Author: Gerrit Brands
On April 26, AGC of America, and other business groups, jointly filed a friend-of-the-court amicus brief urging a Texas federal district court to declare unlawful a significant U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) final rule (2024) revising the standards for analyzing who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This final rule took effect March 11, 2024, and rescinded the Trump administration final rule (2021), replacing it with a more complex analysis for determining employee or independent contractor status. The fate of the rule is uncertain. Recently filed lawsuits claim the DOL rulemaking is arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of…
On March 12, 2024, a federal judge in Louisiana dismissed on procedural grounds AGC of America’s lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s regulation requiring project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects of $35 million or more. The decision, however, does not prohibit the association from refiling a lawsuit later. The judge dismissed the suit for lack of standing and improper venue. The judge found that there was inadequate evidence that regulation posed a sufficient “threat of concrete, particularized, or imminent injury” to the business interests of the individual contractors named as plaintiffs. Among the bases stated for that conclusion, the…
On Feb. 9, AGC of America and other business groups coordinated by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace jointly filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to set aside a significant National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) decision that makes it easier for unions to gain recognition without a secret-ballot election beyond 8(f) recognition in construction. As previously reported, the NLRB in its In its 2023 Cemex Construction Materials held that an employer facing a union’s demand for voluntary 9(a) recognition, based on card check or similar proof of majority support, must…
Together, AGC of America and its Illinois Chapters have achieved a major breakthrough as to commercial general liability insurance (CGL) coverage for construction defects under Illinois law. The Illinois Supreme Court issued its opinion in Acuity v. M/I Homes of Chicago, LLC, Docket No. 129087 on Nov. 30, 2023. The case involved CGL coverage for construction defects resulting in water damage to a townhome project. In that context, the Supreme Court clarified the law to agree with many state supreme courts that such property damage is an “occurrence” in Illinois. The Supreme Court’s clarification is extremely favorable to the construction…
AGC of America joined with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others in a business coalition lawsuit challenging the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) new joint employer rule. The suit makes clear that the agency exceeded its authority to issue this rule under the National Labor Relations Act and acted in arbitrarily and capriciously in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. The new rule unlawfully makes it easier for the agency to declare that a company is the joint employer of another company’s workers. It establishes an arbitrary and uncertain standard that threatens chaos and indeterminacy in business and labor relations across major…