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President Trump Repeals "Blacklisting Rule"


Last year, then President Obama signed an Executive Order which put into place the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule (aka the "Blacklisting Rule") which required contractors who sought federal work to disclose recent labor law violations.  The rationale in passing this new regulation was to withhold government contracts from employers that had a history of labor law violations.  Of course, there was much uproar in the business community with claims that the Blacklisting Rule violated contractors' First Amendment rights and restricted open competition for federal contracts by forcing employers to disclose allegations of unadjudicated labor and employment law violations.

Although an injunction was issued late last year which prohibited the Blacklisting Rule from going into effect, there was no "finality" as to what would happen to the new regulation.  Well it did not take President Trump long to take steps to end the regulation as this past Monday, he repealed the Blacklisting Rule.  By signing the bill, President Trump has now done away with one of the last significant pieces of labor & employment law legislation that President Obama pushed.

This move by President Trump should not come as much of a surprise, given his expected tendency to make moves that favor employers over unions.  With that being said, this is still a significant development and one that employers and employees alike should note.



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