Redstone Government Consulting Blog | Human Resources (4)

Whistleblower claims are on the rise with alleged violations of health and safety laws as well as fraud and abuse under the CARES Act due to the pandemic. Employers need to ensure they are familiar with the whistleblower laws and their responsibilities under government contracts.

You’re probably not feeling quite like THIS about training, but we do want to remind you of a few topics that you, as a federal government contractor, need to address with your workforce on a fairly regular basis. We can’t hit them all, but this is a list of those that should be on the radar of your Human Resources staff and are relevant to most contractors.

On January 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced its final rule to clarify whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The final rule was published in the Federal Register on January 7, 2021 and the effective date is March 8, 2021. You may read the entire rule here.

Let us Set the Stage

On June 11, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) put out a Notice (2020-46) that allowed employees to donate unused leave to charitable groups supporting the COVID-19 National Emergency. Under the leave-based donation program, employees can elect to forgo vacation, sick, or personal leave in exchange for cash payments that the employer makes to charitable organizations. The notice provides that employee’s donation of leave will not be taxable income to the employee, however the employer will still treat the cost of the leave granted to the employee as either ordinary and necessary business expense or a charitable contribution. This applies to donations made before the end of the 2020 calendar year.

Under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), federal contractors and subcontractors with contracts valued at $150,000 or more are required to file an annual VETS-4212 report disclosing the number of veterans in their workforce. All contractors and subcontractors who meet the contract threshold amount are required to file a VETS-4212 report, regardless of their total number of employees. Data reported through form VETS-4212 is used by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) to conduct compliance evaluations. The annual filing period for form VETS-4212 is August 1 through September 30. The 2020 filing deadline is September 30, 2020.

If your company is subject to EEO-1 reporting or if you’re a contractor, Self ID forms are old news but as OMB has approved a new Voluntary Self-ID of Disability form, now is a good time for a refresher.

For the past 10+ weeks, we have focused on how to work remotely, compensate employees who are unable to work due to COVID-19 related reasons, and how to interpret and implement the new laws applicable to the pandemic, such as the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the Paycheck Protection Program, and CARES. As many states begin to loosen the “shelter at home/social distancing” guidelines, it is time to consider – how do we return to work safely?

Redstone GCI is currently monitoring the Families First Coronavirus Response Act bill passed by the House over the weekend, which will provide a number of economic, policy, and regulatory benefits in response to COVID-19. We are closely following the bill as it progresses through the regulatory process to be finalized.

Both the ITAR and the EAR regulate Deemed Exports: releasing or otherwise transferring controlled technical data to a foreign person in the United States. So how does this impact hiring foreign nationals to work on ITAR/EAR projects? Hiring foreign nationals presents an opportunity for a deemed export and therefore possible export compliance implications.

It’s that time of year again! The 2018 EEO-1 survey officially opened on March 18, 2019 and is due on May 31, 2019.