...[The] Obama administration...[has issued an] executive order...[to] bar companies from receiving federal contracts if they recently violated labor laws. Known as the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order, the new regulation is meant to reward good actors and punish bad ones, encouraging employers to take the high road if they want government money... Labor Secretary Tom Perez [said,] “The contractors who are doing the right thing should not have to compete for contracts with those who don’t.” ...[Business] groups...vehemently opposed the regulation and lobbied to have it watered down or spiked... Under the rule, companies that want to bid on contracts will have to disclose to the government whether they ran afoul of laws covering workplace safety, workplace discrimination, labor organizing rights, or minimum wage and overtime during the previous three years... 

Senate Democrats issued a report in 2013 showing that 49 contractors with serious labor violations enjoyed $81 billion in federal contracts in 2012 alone. “Almost 30 percent of companies receiving the highest penalties for violations of federal labor law are also federal contractors,” the report found.  [Occupational safety & health] violations, in particular, tend to come with meager fines, which critics say leaves employers with little incentive to improve safety.