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NCAP to Launch with Educational Webinar on August 26, 2022

The U.S. Department of Labor did not violate the Davis-Bacon Act or regulations when the Department set prevailing wage rates based partly on wages from projects outside the relevant geographic area, held the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada in an Aug.11 opinion rejecting a challenge jointly brought by Nevada Chapter �۽�ֱ��, ABC Nevada Chapter, and Nevada Trucking Association.

According to the latest Contractor Compensation Quarterly (CCQ) published by PAS, Inc., contractors are projecting 2022 construction staff wages to increase an average of 4.17%, as reported by over 340 companies in the 40th edition of the Construction / Construction Management Staff Salary Survey. For pay increase comparison, according to the WorldatWork, across all industries exempt professionals saw 2021 actual increases of 3.0% and they are projecting 2022 increases of 3.3%. For construction WorldatWork reported a 3.4% increase in 2021 and an early projection of 3.4% for 2022.

Employers Have Until July 31, 2022, to Update I-9s

Registration is now open for the 2022 Construction HR and Training Professionals Conference and pre-conference Federal Construction HR Workshop to be held October 12-14, 2022, in Phoenix, AZ.

Employers that test workers for COVID-19 should review their policies to ensure they comply with updated guidelines released July 12 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In prior guidance, the EEOC broadly allowed employers to screen workers for COVID-19 without running afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) due to the state of the pandemic. In revised guidelines, however, the agency said the employers may continue to administer viral tests as a condition of entering a worksite, so long as they can show that the testing practices are job-related and consistent with business necessity. The update “makes clear that going forward employers will need to assess whether current pandemic circumstances and individual workplace circumstances justify viral screening testing of employees to prevent workplace transmission of COVID-19,” the EEOC said.

In its latest Settlements Report, the �۽�ֱ��-supported Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) advises that construction-industry collective bargaining agreements settled from January through June of 2022 provide an average increase in wages and benefits of 3.6 percent or $2.17 in the first contract year. Along with the written report, CLRC has released a four-minute video highlighting key findings.

The Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) has developed a new customized report titled Contractor’s Cost Conundrum designed to explain some of the difficult economic and staffing challenges faced by contractors.

Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), a company incurs withdrawal liability when it withdraws from a multiemployer pension plan. In its recent decision in United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan v. Energy West Mining Co., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that this liability must be calculated using an interest rate that is based on the anticipated future rate of return on the fund’s investment asset portfolio. The D.C. Circuit joins the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (KY, MI, OH, TN) in arriving at this conclusion.