Providing Notice of Workers’ NLRA Rights
In April 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14025, affirming the Administration’s policy to encourage worker organizing and collective bargaining, and establishing the Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. Workers face increasing barriers to organizing and bargaining collectively with their employers, and in 2021, only 10.3% of the workforce was represented by a union, down from more than 30% in the 1950s. One of these barriers is workers’ lack of awareness of their rights to organize and bargain collectively.
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is charged with protecting America's workers by ensuring that those who do business with the federal government are accountable for fulfilling the promise of equal opportunity. OFCCP shares responsibility with the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS), the primary enforcement agency, for ensuring contractor compliance with Executive Order 13496 and the relevant regulations. Executive Order 13496 requires certain federal contractors and their subcontractors (both supply and service and construction) to post notices informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the law that governs relations between unions and employers in the private sector. The notice informs employees about their rights under the NLRA to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers, to engage in other protected concerted activity with or without a union, or to refrain from all such activity.
Pursuant to Executive Order 13496, federal contractors are required to:
- Post the required employee notice conspicuously in and around their plants and offices so that it is prominent and readily seen by employees who are covered by the NLRA and who engage in contract-related activity.
- Post the required notice electronically if they communicate with employees electronically, which requires posting a link to the Department of Labor’s website containing the employee notice where they customarily place other electronic notices to employees about their jobs; and
- Insert provisions in their subcontracts that require their subcontractors to comply with the same posting requirements as well.
OFCCP conducts physical inspections of contractor establishments (and, as appropriate, of contractor websites) to determine compliance. OFCCP also investigates complaints of noncompliance. In addition, OFCCP inspects covered contractors’ subcontracts and purchase orders to ensure language regarding the posting requirements is included in the subcontract. OLMS is responsible for taking any necessary administrative enforcement action and imposing any penalties and sanctions for noncompliance with Executive Order 13496. OFCCP’s Directive 2010-01 provides further guidance and information.
Employees, including former employees, of a covered contractor or subcontractor can file a complaint with OLMS or OFCCP if the employee believes that the company has failed to comply with Executive Order 13496.
Federal contractors and subcontractors can obtain the poster, available in various languages, by downloading it free of charge from the OLMS website. If you have any questions, please contact OLMS at OLMS-Public@dol.gov or 202-693–0123.
OFCCP will continue to promote equal employment opportunity by providing compliance assistance to all federal contractors and conducting outreach and engagement with workers and community organizations.
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