Department of Labor November 10, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces a change in benefit period eligibility under the Extended Benefits program for Alaska and Wisconsin. The following changes have occurred since the publication of the last notice regarding the States' EB status: The Total Unemployment Rate (TUR) data for August 2010, released on September 21, 2010, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, brought the three-month average seasonally adjusted TURs in Alaska and Wisconsin below the 8.0% threshold to remain ``on'' for a High Unemployment Period (HUP) in the Extended Benefits program. As a result, Alaska and Wisconsin concluded their HUP on October 16 and eligibility for claimants has been reduced from a maximum potential entitlement of 20 weeks to a maximum potential entitlement of 13 weeks in the Extended Benefits program. The trigger notice covering state eligibility for the Extended Benefit program can be found at: https://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/ claimsarch.asp. A new trigger notice is posted at this location each week.

Announcement regarding states triggering ``off'' of Tiers Three and Four of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) program. Public Law 111-205 extended provisions in Public Law 111-92 which amended prior laws to create a Third and Fourth Tier of benefits within the EUC08 program for qualified unemployed workers claiming benefits in high unemployment states. The Department of Labor produces a trigger notice indicating which states qualify for EUC08 benefits within Tiers Three and Four and provides the beginning and ending dates of payable periods for each qualifying state. The trigger notice covering state eligibility for the EUC08 program can be found at: https:// ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/claimsarch.asp. A new trigger notice is posted at this location each week that the program is in effect. Based on data published September 21, 2010 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the following trigger changes have occurred for states in the EUC08 program: New Hampshire's three month average seasonally-adjusted TUR for August declined to 5.8%, below the 6.0% threshold to remain ``on'' Tier Three, hence the state triggered off of Tier Three. As a result, New Hampshire concluded its payable period in the third tier of the EUC program on October 16, 2010. Eligibility for claimants in New Hampshire have been reduced from a maximum potential entitlement of 47 weeks to a maximum potential entitlement of 34 weeks in the EUC program. Delaware's three month average seasonally-adjusted TUR for August 2010 declined to 8.4%, below the 8.5% threshold to remain ``on'' Tier Four hence the state has triggered off of Tier Four. As a result, Delaware concluded its payable period in the Fourth tier of the EUC program on October 16, 2010. Eligibility for claimants in Delaware has been reduced from a maximum potential entitlement of 53 weeks to a maximum potential entitlement of 47 weeks in the EUC program.

The Department of Labor (the Department), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA 95) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is soliciting comments on the proposed extension of the information collection requests (ICRs) contained in the documents that are described below. A copy of the ICRs may be obtained by contacting the office listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. ICRs also are available at reginfo.gov (https:// www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain).