Executive Order Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave on SCA Contracts

David Gul · Last updated November 3, 2026

ExcelGurus is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. General Services Administration or any other federal agency. This guide describes the regulations, clauses and decisions it cites as read on November 3, 2026; they change, so check them, the clauses in your own contract and its current wage determination before you rely on it. It is not legal advice.

Executive Order 14026, the federal contractor minimum wage that was $17.75 an hour in 2025, was revoked on March 14, 2025, and the Department of Labor says it no longer enforces it; the standard wage determinations revised in 2026 no longer mention it. Executive Order 13658 still applies, but only to contracts entered into from January 1, 2015 to January 29, 2022 that have not been renewed or extended since January 30, 2022: on those, at least $13.65 an hour since May 11, 2026, and $14.05 from January 6, 2027. Executive Order 13706 paid sick leave remains in force for contracts awarded from January 1, 2017, and whether your contract includes FAR 52.222-62 decides which of the two health and welfare rates on the wage determination applies. EG SCA Wage Pack (52.222-43) asks during Setup whether each contract includes 52.222-62 and whether the EO 13658 minimum wage applies.

The three orders at a glance

As read on November 3, 2026, from the Department of Labor’s notices, the Federal Register, 29 CFR and the FAR:

EO 14026: revoked, with loose ends

Executive Order 14026 set a $15.00 minimum wage from January 30, 2022 for contracts entered into, renewed or extended from that date, raised each year: to $17.75 on January 1, 2025 (89 FR 79644). On March 14, 2025, section 2(d) of Executive Order 14236 revoked it (90 FR 13037). The Department of Labor’s notice, repeated on SAM.gov, says it “is no longer enforcing Executive Order 14026 or the implementing rule (29 CFR part 23)” and “will take steps, including rescinding 29 CFR part 23”. Wage determinations issued in 2025 still carried a note naming the $17.75 rate; the standard wage determinations revised in 2026 carry no note for EO 14026 at all, only the EO 13706 and EO 13658 notes.

Three things were still unsettled when we read the sources:

• 29 CFR Part 23 is still printed. The eCFR, current to October 30, 2026, still carries it; DOL has said it will rescind it but had not done so.
• The FAR still has the clause. FAR subpart 22.19 and the clause at 52.222-55, Minimum Wages for Contractor Workers Under Executive Order 14026 (Jan 2022), are still in the FAR (FAC 2026-01), and FAR 22.1002-5 still describes EO 14026 as superseding EO 13658. The FAR overhaul’s model text for Part 22 keeps them too.
• Contracts that still contain 52.222-55. Whether that clause still binds you to its rate as a contract term, the sources we read do not say. If your contract has it, ask your contracting officer in writing how the agency treats it, and keep the answer with the contract file.

EO 13658: older contracts only, and the 2027 rate

With EO 14026 revoked, the earlier order is the one still in effect. In DOL’s words, it “generally applies to contracts subject to the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) … and the Service Contract Act (SCA) … awarded between January 1, 2015, and January 29, 2022, and not renewed or extended on or after January 30, 2022” (91 FR 64403). An exercised option is an extension, so an SCA contract that has exercised any option since January 30, 2022 is outside it. DOL notes that the number of covered contracts “continues to dwindle”. Contracts for seasonal recreational services are not covered.

The rates, each from its own notice:

• $13.65 an hour, and a $9.55 cash wage for tipped employees, from May 11, 2026 (91 FR 5783, February 9, 2026).
• $14.05 an hour, and a $9.85 cash wage for tipped employees, from January 6, 2027 (91 FR 64403, October 8, 2026). DOL raised the rate by the 3.075% rise in the CPI-W and rounded it to the nearest 5 cents.

The order sets a floor, not a second rate: the 2026 wage determinations tell the contractor to pay “at least $13.65 per hour (or the applicable wage rate listed on this wage determination, if it is higher)”, so it matters only where an occupation’s rate is lower. One gap is unsettled: those wage determinations give $13.65 “from May 11, 2026, through December 31, 2026”, and the 2027 notice starts $14.05 on January 6, 2027. Neither names a rate for January 1 to 5, 2027, and DOL’s own minimum wage page, as read, did not yet mention the 2027 notice. If you have covered work in those days, pay at least $13.65 and ask your contracting officer.

EO 13706: paid sick leave

Paid sick leave under Executive Order 13706 is in force: 29 CFR Part 13 is in the CFR, the clause at FAR 52.222-62 (Jan 2022) is in the FAR, and the current wage determinations carry its note. An employee accrues at least 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked on or in connection with a covered contract, counted across all the contractor’s covered contracts (29 CFR 13.5(a)(1)), up to 56 hours a year; a contractor may instead give 56 hours at the start of each accrual year.

Which contracts it covers turns on the definition of a “new contract” in 29 CFR 13.2: one that results from a solicitation issued on or after January 1, 2017, or is awarded outside a solicitation from that date. A contract entered into before then becomes covered if, through bilateral negotiation on or after January 1, 2017, it is renewed, extended (other than a short limited extension already provided for in the contract on December 31, 2016) or amended outside its scope. The definition “does not apply to the unilateral exercise of a pre-negotiated option to renew an existing contract by the Federal Government”, so exercising an option does not by itself add 52.222-62 to a contract that lacks it. The sick leave records are kept for at least 3 years after the contract (13.25(a)).

Sick leave and SCA health and welfare

EO 13706 sick leave comes on top of the SCA’s wages and fringe benefits. “A contractor may not receive credit toward its prevailing wage or fringe benefit obligations under those Acts for any paid sick leave provided in satisfaction of the requirements of Executive Order 13706” (29 CFR 13.5(f)(2)(i)). Paid sick time beyond what the order requires is different: its value may count toward SCA obligations under the SCA’s own rules (13.5(f)(2)(ii)).

That is why every standard wage determination prints two health and welfare rates. On those revised in August 2026, such as WD 2015-5619, Revision 30 (8/27/2026), they are:

• $5.92 an hour, up to 40 hours a week ($236.80 a week or $1,026.13 a month), for a contract not covered by EO 13706;
• $5.42 an hour, up to 40 hours a week ($216.80 a week or $939.46 a month), “only when compensating employees for performance on an SCA-covered contract also covered by EO 13706”.

The test is the clause: if your contract includes FAR 52.222-62, use the EO 13706 rate; if it does not, use the standard rate. Paid sick hours, like paid vacation and holiday hours, count as hours paid for health and welfare, up to 40 hours a week (29 CFR 4.175(a)(1)). The guide to SCA health and welfare covers the hours, per-employee measurement and cash in lieu.

At an option or anniversary

Three of these points come together when a new wage determination arrives with an option:

• EO 13658 ends with the option. A contract from 2015 to January 2022 that exercises an option now has been extended after January 30, 2022, so the order no longer covers it.
• 52.222-62 does not arrive with a unilateral option. The contract keeps the health and welfare rate that matches its clauses, now taken from the new wage determination.
• Sick hours in a price adjustment. In a FAR 52.222-43 price adjustment, paid vacation and holiday hours belong in the hours at the new rate, but paid sick leave hours count only where 52.222-62 or a collective bargaining agreement requires them.

Sources

Primary sources, as read on November 3, 2026. They change; the current versions are the ones that count.

• Minimum Wage for Federal Contracts Covered by Executive Order 13658, Notice of Rate Change in Effect for 2027, 91 FR 64403 (www.federalregister.gov), October 8, 2026; $14.05 from January 6, 2027
• Minimum Wage for Federal Contracts Covered by Executive Order 13658, Notice of Rate Change in Effect, 91 FR 5783 (www.govinfo.gov), February 9, 2026; $13.65 from May 11, 2026
• Minimum Wage for Federal Contracts Covered by Executive Order 14026, Notice of Rate Change in Effect, 89 FR 79644 (www.federalregister.gov), September 30, 2024; $17.75 from January 1, 2025
• Executive Order 14236, Additional Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions, 90 FR 13037 (www.federalregister.gov), signed March 14, 2025
• U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: Government contracts minimum wage (www.dol.gov)
• SAM.gov: Executive Order 14236, Impacts to Wage Determinations (sam.gov), last updated March 20, 2025
• 29 CFR Part 13, Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors (www.ecfr.gov), sections 13.2, 13.5 and 13.25
• 29 CFR Part 23, Increasing the Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors (www.ecfr.gov), still printed, current to October 30, 2026
• 29 CFR 4.175, Meeting requirements for health, welfare, and/or pension benefits (www.ecfr.gov)
• FAR 52.222-62, Paid Sick Leave Under Executive Order 13706 (www.acquisition.gov)
• FAR 52.222-55, Minimum Wages for Contractor Workers Under Executive Order 14026 (www.acquisition.gov)
• FAR 22.1002-5, Executive Orders 13658 and 14026 (www.acquisition.gov)
• FAR Overhaul, Part 22 model deviation text (www.acquisition.gov)
• Standard wage determinations 2015-5619 to 2015-5721 (WD 2015-5619, Revision 30, 8/27/2026), as reproduced by GSA (www.gsa.gov), MAS Refresh #33, October 2026

More Service Contract Act guides: FAR 52.222-43 Price Adjustments for Service Contract Act Contractors · SCA Health and Welfare: The 2026 Rate and the Hours That Earn It · The SCA Price Adjustment Letter: What a 52.222-43 Notice Says · How to Read an SCA Wage Determination · Common SCA Payroll Mistakes, and How to Catch Them · SCA Holiday Pay: Who Earns It, How Much, and a Holiday Worked · SCA Vacation: Service, Vesting and the Deadline to Give It · Successor Contractors and CBA Wage Rates Under the SCA · SCA Conformance: When an Occupation Is Not on the Wage Determination · Service Contract Act vs. Davis-Bacon: Which Applies, and What Changes · All SCA guides