New Year, New Paid Leave Rule for Federal Contractors

December 3, 2019

As of January 1, 2020, certain employers that contract with the Federal Government must provide their employees with up to seven days of paid sick leave annually, according to the DOL’s final rule of Executive Order 13706, Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors. This paid leave requirement also applies to leave for family care and absences resulting from domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Both Federal contractors and workers should be aware that the DOL rule applies to any person engaged in the performance of work in connection with general or subcontracts for the following:

Procurement contracts for construction covered by the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA);
Service contracts covered by the McNamara-O’Hara Services Contract Act (SCA);
Concessions contracts, including any concessions contracts excluded from the SCA by the DOL regulations at 29 CFE 4.133(b);
Contracts in connection with Federal property or lands and related to offering services for Federal employees, their dependents, or the general public.

The new rule applies to employees working under a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), and the amount of paid leave should be adjusted as follows:

If a CBA ratified before September 30, 2016, provides the employee with at least 56 hours (seven days) of paid sick time or related PTO each year, then the requirements of this Executive Order will not apply until the agreement ends or January 1, 2020 (whichever is earlier).
If a CBA provides for less than 56 hours, the contractor must provide covered employees with the difference between the 56 hours and the amount provided in the existing CBA by January 1, 2020.

Contractors shall provide the full requirements of the Executive Order to applicable employees after January 1, 2020.

Visit DOL’s EO 13706 Webpage

Contractors and workers can find more information about the new paid leave rule on the DOL’s EO 13706 webpage.

Please feel free to contact a TCLG Compliance Specialist if you need help navigating the new rule or have any questions about wage compliance in general.

New Year, New Paid Leave Rule for Federal Contractors

December 3, 2019

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