Congress Repeals Blacklisting Rule, President Expected to Sign

Employment Law

Using the Congressional Review Act, which only requires a majority for passage by the Senate, the Senate has voted 49 to 48 to permanently block former President Obama's Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces (a.k.a, Blacklisting) Executive Order.  Three Republican Senators were not present for the vote.  Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Chairman of the Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee, said: "The so-called blacklisting rule is yet another Obama-era regulation that exceeds the authority of government, is duplicative and violates due process rights for businesses."  The House had already passed the disapproval resolution and President Trump is expected to sign it.  In October 2016, a federal judge in Texas put most of the implementing regulations on hold, but allowed separate pay information obligations to go into effect in January.  The Congressional measure would strike down the entire final rule (including the pay information obligation) and preclude the FAR Council from ever publishing a similar regulation in the future.  Over the past two years, HR Policy has helped lead the effort to overturn the rule because it would have undermined the integrity of the federal contracting process and denied due process rights to contractors.