Category: News Line

What defines the best of the best? ABC’s Top Performers lists—the only rankings of their kind—recognize member contractors’ achievements in safety, quality, diversity, project excellence and special designations, ranked by work hours. You must achieve STEP Gold or higher and earn the Accredited Quality Contractor designation to qualify—applications are due by Oct. 30 for consideration in the rankings.

In addition, members should update their company profiles on FindContractors.com to ensure market segments and special designations are noted in the Top Performers rankings. Read on for more information on how to attain each of these qualifications. 

ABC’s STEP Safety Management System
Every ABC member wants to send its workers home safely every night. Take the first step towards achieving world-class safety by participating in STEP, whether you are beginning your safety journey or continuing to strengthen your performance. Top-performing STEP participants are 827% safer than the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics industry average. Getting started with STEP is free, and it can help you lower your workers compensation insurance rates. Visit abc.org/step or email stepapps@abc.org for more information.

ABC’s Accredited Quality Contractor Designation 
Is your company AQC material? AQC members demonstrate their commitment to financial fitness, world-class safety, workforce development, talent management, diversity and inclusion, the highest levels of quality construction and the betterment of the communities in which they work. If your company excels in these areas, you too can earn the AQC accreditation, which is recognized by the Construction Users Roundtable. For more information, visit abc.org/aqc or email Jake Reedy at reedy@abc.org.

FindContractors.com
Be sure your company profile is up to date in FindContractors.com to have your market segments and special designations listed in the Top Performers rankings. ABC’s member database features contact information for more than 13,000 contractors. Members can search for an ABC contractor, supplier or other construction professional by name, chapter, location, sales volume or type of construction. ABC populates member profiles with information on whether they have earned an Excellence in Construction® Award, National Safety Excellence Award, National Diversity Excellence Award, participate in the STEP safety management system and Accredited Quality Contractor programs, have special designations and have signed the Drug- and Alcohol-Free Workplace Pledge. Contact FindContractors@abc.org for a login if you don’t have one.
 
Visit abc.org/TopPerformers for the digital edition of the 2020 Top Performers lists or read the news release for more details.

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On Aug. 25, ABC, the National Association of Home Builders and the Mason Contractors Association of America filed a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to effectively narrow the scope of the beryllium final rule issued at the end of the Obama administration. The rule would have applied a comprehensive, burdensome set of requirements related to beryllium on all construction employers, despite there being no data in the rulemaking record suggesting the presence of significant risk from beryllium exposure in construction.

In the settlement, filed in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, OSHA agreed to issue an FAQ that makes clear that for normal construction operations, exposures to common construction materials will typically not be covered by the rule. This outcome addresses the concerns of ABC, NAHB and MCAA and provides certainty for contractors in how they approach and prioritize their safety and health programs.

“A comprehensive beryllium standard regulating all of construction was unnecessary and would divert resources from contractors away from other, higher safety priorities,” said Greg Sizemore, ABC vice president of HSE and workforce development. “OSHA’s analysis of its own sampling data demonstrates that exposures from construction operations are highly unlikely to exceed the action level in typical circumstances. Importantly, employers are still required to comply with the applicable provisions of the beryllium standard in cases when a particular construction jobsite contains high levels of beryllium, for example, at a beryllium manufacturing facility.” 

“In the construction sector, even without a COVID-19 outbreak, safety and health is always our No. 1 priority,” said Sizemore. “As representatives of residential, nonresidential and industrial construction contractors across the country, we remain committed to collaborating with state and local health officials, as well as across market sectors, to diligently identify and implement new health and safety protocols on our jobsites to protect construction employees amid the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Under the Obama administration, OSHA had also failed to give the construction industry adequate notice of the rule, in that OSHA never included the construction industry at all in the initial proposal. After President Trump took office, OSHA re-examined certain aspects of the rule and engaged in multiple, additional rulemaking efforts to attempt to narrow the requirements of the rule. The Trump administration is currently engaged in a third rulemaking on beryllium, which again might change the requirements. Read more about ABC’s actions in the beryllium regulatory process in Newsline.

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On Aug. 25, ABC, the National Association of Home Builders and the Mason Contractors Association of America filed a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to effectively narrow the scope of the beryllium final rule issued at the end of the Obama administration. The rule would have applied a comprehensive, burdensome set of requirements related to beryllium on all construction employers, despite there being no data in the rulemaking record suggesting the presence of significant risk from beryllium exposure in construction.

In the settlement, filed in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, OSHA agreed to issue an FAQ that makes clear that for normal construction operations, exposures to common construction materials will typically not be covered by the rule. This outcome addresses the concerns of ABC, NAHB and MCAA and provides certainty for contractors in how they approach and prioritize their safety and health programs.

“A comprehensive beryllium standard regulating all of construction was unnecessary and would divert resources from contractors away from other, higher safety priorities,” said Greg Sizemore, ABC vice president of HSE and workforce development. “OSHA’s analysis of its own sampling data demonstrates that exposures from construction operations are highly unlikely to exceed the action level in typical circumstances. Importantly, employers are still required to comply with the applicable provisions of the beryllium standard in cases when a particular construction jobsite contains high levels of beryllium, for example, at a beryllium manufacturing facility.” 

“In the construction sector, even without a COVID-19 outbreak, safety and health is always our No. 1 priority,” said Sizemore. “As representatives of residential, nonresidential and industrial construction contractors across the country, we remain committed to collaborating with state and local health officials, as well as across market sectors, to diligently identify and implement new health and safety protocols on our jobsites to protect construction employees amid the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Under the Obama administration, OSHA had also failed to give the construction industry adequate notice of the rule, in that OSHA never included the construction industry at all in the initial proposal. After President Trump took office, OSHA re-examined certain aspects of the rule and engaged in multiple, additional rulemaking efforts to attempt to narrow the requirements of the rule. The Trump administration is currently engaged in a third rulemaking on beryllium, which again might change the requirements. Read more about ABC’s actions in the beryllium regulatory process in Newsline.

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On Aug. 24, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2020-5, which clarifies employers’ obligations to track the hours of compensable work of employees who are teleworking. The guidance responds both to the needs created by new telework or remote work arrangements that arose in response to the coronavirus and to other telework or remote work arrangements.

According to a DOL news release, this guidance reaffirms that an employer is required to pay its employees for all hours worked, including work not requested but allowed and work performed at home. Additionally, if the employer knows or has reason to believe that an employee is performing work, the time must be counted as hours worked.

In addition to this guidance, WHD’s compliance assistance materials and resources on COVID-19 include a Fact Sheet for Employees, a Fact Sheet for Employers and a Questions and Answers resource about paid sick and expanded family and medical leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

For more comprehensive coronavirus resources, visit abc.org/coronavirus.

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The U.S. Department of Labor issued two notices in July seeking feedback on its regulations implementing the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and other issues concerning paid leave.

On July 16, the DOL’s Women’s Bureau published a request for information to gather information on the effectiveness of current state- and employer-provided paid leave programs to determine how access or lack of access to paid leave programs impacts America’s workers and their families.

According to the DOL website, considerations for this RFI are limited to the following circumstances:

• The birth of a child and need to care for the newborn child within one year following the birth;
• The placement, with the employee, of a child for adoption or foster care and the need to care for the newly placed child within one year following placement;
• To care for the employee’s spouse, child or parent who has a serious health condition; or
• A serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job.

The public can submit written comments regarding this RFI on or before Sept. 14, 2020.

On July 17, the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division published a request for information seeking feedback on specific challenges or best practices in the use or administration of FMLA leave, according to the DOL website. The DOL website also states that the RFI includes broad questions for comments that are related to the definition of serious health condition, the use of intermittent FMLA leave, employee notice when seeking FMLA leave and employer-required certification of an employee’s serious health condition to help frame responses.

In addition to the RFI, the WHD announced significant steps to streamline optional-use forms that workers can use to request and employers can use to coordinate leave under the FMLA.

The public can submit written comments on this RFI on or before Sept. 15, 2020.

Additional information on paid leave and the FMLA can be found on the DOL website.

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On Aug. 10, Marvin Kaplan (R) and Lauren McFerran (D) were sworn in for their second terms on the National Labor Relations Board.

According to an NLRB press release, prior to his appointment, Kaplan served as chief counsel to the chair of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, counsel for the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and policy counsel for the House Committee on Education.

Prior to McFerran’s appointment, she served as chief labor counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and began on the HELP Committee as senior labor counsel for then-Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

Kaplan and McFerran will serve for a term expiring Aug. 27, 2025, and Dec. 16, 2024, respectively. 

ABC supported Kaplan’s nomination to serve a second term and sent a letter to Senate leadership encouraging his confirmation. ABC believes that he interpreted the National Labor Relations Act in a manner that is fair to workers and unions and created a climate for economic growth during his time on the board.

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On Aug. 12, ABC joined a coalition of business organizations in a letter to the conferees of the National Defense Authorization Act opposing a House-passed provision that would overhaul anti-money laundering regulations, including a requirement that corporations report ownership information to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The provision was not included in the Senate version of the NDAA. Now House and Senate NDAA conferees must decide if this small business mandate will remain in the final version of the bill.

Under the current Customer Due Diligence Rule, financial institutions are required to collect and verify the identities of the beneficial owners of companies that have accounts with their banks. The so-called Corporate Transparency Act would shift this responsibility away from these large banks, which are best equipped to handle the reporting requirements, and instead burden millions of small businesses, which often have limited capacity to file unfamiliar government paperwork. This proposal would also expose small businesses to serious criminal penalties for paperwork violations and raises privacy concerns as it provides law enforcement officials broad access to personal information without a subpoena or warrant. This would set a dangerous precedent that could be detrimental to our member employers.

ABC’s government affairs team will continue to work with Congress and the coalition to ensure this harmful provision is not included in the final NDAA.

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On Thursday, Aug. 27, ABC will continue its Election Briefing Series with an update from special guests at the Republican State Leadership Committee. It will be followed up with a Mid-America and Midwest regional update on Sept. 10.

The series, powered by the Free Enterprise Alliance, will continue to provide insights into the nation’s ever-changing political landscape and will feature political experts, highlight key races, dive into regional focus areas and much more.

These are events you don’t want to miss, so register today!

The ABC Election Briefing Series is free of charge and reserved for ABC members only. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Please contact Melanie Pfeiffenberger, ABC National director of political affairs, for more information at pfeiffenberger@abc.org.

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Join ABC business partner GM on Aug. 25 at 1 p.m. for an exclusive GM Fleet event*. Be among the first to hear about new products and services. Plus, get one-of-a-kind personalized opportunities that will help your business make the right decisions for your fleet. Add this event to your calendar today!

*Virtual Solutions Summit is an exclusive opportunity only for General Motors LLC (GM), GM and GM Fleet customers, GM employees, GM dealers, General Motors suppliers or otherwise General Motors Fleet invitees. Any access to the Virtual Solutions Summit experience by any other individual or party, including but not limited to other automotive manufacturers, suppliers or dealers is not permitted.

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