The Internal Revenue Service has given design and construction firms aone-year reprieve from a contract-payment withholding requirement thatindustry contends would deal them a financial blow.At issue is a provision of a 2006 statute that requires federal, state andlocal governments to withhold an amount equal to 3% of their payments toanyone providing them with goods or services.The mandate applies to agencies whose total annual spending on goods andservices is $100 million or more.Individual payments of less than $10,000 would be exempt from thewithholding requirement.The mandate originally was to take effect for payments starting Jan. 1,2011. But the 2009 economic stimulus law
In a settlement with the U.S. Justice Dept. and other federal agencies, BP Exploration Alaska Inc. has agreed to pay a $25-million civil penalty for crude-oil spills in 2006, totaling more than 5,000 barrels, from its pipelines on Alaska's North Slope. Under the pact, announced May 3, BP also will put in place an estimated $60-million, pipeline-integrity program to include regular inspections. U.S. investigators found that two 2006 spills, totaling 5,078 barrels stemmed from BP's failure to inspect and maintain the pipeline well enough to prevent corrosion. The firm pleaded guilty in 2007 to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean
Although it is difficult to determine how the Supreme Court justices might rule in a major environmental case argued on April 19, they asked several questions related to whether the courts or another branch of government should establish the nation's policies on global warming and whether, in a hypothetical common-law public-nuisance case, a federal regulation would supersede a determination by a district judge. At issue in the case, American Electric Power v. Connecticut, is whether states and individuals can sue utilities under federal common law for contributing to global warming and force them to reduce emissions of CO?. Legal observers
A federal jury in New Orleans awarded a $451,000 settlement on March 24th to a former employee of Boh Bros. Construction Co. to settle charges that he was sexually harassed by his superintendent. The verdict, which was announced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission March 29, is one of an increasing number of same-sex harassment lawsuits filed under federal sexual harassment laws. The jury declined to find liability and to award greater damages for retaliation against the worker by Boh Bros. He had claimed that, in reponse to his complaints, he was transferred to another, more distant location from his
The union rights controversy isn’t confined to Wisconsin or teachers. Newly seated Republican majorities in several budget-strapped states have swung legislative wrecking balls at some of the pillars of the building trades, including prevailing wages and project labor agreements. In Ohio, where newly elected Gov. John Kasich (R) has pledged to cut costly regulations, new Republican lawmakers have provided a substantial majority in the state Senate. A bill originating in the Ohio House of Representatives would prohibit state funding on any local government project built under a project labor agreement. On prevailing wages, open-shop contractors are “working with the governor
Earlier-than-expected changes to ConsensusDOCS, the three-and-a-half-year-old library of model contracts for building design and construction, have been welcomed by lawyers who say the update not only enhances the original documents but demonstrates a development process responsive to industry changes. ConsensusDOCS, a coalition of 31 industry groups and a rival of the American Institute of Architects and other standard-agreement developers, says more improvements are coming soon. Photo: Russell Witherington - Fotolia.com ConsensusDOCS released the update on Jan. 19, at least 18 months ahead of the originally envisioned five-year revision cycle. One rationale is that “the economics of the construction industry today
MMR Contractors, a Baton Rouge electrical contractor, and Fluor Corp., the Woodlands, Texas, agreed to pay an instrument fitter $17,500 in back pay and clear his personnel records to resolve findings by the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration that the firms illegally terminated him for complaints about crane safety. An OSHA investigator found the worker complained numerous times to MMR, his direct employer, and to Fluor, general contractor at the Oak Grove powerplant project in Franklin, Texas, about an unsafe crane lift. Shortly after, Fluor insisted that MMR remove the worker from the site, so the subcontractor promptly terminated
While the federal government continues to tangle with Congress over a climate change law, the California Air Resources Board on Dec. 16 went ahead and endorsed its own cap-and-trade regulation. The measure was a major component in AB 32, California’s climate change law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in 2006. The regulation sets a statewide limit on the emissions from sources responsible for 80% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions and establishes a price signal needed to drive long-term investment in cleaner fuels and more efficient use of energy, according to CARB. It is also designed to provide covered entities
Ohio State University, Columbus, violated state statutes governing a $1-billion campus hospital project that required it to mandate a payment bond for site subcontractors, according to a lawsuit filed on Nov. 23 in the Ohio Supreme Court by the American Subcontractors Association and its local chapter. The trade group for sureties joined in the suit. The complaint contends OSU’s decision not to require the project’s construction managers, Turner Construction and Bovis Lend Lease, to post the bond places the subs on the project, called ProjectONE, at financial risk, since they are required to waive their mechanic’s lien rights. “Construction subcontractors
Ohio architect Karlsberger Inc. plans to continuing pursuing a claim for $1.3 million in unpaid fees on a $1-billion hospital project at Ohio State University, in the wake of a Dec. 6 ruling by a state claims court judge that dismissed its 2009 suit against the school. Photo: Ohio State U. 1-million-sq-foot hospital addition will cost $1 billion The Columbus-based firm is seeking compensation for completed work after the university terminated it on its 1-million-sq-ft ProjectONE cancer care and medical center. The firm, which was replaced in its role on the project by HOK, the job’s master planner, had also
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