The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order requires covered federal contractors to disclose violations of fourteen federal labor laws, orders and equivalent state laws for the past three years when bidding on federal contracts. While the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued proposed guidance on this Order, the guidance does not address your question. However, we do not believe it is likely that the Order will apply to most financial institutions, since its disclosure requirements apply only in the context of bidding for federal contracts.

Notably, the DOL has applied other federal contractor requirements broadly to financial institutions in the past. For example, the DOL states in its regulations and guidance for Executive Order 11246 (addressing equal employment opportunity and affirmative action plan requirements) that it applies to depository institutions by virtue of their access to federal deposit insurance. It is too early to tell whether the DOL will take the same position with the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order, but since this Order addresses only bidding situations (unlike Executive Order 11246), a strong case can be made that it should be treated differently. Depository institutions do not bid on federal contracts for deposit insurance, the sale of U.S. savings bonds, and postage stamps etc.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• Executive Order 13673, Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces (July 31, 2014)

• DOL Proposed Guidance under Executive Order 13673, 80 Fed. Reg. 30573 (May 28, 2015) (“The Order builds on the existing procurement system by instructing contracting officers to consider a contractor's history of labor laws violations, if any, as a factor in determining if the contractor has a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics and may therefore be found to be a responsible source eligible for contract award.”)

• Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs FAQs (“Is a financial institution that is covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or the National Credit Union Association (NCUA) with deposit insurance subject to the Affirmative Actions Program (AAP) requirements under Executive Order 11246, as amended . . . ? Yes. Financial institutions with federal share and deposit insurance are considered to be government contractors . . . .”)