DOL Proposes New Rule to Establish Minimum Wage Standards for Federal Contractors
On July 22, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a notice of proposed rulemaking to outline the standards and procedures that it will use to administer President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14026, which he signed on April 27, 2021. Executive Order 14026 proposed an increase to the minimum wage for workers performing work on federal contracts to $15 per hour beginning January 30, 2022. The proposed rule applies only to federal contractors. It builds upon Executive Order 13658 signed by then-president Barack Obama that established a minimum wage of $10.10 for federal contractors with annual increases for inflation. The current rate is $10.95 per hour; the minimum wage for tipped federal contract workers is $7.65 per hour. Below is a brief summary of the scope of the DOL’s proposed rule and changes, if finalized.
