Contractor Community – June 2021

In Contractor Community
June 22, 2021
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Past ASA President Shares His View

In a special section of the May issue of ENR focusing on navigating current challenges and new opportunities in the construction industry, Courtney Little speaks for all of our members:

Special Thanks to ASA President, Brian Cooper

As ASA President Brian Cooper finishes his term, ASA would like to give Brian a special shout out for helping get all of our members through a year like no other. Throughout his 2020-2021 term, the entire landscape changed – not just for subcontractors but for all of us in every aspect of our lives. Many of our member businesses had to change their focus, thereby navigating hairpin turns to survive, and then come out the other side stronger and more resilient than anyone could have imagined. Brian Cooper led ASA through these harrowing times and showed us all how to have grace under pressure.

Thank you, Brian, for your steadfast leadership.

Interview with Jordan Howard, Director of Associated of General Contractors of America (AGC)

Jordan Howard, Director of the Federal and Heavy Construction Division at the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), is interviewed by Mike Oscar, Government Relations Director for the American Subcontractors Association. They discuss how they work together to educate and inform Congress on important matters critical to the construction industry. Listen Now.

OSHA’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard

On June 10, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) finally released its much anticipated COVID-19 EmergencyTemporary Standard (ETS). The ETS is much more limited than anticipated and only applies to healthcare and healthcare support service workers.

The ETS (which spans just over 900 pages) makes it clear that it only applies to “settings where any employee provides healthcare services or healthcare support services.” OSHA estimates that around 10.3 million workers will be covered by the new ETS. These businesses may be relieved to find that many of the provisions are consistent with prior OSHA guidance and that they are already in compliance in many respects.

For businesses that are not covered by the new ETS, OSHA simply updated its Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace. Though many employers have relied on this Guidance to assist them over the last year, compliance with the OSHA Guidance (as opposed to the ETS) is voluntary. That said, since many jurisdictions have drawn from the guidance to create their own state and local rules – some of which are mandatory – it will be important for all businesses to make sure they are staying in compliance with the rules that apply to them.

EEOC Issues COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance for Employers

This article is from SESCO Management Consultants ASA’s Human Resource partner. To learn more about this and all of the other benefits available through your ASA membership, click here.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued new COVID-19 vaccine guidance for employers. The new guidance addresses topics the EEOC either left unclear or did not expressly resolve in earlier publications.

Confidentiality

Information about an employee’s vaccination status is considered “confidential medical information” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Like all medical information, information about an employee’s vaccination status must be kept confidential and stored separately from the employee’s personnel file. Unfortunately, with this general rule in mind, the EEOC has not yet offered guidance for employers on how to easily identify the vaccination status of employees at the workplace to enforce ongoing mask mandates for non-vaccinated workers (e.g., via a badge or other outward identifier).

Employer Inquiries

Employers may ask employees whether they obtained the vaccine from a third party in the community (pharmacy, personal doctor, etc.), and this question is not a “disability-related inquiry.”
Employers may ask employees to provide documentation or other confirmation of the vaccination from such sources without the request being a “disability-related inquiry.”

Vaccinating Subsets of Employees

Employers may offer vaccinations to certain groups of employees and not to others (e.g., assembly versus office workers), so long as the employer does not discriminate in the offering based on a protected class.

Vaccine Incentives

Employers may offer incentives to employees who voluntarily receive the vaccine from a third-party vaccine provider (health department, pharmacy, personal medical provider, etc.).
Employers may offer incentives to employees to voluntarily provide documentation that they received the vaccine from a third-party vaccine provider.
Employers may offer incentives to employees who voluntarily receive a vaccination administered by the employer or its agent, so long as the incentive is not “so substantial as to be coercive.” One gap in the guidance provided by the EEOC is any further discussion of what constitutes a “coercive” incentive. What is so substantial as to be coercive and thus no longer voluntary under the ADA? Hopefully, the EEOC will further clarify this question but an incentive under $500 would likely be permissible. This was a central issue in the EEOC’s prior efforts to delineate regulations covering permissible incentives related to employer-sponsored wellness plans under the ADA. Although the EEOC had released new Trump-era wellness regulations in January 2021, they had not yet been published in the Federal Register when President Biden took office, and so they were withdrawn.
Employers may not offer an incentive to an employee in return for the employee’s family member getting vaccinated by the employer or its agent.
Employers may offer to vaccinate family members without offering the employee an incentive. However, employers must not require employees to have their family members get vaccinated and must not penalize employees if their family members decide not to do so. Employers must also ensure all medical information obtained from family members during the screening process is used only for the purpose of providing the vaccination, is kept confidential and is not provided to any managers, supervisors or others who make employment decisions for the employees.

ASA’s Sheila Ohrenberg Testifies at House Small Business Committee’s Infrastructure Hearing

On June 10, 2021, Sheila Ohrenberg, a long-standing ASA member, President of the Sorella Group based in Kansas City, KS, and President of the Women Construction Owners and Executives (WCOE), testified at the House Small Business Contracting and Infrastructure Subcommittee Hearing entitled, “Utilization of Small Contractors in the Infrastructure Plan.” The hearing focused on the importance of infrastructure investment and how it will promote contracting opportunities for small businesses, who will play a central role in upgrading the nation’s infrastructure. The hearing provided Committee Members the opportunity to learn more where contractual opportunities lie as well as the resources small businesses need to undertake infrastructure projects.

Per Sheila’s testimony, “maintaining and modernizing infrastructure is essential to any business. Infrastructure investment is critical for small business owners like me. An infusion of federal infrastructure projects means work and creating jobs and growing the business. Maintaining and building infrastructure expands access for business, enhances business operations, creates demand, and is vital to growth. Construction work means being on the road – road congestion leads to wasted fuel, lost productivity and more pollution. For WCOE members working on transit systems or highway construction or almost any project, delays mean higher costs and then the scope of the project is cut down or curtailed indefinitely.” We extend Sheila our heartfelt appreciation for testifying on this important topic to the subcontractor construction community.

Share Your Voice in the 2021 Construction Business Survey – and you could win $1000

Foundation Software’s 2021 Construction Business Survey is back. Last year, nearly 600 construction professionals responded to share their unique perspectives on the state of the industry. Let us know what you think on topics ranging from software usage, business processes and expectations for the future.

In less than 10 minutes, you can let your voice be heard and see how your company stacks up against others in the industry.

All participants will receive a free copy of the 2021 Construction Business Report when it’s published this fall. More information, and to take the survey.

UPS Savings Breakdown

ASA members – yes, you know about how you can save with UPS, but here are the details:

Once you create an account at www.savewithups.com/asamembers or sign in to your existing one, ASA members can begin saving through the variety of discounts. These discounted services include: