Department of Labor Releases Proposed Rules on Paid Sick Leave

The Department of Labor (DoL) has released proposed rules on Executive Order 13706 requiring direct federal contractors, prime contractors and subcontractors to provide accrued paid sick leave for workers on federal contracts at the rate of one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, with no caps below 56 hours per year permitted. The leave carries over from year to year.

MCAA led a coalition of members and the representatives of the Construction Employers of America (NECA, TAUC, SMACNA, FCA International, and ICE-BAC) in commenting to DoL during a Listening Session last December. Follow-up written comments were submitted to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Analysis, which analyzed the Executive Order in hopes of gaining an exemption for workers covered by a construction collective bargaining agreement. OMB/OIRA granted MCAA’s request for a meeting to discuss the joint MCAA/CEA position on February 11. The proposed regulations were released two weeks later, with only a few elements reflective of the coalition’s position. At the February 11 meeting, the DoL and OMB regulators noted several areas of interest in the coalition position, and urged the group to comment to that effect in the comment period. MCAA and the coalition will be submitting further comments before the comment period ends on March 28, based on the written positions described above and other elements in the regulatory proposal. Interested members can use the written material at the links below to file their own comments. Go to the link below to access the EO13706 Paid Sick Leave proposal. Also, the MCAA/CEA written comments may be useful for state and local coalition efforts to address paid sick leave proposals that are coming up frequently in state and local legislative proposals across the country. In many of those instances, local construction coalitions have been successful in gaining an exemption from the paid sick leave requirements for construction workers covered by collective bargaining agreements.

MCAA/CEA Written Comments

MCAA/CEA Oral Statement

Paid Sick Leave Regulatory Proposal