Construction Law Now Blog

The construction industry can resume operations statewide starting May 1, 2020 under recent orders from Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. The Governor’s decision brought relief and excitement to contractors eager to get back to work. It also brought ...

While the country faces the COVID-19 pandemic, highway and transportation construction is almost uniformly proceeding across the country, even though state and local orders have shuttered other construction work. In fact, due to shelter-at-home ...

I am proud to say this blog post has nothing to do with the coronavirus pandemic, but rather a simpler time. The year was 2017. Construction was thriving, and “social distancing” was not part of the lexicon. That year, Pennsylvania rolled out ...

Please Note: This article was updated on Thursday, April 2, 2020 to reflect the latest legal and regulatory developments. At 8:00 AM Monday, March 23, 2020, enforcement measures took effect for Pennsylvania, with Governor Tom Wolf’s executive ...

The coronavirus pandemic is causing ongoing instability and uncertainty to the global economy. Already, there is a profound alteration of worldwide business operations, including the U.S. construction industry. Government restrictions are limiting ...

Construction contract indemnification clauses may get turned topsy-turvy due to legislation making its way through the Pennsylvania Assembly. Currently, Pennsylvania’s anti-indemnification statute applies to certain, limited instances. The ...

Wire transfers are quickly replacing paper checks as the most common payment method on construction projects nationwide. Using wire transfers or other electronic payment offers convenience to the payor and nearly instantaneous payment for the ...

Under the Department of Labor’s new overtime rules, which become effective January 1, 2020, all employees with a salary of less than $35,568 must be treated as hourly employees entitled to overtime compensation whenever they work more than 40 ...

Breaking from prior legal precedent, an appellate court in New York ruled that if a contractor pays employees performing manual work on a biweekly basis (or less frequently), the affected employees may bring a private lawsuit or class action case ...

Cohen Seglias Summer Associate Jordan L. Cramer also contributed to this article. On August 12, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed new legislation (Senate Bill S6577, A8421) making it significantly easier for employees to file sexual harassment ...

Harrisburg has seen a number of proposed bills during the past few weeks, many of which will have significant legal impacts on the construction industry. On the top of the list is an anti-indemnity statute that would put Pennsylvania among the ranks ...

I hope you enjoyed my recent webinar on payment techniques for contractors in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. If you missed it, you can access the recording here. Below are some of the highlights: Payment Techniques Traditional payment techniques for ...

The past six months have seen plenty of activity from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The following recaps the developments affecting the construction industry. As each changes the regulatory landscape, construction ...

Construction professionals in New York face new hurdles in ensuring they are covered as additional insureds under other parties’ commercial general liability insurance policies. In 2002, a New York City agency contracted with a general contractor ...

On March 7, 2019, the United States Department of Labor issued a proposed new overtime rule that will raise the minimum salary threshold for workers to qualify for the white-collar exemption to the overtime provisions of the federal Fair Labor ...

The Ohio Supreme Court’s October 9, 2018 decision in Ohio Northern University v. Charles Construction Services, Inc., 2018-Ohio-4057 issued a blow to general contractors attempting to obtain insurance coverage under their commercial general ...

On October 10, 2018, the amendments to the Contractor and Subcontractor Payment Act, 73 P.S. § 501, et seq. (CASPA) will take effect and significantly impact the rights and duties of owners, contractors, and subcontractors on all Pennsylvania ...

I’m a management-side employment lawyer. It’s my job to go to court and defend employers and executives accused of all different types of misconduct, including sexual harassment. Over the last 20 years, I have seen it all. Some of my cases ...

Effective October 1, 2018, general contractors with projects in Maryland will have a new headache to deal with. That’s when Maryland’s new law, the General Contractor Liability for Unpaid Wages Act, will go into effect. Under the Act, GCs will ...

Recent OSHA activity indicates possible changes in the scope and enforcement of the newly-created Improve Tracking of Workplace Injury and Illnesses Rule (Electronic Reporting Rule). OSHA intends to collect less data than the rule requires in order ...