August 11, 2014
A new executive order from President Obama will create more scrutiny of companies that want federal contracts. Included in what the feds will look at: OSHA violations within the last three years. Are all OSHA violators now barred from federal contracts?
Not necessarily.
The Fair Pay and Safe Workplace Executive Order (EO) will require prospective federal contractors to disclose labor law violations. These include violations of several labor laws including the Fair Labor Standard Act, the National Labor Relations Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
The EO will be implemented on new contracts in stages during 2016. It will affect contracts for more than $500,000 in goods, services or a combination of both.
A fact sheet produced by the White House puts it this way: “Taxpayer dollars should not reward corporations that break the law.”
“Break the law” sounds pretty broad.
But the fact sheet also says, “Contracting officers will take into account only the most egregious violations.” The violations must “rise to the level of a lack of integrity or business ethics.
“The Executive Order will ensure that the worst actors, who repeatedly violate the rights of their workers and put them in danger, don’t get contracts,” according to the White House.
Are you out of luck if you have some serious OSHA violations? Again, not necessarily. Help is available, and remediation can be a key.
“Companies with labor law violations will be offered the opportunity to receive early guidance on whether those violations are potentially problematic and remedy any problems,” according to the fact sheet.
Read Full Article At Safetynewsalert.com
