Executive Order 13496 requires federal contractors and subcontractors to inform employees of their rights under federal labor laws. The Executive Order was signed at the end of 2009 and the Department of Labor ("DOL") issued a final regulation implementing the Executive Order on May 20, 2010. The DOL regulation went into effect on June 21, 2010.
Pursuant to the DOL regulation, all contracts resulting from
solicitations issued on or after June 21, 2010 must contain
provisions requiring the federal contractor to display a notice to
employees explaining their rights under federal labor laws during
the term of the contract. Federal contractors operating under such
contracts must display the notice for the duration of the contract
in "conspicuous places in and about its plants and
offices" at all locations where employees "engage in
activities relating to the performance of the contract."
Federal contractors must also insert specific language into their
subcontracts requiring their subcontractors to adhere to the same
notification requirements.
The DOL implementing regulation is crafted so as to have broad
application to most entities entering into contracts to provide
products or services to the federal government, even to those
entities not traditionally viewed as government contractors.
There are limited exceptions for entities with contracts that fall
below the simplified acquisition threshold of $100,000 or where
work under the contract is performed entirely outside the United
States. Subcontracts for amounts under $10,000 are also exempt from
the regulation's requirements. In addition, the Director of the
Office of Labor-Management Standards may grant individual
exemptions, although it is unclear at present what would form the
basis for such an exemption. Aside from these limited exceptions,
the rule is intended to broadly cover all entities performing work
for and with the federal government.
The Department of Defense ("DOD") has indicated that the
Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Council and the Civilian
Agency Acquisition Council are in the process of crafting an
interim rule, under Federal Acquisition Regulation
("FAR") Case 2010-006, to implement the Executive Order
and the DOL implementing regulations into the FAR. The DOD issued
Class Deviation 2010-00013 on June 21, 2010 to provide an
appropriate clause for use in all covered contracts and enable
federal contractors to comply with the requirements of the
Executive Order until an interim rule is issued.
For more information regarding the regulation, as well as the
official notice, please visit: http://www.dol.gov/olms/.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.