Back in February, we told you about President Obama’s Executive Order 13658 increasing the minimum wage for federal contractor employees. Late last week, the Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division (WHD) submitted its Final Rule implementing EO 13658 to the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
The Final Rule addresses public comments in response to WHD’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. OIRA will conduct a final review, approve the text of the regulation, and publish it in the Federal Register. The period for the Office to review a draft regulation is limited by a different Executive Order to 90 days, with the possibility of a single, 30-day extension. While there is no minimum period for review, the average review time in past years has been approximately two months. EO 13658 requires the DOL to issue regulations by October 1, 2014. Given its typical timelines, it is unclear whether OIRA would have sufficient time to review the Final Rule in time to meet that deadline.
As we explained when we first covered EO 13658, we expect the Final Rule mandating the $10.10 minimum wage will apply to federal contractors who receive new contracts on or after January 1, 2015, or who have services covered by the Service Contract Act, or concessions and services in connection with federal property or lands. We will keep you updated on the status of OIRA’s review as it progresses and confirm the effective date once the rule is published.