Author: agcnews

The Proposed Standard. On July 2, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published their proposed standard addressing heat illness in outdoor and indoor settings. The proposal codifies many of the heat safety practices the construction industry already uses to protect workers. Those measures, which broadly fall into the categories of water, rest, shade, and training, were crafted by contractors as part of their general duty obligations to protect workers from hazards associated with high temperatures. However, OSHA has not addressed the disparate impacts of heat in various parts of the country. The impacts on worker safety of a 90°F day in Mississippi are different…

In May 2024, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.), along with the Republican members of the Committee, created 10 “Republican Tax Teams” to explore different aspects of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Many elements of this legislation, which was the most comprehensive rewrite of the federal tax code in over 30 years, have either already expired, or will expire in 2025. Included in these expiring provisions are a number of provisions that are particularly important to the construction industry, including the ability to fully deduct the cost of new and used equipment in the year…

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. Judge Ada Brown of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that the antitrust agency lacked authority to issue substantive rules related to unfair methods of competition, including the noncompete rule, which would have prohibited companies from restricting their employees’ ability to work for rivals. There is a slight chance the rule could be resurrected…

AGC 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. Why AGC got involved. AGC has to safeguard the association’s ability to challenge rules that predictably affect construction firms’ economic interests even when they aren’t directly regulated by the rules. The outcome of this case could have far-reaching implications, not just for the construction industry, but for anyone affected by federal regulations. Here is the background. A recent D.C. Circuit Court opinion in Ohio v. EPA may make it…

Meet Rachel! Rachel has over 20 years in the areas of customer service, sales, and management experience. For the past 9 years she has dedicated her career to United Rentals Inc., the world’s largest rental equipment company where she currently works as a branch manager for one of their middle Tennessee locations. She serves on the AGC of Middle Tennessee Construction Leadership Council as active sitting President as well as active Director on the AGC of Middle Tennessee Board of Directors. Why did you choose to get involved with your local Construction Leadership Council? My commitment for continuous professional development…

With the addition of two new federal bid protests, AGC is aware that four AGC-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 AGC helped create with outside counsel at Fox Rothschild. All four protests are pending before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. In at least two of these cases, the government is now…

Once again, top contractors and subcontractors in Western Pennsylvania stepped up to support an important cause in their community. Fundraising was spearheaded by Jamie Gildersleeve, director of human resources at Mascaro Construction Company, LP, and Naley McKamish, director of marketing & business development at McKamish, Inc. In addition to contributions from Mascaro Construction Company and the McKamish Family Foundation, they received support from Master Builders’ Association of Western Pennsylvania (MBA) and many of the Association’s members. Both companies are MBA members, and Naley is also a member of the MBA Marketing Committee and the Young Constructors Committee. In recognition of…

On August 2, 2024, AGC 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. Case Background Walker, a small, family-owned company based in Washington state, had been performing asbestos…

Construction employment increased in 39 states in July from a year earlier, while 29 states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs between June and July, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America today. Association officials noted that demand for projects—and the workers to execute them—remains robust in most states but there is a pressing new to prepare more people for careers in construction. “Construction employment gains remain widespread, thanks to steady or increasing demand for data centers, manufacturing plants, energy and infrastructure projects,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist.…

When choosing between the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and ConsensusDocs design-build contract documents, owners and contractors must understand how each will yield vastly different results on critical issues such as managing timely and sufficient design services. Both ConsensusDocs and the AIA publish coordinated families of standard design-build contract documents. This article explores why ConsensusDocs offers more balanced provisions that better protect design-builders and owners, making it a more favorable choice for managing design services effectively. Design-build has become well-established as a project delivery method. While AIA standard documents are more commonly used for design-bid-build projects, the ConsensusDocs contract documents…