Boost in SCA enforcement

      The Labor Dept. is striving to beef up its enforcement of Service Contract Act (SCA) wage and hour violations among federal contractors, the Government Accountability Office said in a recent report.

      SCA compliance is required for all vendors with prime contracts for services valued over $2,500.

      The stepped-up enforcement comes after several years in which violations were common.

      DOL found violations in 68% of the SCA cases it investigated among federal contractors from 2014 to 2019, according to GAO. The findings resulted in 60 contractor debarments and $224 million in back wages collected and paid.

      Many of those banned from federal work for wage and hour violations are small businesses. For example, on May 17, DOL debarred for three years Morales Plumbing LLC of Geismar, LA, for “egregious” wage and hour violations. The firm has fewer than 20 employees.

      DOL’s recent actions to improve SCA enforcement include:

• DOL reported it had developed a revised internal tracking system offering a year-end summary of SCA debarments;
• DOL and the USPS recently signed a draft Memorandum of Understanding to increase collaboration for SCA compliance. However, the memo has not been signed to date, GAO said; and
• DOL developed a tool that allows its SCA enforcement team to track company unique identifiers back in time, and has advised regional staff to include the identifiers with the debarment recommendations.
• DOL is developing written guidance for its staff to inform contracting agencies of current debarments in effect.

More information:
GAO report: https://bit.ly/3MwSGIp

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