Author: agcnews

AGC of America’s (AGC) advocacy fund is proactively seeking to improve general contractors’ business environment by participating in a case before the Supreme Court of Tennessee. AGC and the AGC of Tennessee jointly submitted an amicus (or friend of the court) brief to preserve a general contractor’s right not to be sued for the damages twice under different legal theories by its contracting partner seeking to receive a double recovery. In Tennessee, a lower court initially ruled that a general contractor was liable to its subcontractor for damages for breach of a contract signed by the parties, as well as allowing recovery under…

AGC warns the IRS to look before it leaps into quickly rolling out prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements—for which it has no internal expertise or experience—tied to new private development tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. On November 4, AGC provided the IRS with extensive feedback on a notice from the U.S. Department of the Treasury seeking public comments on labor provisions tied to clean energy tax incentives—among others—in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The notice marks the first step in outlining how contractors must comply with prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements for projects to be eligible for the full value of the tax…

AGC of America and seven fellow employer groups jointly submitted an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court on November 8 urging the Court to reverse a Washington Supreme Court decision that prevents a company from recovering damages from a union that sanctioned the destruction of company property. The issue in the case, Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174, is whether the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) preempts an employer’s state tort claim against a union for intentionally destroying the employer’s property in the course of a labor dispute. The case arose in the context of collective…

A measure of construction contractors’ bid prices moved sharply higher in October as firms coped with ongoing supply-chain challenges and a tight labor market, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released today. Association officials said rising construction costs threatens to undermine demand for projects and urged administration officials to remove remaining tariffs on construction materials and to boost investments in construction-focused education and training. “Although some materials costs have moderated, other costs are still climbing steeply, while contractors are incurring added expenses from delays caused by supply-chain disruptions, shortages of skilled labor, and rising interest rates,”…

AGC submitted comments (coalition and construction-specific) on a recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal to designate perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund as it is more commonly known). As previously reported, a CERCLA designation would trigger the cleanup of contaminated sites and introduce liability to contractors (regardless of fault) that may have unknowingly interacted with the chemicals by moving dirt, dewatering, or demolishing structures on previously “clean” jobsites. PFOA and PFOS are two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and are no longer produced in the United…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) waiver on “construction materials” under the Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA) quickly approaches the November 10, 2022 expiration date and, as a result, DOT has recently published two proposed waivers with far smaller scopes. The newly published waivers clarify that the general “construction materials” waiver expiring this Thursday will not be extended and instead propose to waive the domestic preference requirements for specific situations. One of the waivers proposes BABAA requirements for “construction materials” not apply in the following scenarios: The second DOT waiver is proposing to waive BABAA’s requirements for iron and steel, manufactured products,…

The construction industry added only 1,000 employees in October while it continued to boost wages for hourly workers as firms compete to hire from a small labor pool, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government data. Association officials said the small increase in construction employment is an indication of how hard it has become for construction firms to find qualified workers to hire. “The construction sector would likely have added more jobs in October if only firms could find people to bring on board,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer.…

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) updated its website to include the new “Know Your Rights” poster, which replaces the previous “EEO is the Law” poster and “EEO is the Law” Supplement. The “Know Your Rights” poster summarizes the federal laws prohibiting job discrimination and explains how employees or applicants can file a complaint if they believe they have experienced discrimination. Federal contractors must now use the “Know Your Rights” poster instead of the 2009 “EEO is the Law” poster and the 2015 “EEO is the Law” Supplement. Federal contractors are still required to post the Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision and include…

Covered Employers Required by Law to Display Poster at Work Site The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently released the “Know Your Rights” poster, which updates and replaces the previous “EEO is the Law” poster. Covered employers are required by federal law to prominently display the poster at their work sites. The EEOC’s web page for the poster provides information about where to post it. The poster also includes a QR code for applicants or employees to link directly to instructions for how to file a charge of workplace discrimination with the EEOC. A number of the laws that the EEOC enforces…

Construction employment increased in 269 of 358 metro areas between September 2021 and September 2022, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government employment data. But association officials noted that those job gains could stall as the industry faces a growing list of challenges, including labor shortages, rising materials prices and slowing private-sector demand for construction. “Firms added as many workers as they could find during the past year to keep pace with strong demand for construction in many parts of the country,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. “But as rising interest rates…