On Thursday August 31st, 2014 President Obama signed the “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order” which mandates that federal contractors disclose recent labor violations.  More specifically, any company that is attempting to obtain a federal contract for more than $500,000 must first disclose all of its labor law violations (state and federal) for the previous three years. “Labor violations” is a widely cast net which includes violations of rules regarding civil rights, wage and hour, collective bargaining, safety and medical leave.

In addition, the order prohibits companies seeking to obtain a federal contract for more than $1 million from utilizing arbitration agreements which require employees to arbitrate disputes related to alleged violations of civil rights (as opposed to taking the normal path through the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) to federal court).

The full order can be found here.