Ostensibly as part of a comprehensive overhaul of its acquisition regulations, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed resurrecting the contractor blacklisting rule, which was overturned by Congress under the Congressional Review Act in 2017. The proposed rule would broadly exclude any contractor, subcontractor or supplier that has violated any labor law, including (but not limited to) 15 specific federal labor laws and their state equivalents. Additionally, the proposed rule would require contractor bidders 1) to provide a list of all their and their subcontractors' previous labor-law violations (for some unspecified period of time), to be updated every six months, and 2) to certify, on behalf of themselves and their subcontractors, that they are now in compliance with any corrective actions resulting from those violations.
Comments on the proposed rule are due March 21, 2022. Contractors with USDA contracts should prepare for the final release of this clause by reviewing and cataloguing labor law violations...
A person in his 30s who demanded compensation for alleged foreign substances in cup noodles and the absence of meat in stir-fried pork was sentenced to prison in both the first trial and the appel...