At 5pm this evening, President Biden will unveil a six-part plan to combat coronavirus, which will include signing an executive order to require COVID-19 vaccinations for federal workers, including contractors that do business with the federal government.
The Wall Street Journal has also reported and the White House posted on its website that the President’s plan will also require employers with 100 or more employees to mandate vaccines for their workers or require testing at least once a week and will be required to provide paid time off for receiving vaccinations. Vaccines will also be required for health care workers at hospitals and facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursements. The information states the Labor Department in the coming weeks plans to issue an emergency temporary standard implementing the new requirement, which will cover 80 million private-sector workers, officials said. Businesses that don’t comply can face fines of up to $14,000 per violation.
ABC is closely monitoring the announcement and will provide updates on the proposed requirements for employers.
REMINDER—ABC Action Alert:
Earlier this week ABC issued an action alert opposing the House’s efforts to move forward with the partisan budget reconciliation process that could result in tax hikes and far-reaching labor requirements for ABC members. Please urge your representatives to oppose this package this week as House Committees continue to mark up their sections of the package.
ABC Letters to Ways and Means Committee:
This week, ABC also sent a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee expressing concerns with the tax proposals and paid leave mandate ahead of the committee’s mark-up today. ABC also joined coalitions in three additional letters addressing stepped up basis, Section 199A deduction, and Section 1031 like-kind exchanges.
House committees have begun formulating legislative text that is in line with their budget resolution instructions. The tentative mark-up schedule puts all 13 House committees on track to hit the Sept. 15 deadline for drafting the full reconciliation bill. That would then enable the House to bring the reconciliation bill to the floor before it votes on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the bipartisan infrastructure bill, on Sept. 27.
CDW Statement on Budget Reconciliation:
Today, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), composed of more than 600 major business organizations, released a statement in response to the draft budget reconciliation bill from the House Education and Labor Committee, which includes provisions from the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, including excessive penalties, unnecessary restrictions negatively impacting opportunities for gig workers and limiting employer free speech, and $5 million aimed at replacing secret ballot in union representation elections with phone-based voting— which would expose employees to union intimidation.
You can also view more information on the civil penalties included in the package in this write up from Littler. ABC will continue to provide additional updates on this proposal as it progresses through Congress.
President Biden also reaffirmed his support for restrictive labor policies and the PRO Act in an address to labor union yesterday.
CDW PRO Act Letter to Conference of Mayors:
Last month, The US Conference of Mayors passed a resolution “support[ing] the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act and other federal legislation to protect public employee collective bargaining.” It was sponsored by 15 mayors. Today, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace responded to the resolution in a letter authored by ABC’s Kristen Swearingen that urges the United States Conference of Mayors to reconsider its support of the PRO Act.
ABC-Supports Anti-“Salting” Legislation in U.S. House:
On Sept. 8, Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, introduced the ABC-supported Truth in Employment Act, H.R. 5178. This legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act to protect small businesses and their employees from the coercive tactic used by big unions known as “salting,” which makes small businesses targets of harassment campaigns designed to increase forced unionization. ABC issued a statement on the legislation and has long opposed the detrimental impacts of salting abuse and will continue to work with the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to educate Congress about the negative effects that the practice has on small businesses.
TPS Extension:
In a document scheduled to be officially published tomorrow September 10, 2021, the Federal Register has announced a 15-month automatic extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for all current beneficiaries of El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, Nepal and Sudan.
OFCCP Issues 2021 Corporate Scheduling List for Construction Contractors
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has issued the latest Corporate Scheduling Announcement List for construction contractors for fiscal year 2021, which includes 400 federal contractors, federally assisted contractors and subcontractors. Read more.
Statewide Vaccination Mandate Tracker:
Littler Mendelson has put together this chart tracking statewide vaccination mandates, which covers directives that affect public or private entities as employers, including state contractors. The chart also indicates states where local vaccine mandates may be applicable. ABC National will continue to share this and other resources tracking state and local mandates as they are issued.