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�鶹��Ƶ is seeking presentations for one of its most sought-after annual conferences, the Construction HR and Training Professionals Conference. For 2016, the conference will be located in Chicago, IL, October 5-7. A Federal Construction HR Workshop will be held October 5, in conjunction with the Conference.

In January of 2015, the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began a new practice of deleting E-Verify transaction records that are more than 10 years old. As a result, employers lost access in E-Verify to cases created prior to Dec. 31, 2004, unless data was downloaded using USCIS’s new Historic Records Report prior to December 31 of the prior year. For employers who want to maintain data from 2005, the Report must be downloaded before Dec. 31, 2015. Employers that were not using E-Verify on or before December 31, 2005, need not download the report.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) added new reporting requirements for those employers that are subject to the ACA’s Employer Mandate. The reporting obligations of IRS Forms 1094-C and 1095-C are mandatory with respect to 2015 and forms are due to affected employees and the IRS in early 2016. The reporting applies to all full-time employees including non-union and union employees. Employers that contribute to one or more multiemployer health and welfare plans on behalf of their employees may also have questions on how to complete the reporting for their union employees and what information they will need to do so. �鶹��Ƶ’s webinar, Affordable Care Act Update for Construction Employers, will assist construction employers with understanding the reporting requirements of both forms. The webinar will be held on December 17 from 2:00-3:30 PM EST and is just $79 for �鶹��Ƶ members and $99 for non-members.

�鶹��Ƶ of America’s Union Contractors Committee will hold its next conference call on Monday, December 14, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The agenda includes updates on recent legal and labor developments and a roundtable discussion of activities of interest to union contractors. Participation is free and open to all �鶹��Ƶ-member union contractors and chapter staff, regardless of committee membership. (�鶹��Ƶ nonmembers may not participate.)

The Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) impose numerous, confusing mandates on construction contractors that work under federal and federally assisted contracts. Failure to comply puts covered contractors at risk of catastrophic consequences, from high-dollar penalties to debarment from future federal work. On December 10 and 15, �鶹��Ƶ will conduct a two-part webinar to help such contractors avoid those risks by educating staff tasked with DBRA compliance and administration on coverage, requirements, pitfalls, and enforcement of these laws. Each session will take place from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. EST.

�鶹��Ƶ of America hosted a free, members-only webinar on “What the NLRB's New Joint Employer Standard Means for Construction Contractors” as part of its quarterly Open Shop Web Meeting on Nov. 3.

New Measure Ends Requirement for Firms to Automatically Enroll Employees This week, President Obama signed into law a bipartisan budget package that included �鶹��Ƶ of America-backed legislation to eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) mandatory automatic enrollment provision. The mandatory automatic enrollment provision would have required employers with more than 200 full-time employees to automatically enroll employees into coverage if an employee did not voluntarily chose or decline a plan. As �鶹��Ƶ CEO Stephen Sandherr noted, the "new measure protects countless construction workers from being forced to pay deductions for health insurance they may not need or cannot afford."

Recently, �鶹��Ƶ sent letters opposing the possible use of a project labor agreement (PLA) mandate posted by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest (NAVFAC) and the General Services Administration Mid-Atlantic Region (GSA). The letters address the possible use of mandatory PLAs involving the construction of the Special Operations Forces Logistics Support Unit One Operations Facility at the Navy’s Silver Strand Training Complex in Imperial Beach, California and a Measurement Systems Laboratory at the NASA Langley Research Center located in Hampton, Virginia.

On October 8, President Obama signed a bipartisan bill into law - the Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees Act or PACE Act. The PACE Act amends the definition of “small employer” for purposes of the non-tax portions of the Affordable Care ACT (ACA). Under the law, states have the option to continue defining “small employer” as an employer with fewer than 50 employees in 2016. Absent the PACE Act, the definition of “small employer” would automatically increase for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2016 to include an employer with 100 or fewer employees. Notably, several states had already acted to redefine “small employer” as an employer with 100 or fewer employees, and it appears that in the absence of additional legislative action, those state actions will still take effect.

�鶹��Ƶ’s 2015 Construction HR & Training Professionals Conference wrapped up Oct. 9 after two-and-a-half days of education, sharing of best practices and networking in St. Louis, MO. The conference continues to be a must-attend event for HR and training professionals in the construction industry.