Dive Brief:
- The Labor Department has released its final rule requiring federal contractors to provide paid sick leave to employees who work on, or in connection with, certain federal contracts. The rule will allow paid leave for workers if they are sick, must care for sick family member or need to see a doctor or take a family member to a medical appointment. Paid sick leave also applies to matters related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.
- The rule implements Executive Order 13706 and among other things, will provide up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per year to an estimated 1.15 million employees of federal contractors.
- The rule also ensures that employers have choices in how to best adapt the paid sick leave requirement to their businesses, according to the Labor Dept. The final rule applies to all covered contracts solicited and awarded on or after Jan. 1, 2017
Dive Insight:
"Contractors need to consider the implications of the new ordinance when bidding on contracts to be sure they factor the new costs in their bid proposals," Guy Brenner, a partner at Proskauer and co-head of the law firm's Non-Compete & Trade Secrets Group told HRDive. "In addition, contractors need to review their sick leave and PTO policies to ensure compliance with the final rules as well as local sick leave laws that may apply to their covered workers."
Brenner calls the rule part of a larger push by the Obama Administration to provide paid sick leave to employees. The rule, he says, also represents "yet another set of requirements placed on government contractors by Executive Order, resulting from the inability to pass similar measures applying generally to employees through Congress."
