In today's news and commentary, a contractor challenges a federal PLA requirement, the government calls for delaying a court hearing over collective bargaining rights for two federal unions, and the IRS announces a waiver of reporting requirements related to the no tax on tips policy.
An Alaska-based plumbing and heating contractor is seeking a preliminary injunction against a 2023 rule requiring project labor contracts on federal construction projects worth more than $35 million. The contractor's complaint argues that the rule goes beyond the president's “limited authority” under federal procurement law and conflicts with the statutory requirement to ensure that federal contracting is “economical and efficient.” Law360 notes mixed results in previous challenges to the rule. According to the article, a Florida district court lawsuit failed earlier this year, although the plaintiffs are appealing to the Eleventh Circuit. In another case, plaintiffs persuaded the Court of Federal Claims that some applications of the rule were unlawful, but did not obtain a repeal of the rule itself.
Law360 notes that the Justice Department has asked to postpone an upcoming hearing on a petition from two federal employee unions that lost collective bargaining rights under an August executive order. Citing the government shutdown, the DOJ last week asked the court to vacate the Nov. 14 deadlineTh Date of the oral hearing. The argument would relate to a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by unions for the National Weather Service and the Patent Office. The unions argue that the president can only exclude from collective bargaining agencies whose primary mission is intelligence, counterintelligence or national security. Their application argues that they are likely to succeed on the merits because they can rebut the “presumption of regularity” that governs the application of the national security exception.
Bloomberg reports that the IRS said in its guidance on Wednesday that it would provide relief to employers who fail to comply with reporting requirements related to the no tax on tips policy. According to the article, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act creates new reporting requirements for employers for amounts reported as tips. The guidance states that tax year 2025 “will be considered a transition period for the IRS’s enforcement” of the new reporting requirements.