Workers back at Panama Canal after partial deal

The consortium contracted to build the Panama Canal expansion has sent some workers back onto the job after an agreement with the Panama Canal Authority, but no one is saying what tasks they are performing.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 20, 2014

Sentencing announced for N.Y. company, owner that shorted workers' pay

Applied Construction Inc. did not follow contract requirements on project for New York City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 18, 2014

Feds plan to demand more mileage from construction, other heavy trucks

President Obama has upped the fuel-efficiency effort for medium and heavy trucks, which already have to get as much as 20% better mileage by 2018.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 18, 2014

Officials call for Okla. school storm shelters

The death of seven elementary school students in Moore, Okla., in May 2013 has officials in Tulsa considering a requirement for storm shelters in new schools.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 13, 2014

Pa. management company in trouble with IRS, union, contractor

FBI agents visited PCM Construction Management's offices in Moosic last week, and a construction company has sued for $256,000.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 11, 2014

Court decisions trend sees insurers covering construction defects

In several recent rulings from top state courts, judges have been finding that, legally, construction defects are "accidents" and damages should be covered by insurance.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 11, 2014

Obamacare change may help contractors, builders

The Obama administration is putting penalties off until 2016 for companies with 50 to 99 full-time workers if the employers are not providing health insurance.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 10, 2014

Is a N.Y. liability law killing jobs and preventing construction?

An opinion piece in the New York Post argues that New York State's "scaffold law" makes construction expensive enough to prevent some projects from happening.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 10, 2014

Panama Canal owner say project ready to move on without contractor

There are at most a few days to get work going again with contractor consortium Grupo Unidos Por el Canal.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 7, 2014

St. Louis contractor claims union campaign led to death threat

The Carpenters' District Council has run a "shaming" campaign against Raineri Construction, and now they are in court after the owner says he felt his life was threatened.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 6, 2014

Momentum Builds for Revising the ACA’s Full-time Employee Definition

On Jan. 28, the House Ways and Means Committee held a congressional hearing on the impact of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer mandate definition of full-time employees. AGC joined the Employers for Flexibility in Health Care coalition in a letter to the committee highlighting that certain...

Feb. 6, 2014

Contracts may allow speeding up work to avoid delays down the road

if you can see a delay coming, the client may agree to have you speed up work before it happens, but there are some legal requirements for getting paid more for doing it.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 6, 2014

Oregon, two contractors sued in woman's death at construction site

Joy Groh's car got stuck near a ferry reconstruction project, and then she fell into a pit on the site, broke her ankle and died in the cold.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 4, 2014

Engineer arrested in Canadian mall roof collapse

The collapse in 2012 killed two people and injured a third, and provincial police now have charged Robert Wood with criminal negligence.

By Ron Gallagher • Feb. 4, 2014

AGC asks Army Corps to skip labor agreements for N.C. contracts

Associated General Contractors is urging the Army not to force bidders to set up agreements to pay prevailing uniuon wages in order to bid for Corps of Engineers business in eastern N.C. and Va.

By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 29, 2014

DOT issues new rule to speed up highway, transit reviews

The federal agency says that projects being built in existing rights of way and ones with less than $5 million in federal funding can get faster environmental reviews.

By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 20, 2014

Marijuana legal in Colorado—but not if you work construction

State law may allow pot smoking in Colorado now, with Washington state to follow and perhaps others, but the advice to contractors about employee use has not changed.

By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 14, 2014

L.A. takes a shine to reflective roofs with code change

The Municipal Building Code in the City of Angels has been amended to require less-heat-absorbing lids on homes in new construction or roof replacements.

By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 13, 2014

Court action forces Vikings Stadium bond sale to take time-out

The state was going to sell the first round of bonds to finance the new Vikings football stadium in Minneapolis on Monday, but a court filing on Friday broke up that play.

By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 12, 2014

Half of U.S. construction workforce hangs in immigration limbo

Auditing firms' I-9 files simply drives tax-paying but illegal immigrant workers to become subcontractors who pay nothing and stay hidden as "expenses" rather than "payroll."

By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 8, 2014

OSHA fines, death lawsuit come from Texas A&M accidents

Two contractors have been assessed penalties in a June incident on the campus, and the family of a worker killed in a December demolition accident is suing six contractors.

By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 8, 2014

OSHA adds month for comments on plan for electronic injury reporting

The agency said it was adding the 30-day window because the National Association of Home Builders requested it.

By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 7, 2014

Employers will not have to post notice about workers' right to organize

Down 0-2 in court battles over a proposal to make employers put up right-to-organize notices, the National Labor Relations Board has dropped the idea.

By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 7, 2014

Denver mayor backs lawsuit limits to encourage condo building

Mayor Michael Hancock supports the idea of giving developers a chance to fix any problems before buyers are allowed to sue.

By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 6, 2014

AGC again urges DOT to hold off on regulation changes

Associated General Contractors filed comments saying that a proposal for more paperwork about hiring disadvantaged subcontractors is both expensive and perhaps ill-advised, given recent criticism.

By Ron Gallagher • Jan. 6, 2014