Business and Legal Insights

As expected, President Trump has permanently blocked previously issued Executive Order 13673 - Fair Pay & Safe Workplaces, also known as the “Blacklisting Rule”.  President Trump signed H.J. Res. 37 disapproving of the previously issued Executive Order pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, and issued a new executive order officially revoking Executive Order 13673 previously signed by President Obama.  H.J. Res. 37 was part of a package of resolutions signed by President Trump on March 27^th which the White House claimed would “roll back job killing rules”.

The “Blacklisting Rule” would have required federal contractors to disclose to federal agencies recent labor and employment law violations that had occurred in the past three years when bidding on new or renewed contracts worth at least $500,000.  Federal contractors would also have been required to implement procedures to comply with required paycheck transparency, and would have prohibited them from entering into mandatory arbitration agreements concerning employee Title VII claims.

Critics of the “Blacklisting Rule” argued that it called for companies to not only report actual violations, but also to report mere allegations that had not been fully adjudicated.  They also took issue with the rules as being redundant to existing debarment procedures.  White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer described it as “one of the most significant threats to growing American business and hiring more American workers.”

In contrast, supporters of the “Blacklisting Rule” argued that it protected the rights of workers and held companies that contracted with the government accountable for violating workplace laws.  They also argued that the order addressed key issues workers are faced with on the job at federal contractors, including wage theft, safety violations and discrimination.

A copy of House Joint Resolution 37 can be found at https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/hjres37/BILLS-115hjres37enr.pdf.