On January 30, 2024, the Biden administration proposed a rule (the Salary Rule) that would amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to “prohibit contractors and subcontractors from seeking and considering information about a job applicant’s compensation history when making employment decisions for certain positions.” The new rule would also require contractors and subcontractors to disclose
Labor & Employment
Employee Stock Ownership Plans for Construction Companies: Part 3
Following up on our prior blog posts (here and here) regarding employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) generally for constructions companies, as well specific issues for consideration, this blog post evaluates the pros and cons of ESOPs overall.
Pros
ESOPs provide a tax-advantaged path for an exit strategy, and they can provide liquidity for…
Employee Stock Ownership Plans for Construction Companies: Part 2
Following up on our first blog post about employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) for construction companies, this post addresses surety bond requirements as well as the way in which ESOPs can incentivize employees and increase cash flow.
Satisfying Surety Bond Requirements
Construction companies are typically required to obtain surety bonds to guarantee a project owner…
Employee Stock Ownership Plans for Construction Companies
In recent years, a growing number of construction companies have established employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). The interest in an ESOP is often generated by the need for an exit strategy for one or more of the owners of a closely held business, a common scenario in the construction industry. In fact, the construction industry…
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA): A Year into Enforcement, What Has the Solar Industry Learned?
In December 2021, President Biden signed the UFLPA into law to restrict the import of goods mined, produced, or manufactured, in whole or in part, using forced labor from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), which we discussed here. A key feature of the law was its focus on polysilicon imports as a high-priority…
New Mothers “Making it Happen”: New Federal Laws Support Expectant and Nursing Mothers in the Workplace
Balancing work and motherhood raises age-old questions for women in virtually every industry. Amongst these are how to navigate work during both pregnancy and the transition back to work after the baby is born, which present specific challenges ranging from physical/medical constraints to privacy and logistical concerns. Those challenges may be amplified for expectant and…
Are You Protecting Your Construction Firm’s Trade Secrets?
The construction industry is full of valuable business information including customer lists, pricing information, project budgets, and more. The value of such information may be lost if it becomes known to a competitor or the public at large. That is why it is important to take steps to protect confidential information from disclosure. Such steps…
DOD Issues Guidance for ESOP Pilot Program
On November 8, 2022, the Department of Defense (DOD) issued a memorandum that provides details on a pilot program that allows government contractors owned 100% by an S-corporation employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) to receive a noncompetitive award for certain follow-on contracts. According to the memorandum, the program is limited to only nine “entities,” and…
DOL Proposes First Major Overhaul of Davis-Bacon Act Regulations in 40 Years
As part of the first “comprehensive regulatory review” in nearly 40 years, the Department of Labor (DOL) recently proposed to amend, update, and “modernize” the regulations at 29 CFR parts 1, 3, and 5, which implement the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) and the Davis-Bacon Related Acts (collectively, the DBRA). The background on and an overview of…
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act: What It Means for the Solar Supply Chain
On December 23, 2021, President Biden signed into law H.R. 6256, known as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The act is intended to stem the importation of goods made with forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China (the “Xinjiang Region”) into the United States. The act…