TANNER AND ASSOCIATES, PC
  • Home
  • About
    • Practice Areas
  • Contact
  • Attorneys
    • Rod Tanner
    • Charles R. Hairston
  • News
  • Questionnaire

Texas Federal Judge Enjoins Implementation of Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order

10/25/2016

0 Comments

 
By Matt Pierce

On October 24, 2016, District Judge Marcia A. Crone of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction in Associate Builders and Contractors of Southeast Texas v Rung, Case No. 1:16-CV-425, halting implementation of the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. 
The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order (EO), No. 13673, was signed by President Obama on July 31, 2014. Its purpose is to create more transparency between federal contractors, government agencies, and the workers employed by federal contractors. It requires companies bidding on a federal contract to disclose any violations of labor, discrimination, wage and hour, or safety laws to the contracting government agency, and requires further periodic disclosures from contractors that are awarded a contract.
 
The EO also requires contractors and subcontractors to provide their workers with accurate information about hours worked, overtime paid, and other paycheck details, as well as requiring employers to give any workers who are designated as independent contractors (rather than employees) written notice of this status. Finally, it prohibits certain contractors and subcontractors from forcing their workers to sign mandatory arbitration agreements that would require the workers to arbitrate any claims under Title VII, the federal anti-discrimination law, or state claims related to sexual harassment or sexual assault.
 
The Department of Labor’s final rule implementing the EO was scheduled to take effect on October 25, 2016. However, Judge Crone enjoined its implementation, concluding that the plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the following claims they have asserted in their lawsuit:
 
  • The EO conflicts with federal statutes.  The Court reasoned, “the Executive Branch appears to have departed from Congress’s explicit instructions dictating how violations of the labor law statutes are to be addressed.”
  • The EO infringes potential contractors’ First Amendment rights by requiring that they disclose violations, including “administrative merit determinations” that do not constitute final agency action.
  • The EO deprives potential contractors of liberty without due process “by compelling them to report and defend against non-final agency allegations of labor law violations without being entitled to a hearing at which to contest such allegations.”
  • The rules and guidance implementing the EO are arbitrary and capricious because they will not “promote economy and efficiency in government contracting.” 
  • The EO violates the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) by barring federal contractors from imposing pre-dispute arbitration agreements on their employees.
 
For those reasons, the Court ordered:

Defendants are enjoined for implementing any portion of the FAR Rule or DOL Guidance relating to the new reporting and disclosure requirements regarding labor law violations as described in Executive Order 13673 and implemented in the FAR Rule and DOL Guidance. Further, Defendants are enjoined from enforcing the restriction on arbitration agreements.
Defendants are enjoined for implementing any portion of the FAR Rule or DOL Guidance relating to the new reporting and disclosure requirements regarding labor law violations as described in Executive Order 13673 and implemented in the FAR Rule and DOL Guidance. Further, Defendants are enjoined from enforcing the restriction on arbitration agreements.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    May 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    May 2020
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    Categories

    All
    ADEA
    Age Discrimination
    Ask The Experts
    At Will Employment
    At-Will Employment
    Awards
    Best Lawyers
    Department Of Labor
    Discrimination
    EEOC
    Employment Contract
    Executive Order
    Fair Labor Standards Act
    FMLA
    Gender Discrimination
    Litigation
    Mandatory Arbitration Agreement
    National Labor Relations Act
    National Labor Relations Board
    NLRA
    Non Compete
    Non-Compete
    Northwestern
    Organization
    Overtime
    Papers
    Persuader Rule
    Podcast
    Religious Accommodation
    Service Contract Act
    Sexual Harassment
    Social Media
    Supreme Court
    Texas Employment Lawyers Association
    Title VII
    University Of Texas School Of Law
    Whistleblower

    RSS Feed

6300 Ridglea Place, Suite 407, Fort Worth, Texas 76116   |   817.377.8833 (phone)   |   817.377.1136 (fax)

​All potential clients are required to fill out an intake questionnaire before meeting with an attorney.

The information you obtain at this site or through any link on this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. Every legal situation is different and you should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation.  Please see the Terms of Use for more information.


© 2017 Tanner and Associates, P.C.