At the risk of further confusing affected federal contractors, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced recently (see notice) that the current federal contractor minimum wage will increase from $10.95 an hour to $11.25 an hour, effective January 1, 2022. The increase is mandated by Executive Order (E.O.) 13658 issued by President Obama in 2014 that requires certain federal contractors and subcontractors to pay a higher minimum wage than is otherwise required under federal law to employees working on covered contracts.
The potential confusion arises because the Obama E.O. and DOL’s implementing regulations are separate and apart from E.O. 14026, which was signed earlier this year by President Biden and further increases the federal contractor minimum wage to $15.00 per hour for contracts entered into, renewed, or with options exercised after January 30, 2022. Thus, as of that date, some covered contractors (and their employees) will be subject to two different minimum wage requirements – $11.25 an hour or $15.00 an hour – depending on when the contract was entered into, renewed, or had options exercised.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.