Manufacturers May Be Excluded from Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors
Author: Michael Cardman, XpertHR Legal Editor
June 13, 2014
Contractors that manufacture or furnish materials, supplies, articles or equipment to the federal government under the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act would not be subject to the upcoming $10.10 minimum wage for federal contractors under rules proposed June 12 by the US Department of Labor (DOL).
In a draft 181-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the DOL outlined new rules that would implement a minimum wage Executive Order issued by President Obama earlier this year.
Under the proposed rules, the minimum wage would cover the following types of federal contracts:
- Procurement contracts for construction covered by the Davis-Bacon Act;
- Service contracts covered by the Service Contract Act (SCA);
- Concessions contracts, including any concessions contract excluded from the SCA; and
- Contracts in connection with federal property or lands and related to offering services for federal employees, their dependents, or the general public.
The proposed rules also would set a minimum cash wage of $4.90 for tipped employees and establish procedures for enforcing the executive order.
Once the NPRM is formally published in the Federal Register, employers will have 30 days to submit comments about the proposed rules to the DOL. Interested parties may submit comments electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal or address written submissions to Mary Ziegler, Director of the Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3510, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210. All comments should reference Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 1235-AA10.
DOL will review the comments before finalizing the rules on October 1, 2014.