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U.S. Department of Labor Finalizes Independent Contractor Rule

Published Date: January 18, 2024

On January 10, 2024, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor issued its long awaited final rule, Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act.[1] The rule addresses how to determine whether a worker is properly classified as an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act and overturns the March 8, [...] Read More

Final Rule Regarding Project Labor Agreement Requirements for Large-Scale Federal Construction Projects

Authors: Aaron C. Schlesinger, Julia Loudenburg

Published Date: January 17, 2024

Beginning on January 22, 2024, in compliance with President Biden’s February 4, 2022 Executive Order, 14603, federal construction projects with a total estimated cost of $35 million are required to utilize a project labor agreement (“PLA”) unless the contracting agency grants an exception. The Federal Register estimates that this rule will impact approximately 119 IDIQ contracts each year; these contracts [...] Read More

New York Revises Retainage Requirements for Private Construction Contracts: Overview of the “5% Retainage Law”

Published Date: January 16, 2024

On November 17, 2023, the State of New York enacted the “5% Retainage Law.” This legislation effectively limits the amount of retainage that can be held from general contractors and subcontractors to no more than 5%. It applies to many but not all construction contracts. In addition, the new law revises late stage billing requirements, enabling contractors to invoice for [...] Read More

Navigating the Risks to GCs when Subcontractors Misclassify Workers

Published Date: January 5, 2024

This article was written for the Texas Contractor and first appeared here. Last month, we discussed the general liabilities to construction firms when employing supposed independent contractors when a proper legal analysis would find those individuals to be employees. This month, we follow up to discuss the specific risks to general contractors (GCs) that may flow from a subcontractor’s improper [...] Read More

Merger and Disclaimer of Reliance Clauses: Guarding Against Crossed Fingers

Published Date: December 20, 2023

This article was written for the ConsensusDocs newsletter and first appeared here. We have all been there, though we would likely want to forget it. The nightmare project is over and after much back-and-forth negotiations over dueling claims, the parties finally reach an agreement to settle their dispute. The lawyers prepare a global settlement agreement that the principals for each [...] Read More