Click here to view the webinar
On December 21, 2012 the FAR Council issued its final rule implementing Executive Order 13495, “Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts,” with an effective date of January 18, 2013. The FAR Council’s final rule came sixteen months after the U.S. Department of Labor issued its final rule on the Executive Order. With limited exceptions, the Executive Order and final rules require successor service contractors (those covered by the Service Contract Act (SCA)) to offer employment on a right of first refusal basis to predecessor employees, regardless of whether those employees meet their hiring and screening criteria.
This requirement can have a significant impact on the composition of a contractor’s workforce, its hiring process, and, in cases in which the predecessor’s employees were unionized, its obligation to recognize and negotiate with the labor union that represented those employees.
Jackson Lewis attorneys prepared the above webinar to help employers understand the final rules and their implications. We will also discuss pro-active strategies to help you maximize flexibility and performance.
Key issues covered include:
- Timing elements regarding implementation of, and compliance with the rules.
- Changes in normal hiring practices and procedures (qualifications, tests, references, performance records) required for employees hired under the rules.
- What is a “bona fide offer of employment’ under the rules?
- Can employers continue to use and enforce non-competes and arbitration agreements for covered employees?
- Conflicts with other laws or Executive Orders.
- Impact of bidding/winning a contract where the predecessor’s workforce is subject to a collective bargaining agreement or union organization efforts including:
- Retention of the prior workforce may compel recognition of a labor union.
- Potential costs associated with union recognition (costs of collective bargaining negotiations, contractual wage and benefit differences , potential for grievance meetings and arbitrations, hidden exposure to underfunded pension plans.
- SCA restrictions on employer’s ability to set initial terms of employment.
