the coverage period to 24 weeks, revising the ratio of percentage of expenses allowed to be forgiven up to 60 percent payroll costs and 40 percent non-payroll, extending the maturity period for the loans from two years to five, and allowing loan recipients to defer payroll taxes through the end of 2020. Its enactment will save many construction jobs and allow thousands of construction firms to remain in business. “Having fixed several problems with a measure designed to helped firms survive, it is time for Congress and the…

U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed extensive updates to the Multi-Sector General Permit, which covers stormwater discharges from industrial activity. Construction companies that perform activities associated with cement or concrete manufacturing, asphalt paving, minerals mining, or landfill operations will all likely be impacted by the changes. AGC has several concerns with the proposed permit and submitted extensive comments with a broad coalition of industry partners on June 1, 2020. AGC’s top concerns with the permit are: (1) the aggressive and punitive structure for an Additional Implementation Measure (AIM) Program that goes beyond the settlement agreement with quarterly reporting obligations for permittees…