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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that is aimed at improving departmental efforts to end the misclassification of workers as independent contractors.  The MOU will enable DOL to share information and coordinate law enforcement with the IRS in what DOL says will “level the playing field for law-abiding employers and ensure that employees receive the protections to which they are entitled under federal and state law.”

�鶹��Ƶ of America has compiled a searchable Workforce Development Outreach Database of all �鶹��Ƶ chapters' outreach efforts to attract people to our industry. This database is available free on �鶹��Ƶ’s website and is designed to assist contractors that are looking to get involved in local activities, chapters that are searching for new ideas, and the public at large.

More than 150 attended the 10th Annual HR Professionals Conference and the 5th Annual Training, Education & Development Conference, which ran back-to-back with a joint keynote session earlier this month in Kansas City, Missouri.

Following the release of a new Sources Sought Notice for the construction of a new  Job Corps Center in Manchester, N.H., �鶹��Ƶ of America (�鶹��Ƶ) has contacted the Department of Labor (DOL) about its inclusion of a project labor agreement (PLA) mandate. In a letter dated Oct. 7, the association reiterated questions and concerns set forth in a September 2009 letter about the department’s intent to require a PLA on the project during the initial bidding process.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be conducting immigration-related compliance assistance webinars for employers throughout October.

The National Labor Relations Board announced on Oct. 5 that it has postponed the implementation date of its recently issued regulation requiring nearly all private-sector employers to post notices of employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.  The Board has delayed the deadline for compliance from Nov. 14, 2011, to Jan. 31, 2012.  The agency stated that it plans to make no further changes to the rule or to the form or content of the required notice. 

As anticipated, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on Sept. 21 issued an Accounting Standards Update requiring employers that participate in multiemployer pension plans to provide additional quantitative and qualitative disclosures in their financial statements.  �鶹��Ƶ is proud of the successful, painstaking efforts by �鶹��Ƶ’s Tax and Fiscal Affairs Committee and the Construction Industry FASB Coalition, of which �鶹��Ƶ was an active member, in getting the most dangerous provisions of the originally proposed standard removed, including disclosures about withdrawal liability and retiree health and welfare benefits (though the latter might be addressed in a future initiative).

From Facebook to Twitter, today’s social media has become the go-to way to stay in tune with what’s new and to keep in touch with friends and family. But how do these platforms affect your business and employee relations? This highly compelling webinar will demonstrate the ease with which social networking is available to employees, but will also exam the potentially harmful effects.

�鶹��Ƶ of America (�鶹��Ƶ) and the �鶹��Ƶ Labor and Employment Law Council have submitted a comment letter opposing a proposed rule issued by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards that would broaden reporting requirements of labor relations consultants (including attorneys and associations) who conduct activities to persuade employees concerning their rights to organize or bargain collectively and of the employers who receive assistance from such consultants.  �鶹��Ƶ also signed onto comments submitted by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW). 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC), which processes prevailing wage determination requests for immigration purposes, recently announced a temporary suspension of new prevailing wage determinations. The suspension, which does not affect regular prevailing wage determinations, will allow the OFLC to focus its resources on reissuing approximately 4,000 H-2B prevailing wage determinations before a court-ordered deadline of September 30, 2011.