by Secretary Tom Perez- I am a big believer in basic fairness: if you play by the rules, you should have the opportunity to succeed. That’s true in life and also in business. The vast majority of employers understand this principle and abide by it every day with measurable success. But I think we can all agree that those businesses that break the law by cutting corners at the expense of their workers should not benefit from taxpayer-funded federal contracts.

The vast majority of federal contractors play by the rules, but every year tens of thousands of American workers are denied overtime wages, not hired or paid fairly because of their gender or age, or have their health and safety put at risk by corporations contracting with the federal government that cut corners, according to a White House press statement.