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What I’ve Been Reading This Week: President Biden Edition

 

Several months into his presidency and Joe Biden has been quite active in regard to labor & employment law matters.  Following his abrupt termination of Peter Robb at the National Labor Relations Board and unsuccessful efforts to get Congress to approve a $15/hour minimum wage rate, President Biden has been full steam ahead in recent weeks to push more employee and labor friendly initiatives.  In doing so, I think it is appropriate to focus this post on several recent developments that have come out of the White House.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


Executive Order Issued to Increase Federal Contract Worker Pay Rate

This past Tuesday, President Biden signed an executive order to increase the pay rate for federal contract workers to $15/hour, up from its current base rate of $10.95/hour.  A few things to note here.  First, it is estimated that nearly 400,000 federal contractors will receive a higher wage.  As well, all federal agencies will be required to include this higher wage rate in all contract offerings starting January 30 of next year.   In addition, the tipped minimum wage rate of $7.65/hour for federal contractors would be replaced in 2024 with the standard minimum ($15/hour +, depending upon the indexed inflation rate.)  Notably, the wage hike is indexed to inflation and will increase each year.  While President Biden has yet to get the federal minimum wage rate up to $15/hour, this is a step in the right direction for minimum wage advocates.


Emergency COVID Workplace Safety Rules One Step Closer to Reality

Upon coming into office, President Biden made workplace safety a key talking point, given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.  While the new administration gave the Labor Department until March 15th to decide whether mandatory workplace safety rules were needed, that deadline came and went.  However, upon being confirmed by the Senate, new Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has gotten to work.  On Monday, the Labor Department sent proposed safety standards to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) for review.  According to reports, the proposed safety standards would require employers to provide workers with masks, have a written plan to avert exposure to the coronavirus in the workplace, and take other related safety precautions.  It is expected the OMB will take two weeks before the safety rules are published, which would then likely take effect immediately.  Upon taking effect, these new safety rules will be in place for the next six months.


Paid Leave Proposal Part of $1.8 Trillion Spending Plan

On Wednesday, President Biden announced his support of a paid leave plan which would provide twelve weeks of paid leave per year for workers that take time off to recover from a health issue or serious illness, to deal with a family member’s military deployment, to address domestic violence, to care for a new child, to care for an ill family member, or following the death of a loved one.  The proposal, estimated to cost $225 billion (which is part of the $1.8 trillion spending plan), would replace two thirds of a workers’ average wages up to $4,000/month.  As a result, a worker could receive as much as $12,000 over the course of the twelve week paid leave program.  Of course, announcing this proposal does not make it law...but with President Biden pushing for it (and an apparent appetite in Congress to get some sort of paid leave law passed), this has the possibility of making it through Congress.  Stay tuned.

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