Responsible Employer Ordinance (REO) Knocked Down By Appeals Court

 

 

 

Remember that ordinance?   In February of 2012, the City Manager O’Brien stopped enforcing the ordinance.   Here is an editorial that the Merit Construction Alliance wrote in June of 2012 supporting the City Manager’s decision.  In particular this line:

Both legal precedent and common sense suggest that Worcester should have have nothing to do with a revival of an REO in any form.

In the the end the City Council voted that September to enforce the REO ordinance.   Last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled against the city of Quincy’s challenge of a lower-court ruling that sided with Merit Construction Alliance, a Kingston-based nonprofit that represents 75 non-union contractors.

The appeals court decision essentially means cities and towns in the First Circuit, consisting of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Puerto Rico, can no longer narrow the bidding process by requiring apprentice training.