On September 6, 2024, President Biden signed the Executive Order (EO) on Investing in America and American Workers, known as the “Good Jobs EO.” This order aims to define what constitutes a modern “good job” and offers incentives for employers to uphold high labor standards, particularly through collective bargaining agreements, project labor agreements, or community benefits agreements.
The Good Jobs EO specifically instructs agencies awarding federal financial assistance—such as grants, loans, and rebates—to prioritize projects that align with the Biden Administration’s “Investing in America Agenda.” Key objectives of these projects include:
– Establishing effective labor-management relations for efficient project delivery.
– Enhancing worker productivity by ensuring family-sustaining wages.
– Providing essential benefits that support workers’ economic security, such as paid leave (including sick, family, and medical leave), health care, retirement benefits, and support for child, dependent, and elder care.
– Increasing access and implementing policies to combat discrimination that hinders employment opportunities for workers in underserved communities.
– Strengthening workforce development by improving access to quality training and portable credentials that lead to good jobs.
– Promoting worker health and safety through enhanced safety training, active worker and union involvement in workplace safety systems, and transparent reporting of occupational safety violations.
Additionally, the Good Jobs EO encourages agencies to establish specific standards for their grant programs. It suggests prioritizing applicants that utilize project labor agreements and provides guidance on best practices to advance the Administration’s goals.
The EO also establishes a new “Investing in Good Jobs Task Force” to further coordinate policy development around high labor standards. Co-chaired by the Secretary of Labor and the Director of the National Economic Council, this Task Force will include various members of the President’s Cabinet.
While the Good Jobs EO does not create new employee protections or enforce specific standards, it highlights the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to workplace issues and signals key areas of focus for federal agencies in the future. Employers can anticipate regulations from the Department of Labor aimed at increasing wages, enhancing leave and care benefits, and fostering union participation under a Biden and potential Harris Administration.
Our DC employment lawyers will continue to monitor the implementation of the Good Jobs EO and provide updates on significant regulations or guidance.