Alaska Mechanical Contractor Asks Judge to Strike Federal PLA Mandate

For mechanical and sheet metal contractors that pursue federal work, the case gets at a practical question: How far can the government go in dictating labor arrangements as a condition of bidding?

It could eventually become a Supreme Court question, too. The Eleventh Circuit has already rejected a challenge to the PLA mandate. Slayden is seeking a different outcome in Alaska, which falls under the Ninth Circuit. If the appeals courts ultimately split over the rule, Slayden’s attorney said the dispute could be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court.

The mandate originated with President Joe Biden’s 2022 Executive Order 14063 and was implemented through the Federal Acquisition Regulation in 2024. President Donald Trump has not rescinded the order, and his administration continues to defend the regulation.

That makes this less a fight over one president’s labor policy than a broader fight over how much authority presidents have to place labor conditions on federal contractors.

The ACHR NEWS has followed that fight through several turns. A Court of Federal Claims ruling initially struck PLA requirements from specific federal projects, the Department of Defense later backed away from mandatory PLAs, and a federal judge subsequently ordered DOD to resume using them. The Trump administration then kept the Biden-era rule in place. Our reporting has also examined contractor concerns over competition, labor requirements and pension liability and previously covered Slayden’s lawsuit and its possible Supreme Court trajectory.

Federal Work Is Slayden’s Business

For Slayden, the dispute is not academic.

The nonunion plumbing and mechanical contractor has historically relied heavily on federal construction, particularly Department of Defense work. Wake said roughly 80% of Slayden’s work has come from federal contracts.

The company has already withdrawn from two projects at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson because of PLA requirements.

Luke Wake, senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation and counsel for Slayden, described the contractor’s choice as accepting labor terms the company and its employees oppose or giving up work that has long been central to its business.

Slayden argues the federal Procurement Act was designed to help the government buy goods and services efficiently, not to give presidents broad authority to regulate contractors’ labor relationships.

“The way I describe it, it’s a statute about staplers and office chairs,” Wake told The ACHR NEWS. “It’s not about labor relations or minimum wage.”

That argument could have more traction in the Ninth Circuit than elsewhere.

In a separate case involving a Biden administration minimum-wage requirement for federal contractors, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the president exceeded his authority under the Procurement Act. That case did not involve PLAs, but Slayden argues the same principle applies here.

Wake said Gleason asked extensively about the limits of presidential authority during the hearing but gave little indication which way she might rule.

“She asks a lot of thoughtful questions, and she has a very good poker face,” Wake said.

The federal government argues the rule is a legitimate exercise of its power as a buyer of construction services, not an attempt to regulate contractors generally.

That position received support this year from the Eleventh Circuit, which declined to block the PLA mandate in a challenge brought by Associated Builders and Contractors and its Florida First Coast Chapter. The court found the groups were unlikely to succeed on their facial challenges to the rule.

A Slayden victory in Alaska would not immediately create a conflict between appeals courts. But if the case reaches the Ninth Circuit and that court disagrees with the Eleventh Circuit, the stakes get considerably higher.

“You could have a potential for sort of a direct circuit split on this question,” Wake said. “That’s the sort of thing that could work its way [to] the Supreme Court at the end of the day.”

Who Has Leverage at the Bargaining Table?

Slayden is also making an argument likely to sound familiar to nonunion contractors that have considered PLA-covered work.

Once a PLA becomes mandatory, Wake argues, a contractor has less leverage in negotiations because it needs an agreement with organized labor before it can perform the project.

“The unions now have leverage that they didn’t have otherwise,” Wake said.

Slayden argues federal regulators failed to adequately consider that bargaining dynamic when they adopted the mandate.

The government and PLA supporters see the tradeoff differently. They argue PLAs can provide labor stability on large, complicated projects by establishing work rules and procedures for resolving disputes while guarding against strikes and lockouts.

Slayden’s larger concern is competition.

Wake said Congress intended federal procurement to encourage “full and open competition,” while Slayden argues the PLA requirement can push qualified nonunion contractors out before bids are even submitted.

That is already happening at Slayden, according to Wake.

The contractor’s experience, he said, is that PLA requirements are “inhibiting contractors like Slayden from putting in bids.”

For HVAC and sheet metal firms, that may be the most consequential part of the case. The question is not simply whether PLAs are legal in the abstract, but whether contractors that historically competed for federal mechanical work can continue doing so under a mandatory PLA system.

Where the Case Goes Next

Gleason did not rule from the bench. Wake said predicting when a decision will come would be “reading tea leaves,” but Slayden wants an answer sooner rather than later as federal opportunities continue to arise.

Whatever Gleason decides, he expects an appeal.

“Whoever loses, presumably it’s going to go to the Ninth Circuit,” Wake said.

Wake was careful, however, not to characterize reaching the Supreme Court as Slayden’s immediate goal.

When asked about that possibility, he brought the conversation back to what the contractor is asking the Alaska court to do now.

“We’re hoping for a decision saying that the PLA mandate is invalid,” Wake said. “The implementing regulation is vacated and can’t be enforced.”

A Ninth Circuit appeal — and potentially a Supreme Court fight — would come after that.

For contractors, the immediate question is simpler: whether the federal government can require a company to enter a PLA before it can compete for some of the largest construction projects in the country.