New Executive Order Requires Contractors to Disclose Labor Violations

As part of his Year of Action, on July 31, 2014, President Obama signed the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. The Executive Order will require contractors who are bidding on federal government contracts in excess of $500,000 to disclose their federal and state labor law violations, as well as the labor law violations of their subcontractors, for the previous three years. While the Executive Order took effect immediately, it only will apply to solicitations issued after new FAR regulations are issued by the FAR Council. The White House has indicated that it expects the Executive Order to be implemented on new contracts in stages, on a prioritized basis, during 2016.

The Executive Order requires federal agencies to include a provision in solicitations requiring bidders to represent, to the best of the bidder’s knowledge and belief, whether there has been any administrative merits determination, arbitral award or decision, or civil judgment rendered against the bidder within the preceding 3-year period for violations of:

• The Fair Labor Standards Act;
• The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970;
• The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act;
• The National Labor Relations Act;
• The Davis-Bacon Act;
• The Service Contract Act;
• Executive Order 11246;
• Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973;
• The Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974;
• The Family and Medical Leave Act;
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
• The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990;
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967;
• Executive Order 13658 (Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors); and • Equivalent State laws.