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On November 5, 2013, Proskauer issued a Client Alert providing an analysis of the jointly-proposed standards for assessing the diversity policies and practices of entities subject to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.  Attached is a link to the Client Alert.  Please be sure…

Connie N. Bertram, co-head of Proskauer’s DC Labor and Employment practice and co-head of the Government Contractor Compliance and Relations Group, was interviewed by Human Resource Executive regarding the impact of the government shutdown on government contractors.  Ms. Bertram highlighted the dilemma facing contractors who received a stop-work…

On October 4, 2013, Proskauer issued a Client Alert providing guidance to federal contractors regarding key legal questions that have arisen as a result of the government shutdown.  Attached is a link to the Client Alert.  Please be sure to check the Government Contractor Compliance & Regulatory Update or…

Medtronic, Inc. and Medtronic Interventional Vascular, Inc.

A Department of Labor Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) approved a consent decree on September 16, 2013 between the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) and Medtronic, Inc. (“Medtronic”) to settle claims of national origin discrimination in pay.

On September 27, 2013, the Department of Defense, General Services Administration, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced interim rules in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (“FAR”) and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement (“DFAR”) outlining enhancements to whistleblower protections for contractor employees (the “Program”).  The interim rules implement Section 828 of the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) for Fiscal Year 2013, which went into effect on July 1, 2013.  The interim rules create a four-year pilot program for executive agencies subject to the Public Contracts section of the United States Code (“Title 41 agencies”) and make extensive changes to whistleblower protection for agencies subject to the Armed Forces section of the United States Code (“Title 10 agencies”).  The interim rules also create a whistleblower exemption for portions of the intelligence community subject to the National Security Act of 1947 (“Title 50 agencies.”)

On September 26, 2013, the Department of Defense, General Services Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration published a proposed rule in the Federal Register seeking to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) to implement recent mandates aimed at stemming human trafficking.  In addition to codifying the current zero-tolerance policy against human trafficking, FAR subpart 22.17 would impose additional requirements on all Government contractors and subcontractors for ensuring awareness, compliance and enforcement of this policy.

As reported in the Bloomberg BNA Daily Labor Report, three contractors were found by the California Labor Commissioner to have “willfully” violated state wage and apprenticeship laws.  The contractors were ordered to pay over $1.8 million in back wages, apprenticeship funds, fines and penalties.

The Labor Commissioner’s office, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), adjudicates wage claims, investigates discrimination and public works complaints and enforces state labor law.  In announcing the fines, Commissioner Julie A. Su remarked, “Let these enforcement actions serve as notice that wage theft—whether it be through nonpayment of overtime, failure to pay proper prevailing wage, underreporting of hours worked, bounced checks used to pay working people, and cheating on apprenticeship training funds—will not be tolerated in this state.”