Speaker 05.16.24
05.16
Pillsbury's Annual West Coast Government Contracts Summit
7:45PM - 3:00PM PDT
Alexandria at Torrey Pines
10996 Torreyana Road
San Diego, CA 92121
Service
Working closely with our firm’s employment law group, our government contracts team also represents clients that require advice and knowledge of labor and employment matters that fall within the overlap between government contracts law and labor and employment law.
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 22 addresses the application of labor laws to government acquisitions. One particular area of experience that we have developed involves advising clients on the various requirements of the Service Contract Act and the Davis Bacon Act, now renamed as the Service Contract Labor Standards statute and the Wage Rate Requirements (Construction) statute. Both of these long-standing federal statutes require government contractors to meet certain minimum wage and fringe benefit requirements that apply to almost all hourly workers performing service contracts or construction contracts. These wage and fringe benefit requirements are typically set forth in wage determinations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor, which also has plenary authority to investigate alleged violations by contractors and to impose penalties for non-compliance. Our lawyers have assisted many of our clients in responding to Department of Labor investigations and have been successful in negotiating resolutions of alleged non-compliance with the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor.
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Our lawyers have also been actively involved in working with our clients to ensure their compliance with the Equal Opportunity, Equal Opportunity for Veterans, and Employment of Workers with Disabilities clauses in FAR Part 22, as well as other labor-related clauses contained in the FAR and in Executive Orders issued by the President. We advise government contractors and subcontractors on affirmative action obligations, including advising commercial sector businesses that provide services to federal contractors on whether they are a covered government contractor. Allegations involving alleged non-compliance with these socio-economic clauses are typically handled by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), and we have similarly developed substantial expertise in the handling of investigations by these two agencies. We also guide government contractors through compliance reviews by the OFCCP, including compensation equity analyses. Additionally, from time to time, we have worked with our clients on union organizing and related labor relations issues, which are often governed by the National Labor Relations Act. More recently, as a result of executive orders and regulatory developments adopted during the last several years, we have been routinely advising clients on the revised paid sick leave requirements applicable to government contractors, as set forth in FAR Subpart 22.20, and in assisting our clients in establishing programs to comply with the requirements of FAR Subpart 22.17, which prohibits trafficking in persons.
Additionally, our lawyers routinely handle internal investigations of whistleblower claims and advise clients on the treatment of whistleblowers. Such individuals are often entitled to statutory and regulatory protections that, among other requirements, prohibit any retaliation against the employee who qualifies as a whistleblower. These matters may also trigger the involvement of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DOD IG), which can either conduct its own investigation of the whistleblower claims, or serve in the role of an impartial neutral that mediates between the claims of the employee and the employer. We have represented employers in several of these DOD IG mediations, achieving very favorable results.
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