Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Nonimmigrants in the United States; Ratification of Department's Actions, 2610-2611 [2025-00526]
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2610
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 7 / Monday, January 13, 2025 / Rules and Regulations
program integrity measures. We also
agree with the Department’s
certification that the Final Rule does not
have a significant economic impact on
a substantial number of small entities.
See Final Rule, 75 FR at 6953.
Therefore, pursuant to our authorities
as the Assistant Secretary for
Employment and Training and the
Administrator of the Wage and Hour
Division, and based on our independent
review of the action and the reasons for
taking it, we hereby affirm and ratify the
Final Rule, as of January 7, 2025,
including all regulatory analysis
certifications contained therein. This
action is taken without prejudice to any
right to litigate the validity of the Final
Rule as approved and published on
February 12, 2010. Nothing in this
action is intended to suggest any legal
defect or infirmity in the approval or
publication of the Final Rule.
José Javier Rodrı́guez,
Assistant Secretary, Employment and
Training Administration, Labor.
Jessica Looman,
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division,
Labor.
[FR Doc. 2025–00525 Filed 1–8–25; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4510–FP–P
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training
Administration
I. Background
20 CFR Parts 653 and 655
Wage and Hour Division
29 CFR Part 501
[DOL Docket No. ETA–2019–0007]
Temporary Agricultural Employment of
H–2A Nonimmigrants in the United
States; Ratification of Department’s
Actions
Employment and Training
Administration and Wage and Hour
Division, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Ratification.
AGENCY:
The Department of Labor is
publishing notification of the Assistant
Secretary for Employment and
Training’s and the Administrator of the
Wage and Hour Division’s ratification of
the rule published October 12, 2022,
titled Temporary Agricultural
Employment of H–2A Nonimmigrants in
the United States.
DATES: This ratification was signed on
January 7, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:15 Jan 09, 2025
For further information regarding 20
CFR part 653, contact Kimberly Vitelli,
Administrator, Office of Workforce
Investment, Employment and Training
Administration, Department of Labor,
200 Constitution Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20210, telephone: (202)
693–3980 (this is not a toll-free
number).
For further information regarding 20
CFR part 655, contact Brian Pasternak,
Administrator, Office of Foreign Labor
Certification, Employment and Training
Administration, U.S. Department of
Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW,
Room N–5311, Washington, DC 20210,
telephone: (202) 693–8200 (this is not a
toll-free number).
For further information regarding 29
CFR part 501, contact Daniel Navarrete,
Director of the Division of Regulations,
Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage
and Hour Division, Department of
Labor, Room S–3502, 200 Constitution
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210,
telephone: (202) 693–0406 (this is not a
toll-free number).
Individuals with hearing or speech
impairments may access the telephone
numbers above via Teletypewriter
(TTY)/Telecommunications Device for
the Deaf (TDD) by calling the toll-free
Federal Information Relay Service at 1
(877) 889–5627.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Jkt 265001
On July 26, 2019, the Department of
Labor (‘‘DOL’’ or ‘‘Department’’) issued
a notice of proposed rulemaking
(‘‘NPRM’’) in the Federal Register
(‘‘FR’’) to amend its regulations
regarding the certification of temporary
employment of nonimmigrant workers
employed in temporary or seasonal
agricultural employment and the
enforcement of the obligations
applicable to employers of such
nonimmigrant workers. See Temporary
Agricultural Employment of H–2A
Nonimmigrants in the United States, 84
FR 36168 (July 26, 2019) (‘‘NPRM’’). The
NPRM was open for public comment for
60 days from July 26, 2019 until
September 24, 2019. See id. at 36168.
On October 12, 2022, DOL published
a final rule in the FR that adopted much
of the regulatory text proposed in the
NPRM, with some significant changes.
Temporary Agricultural Employment of
H–2A Nonimmigrants in the United
States, 87 FR 61660 (Oct. 12, 2022)
(‘‘Final Rule’’).1 The Final Rule
1 On January 11, 2021, DOL transmitted to the
Office of the Federal Register (‘‘OFR’’) a draft of an
unpublished draft final rule covering certain
aspects of the NPRM. On January 20, 2021, prior to
the draft final rule being published in the FR and
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
included improvements to the
minimum standards and conditions of
employment that employers must offer
to workers, improvements to program
integrity measures, such as program
debarment for substantial violations of
program requirements, revisions to the
standards and procedures for
determining prevailing wage rates, and
revisions to modernize and simplify the
temporary employment certification
process. The Final Rule went into effect
on November 14, 2022.
Since publication of the Final Rule, a
question has been raised in litigation
concerning whether a separate rule,
Adverse Effect Wage Rate Methodology
for the Temporary Employment of H–2A
Nonimmigrants in the Non-Range
Occupations in the United States, 88 FR
12760 (Feb. 28, 2023), was approved by
the Attorney General in consultation
with the Secretary of Labor and the
Secretary of Agriculture. 8 U.S.C. 1188,
Statutory Note.2 With respect to the
Final Rule, prior to its issuance in
October 2022, the Final Rule was
provided to the Departments of
Homeland Security and Agriculture
through the interagency review process
prescribed by Executive Order 12866.
On November 7, 2024, the Secretary of
Homeland Security, in consultation
with the Secretary of Labor and
Secretary of Agriculture, approved the
Final Rule.
To resolve any possible uncertainty
with respect to the Final Rule, the
Department, through its Assistant
Secretary for Employment and Training
and its Administrator of the Wage and
Hour Division, is ratifying the Final
Rule. Under established case law, an
agency may, through ratification,
‘‘purge[ ] any residual taint or prejudice
left over from’’ a potential defect in a
prior governmental action.3 The
Department is issuing this ratification
out of an abundance of caution, and this
ratification is not a statement that the
Final Rule is invalid absent this
ratification.
II. Ratification
By virtue of the authority vested in
the Secretary of Labor by law, including
prior to OFR making it available for public
inspection, DOL requested that OFR withdraw the
document from processing ‘‘for the purpose of
reviewing issues of law, fact, and policy raised by
the rule.’’ See Announcement, U.S. Department of
Labor Withdraws Forthcoming H–2A Temporary
Agricultural Program Rule for Review, (Jan. 20,
2021), https://perma.cc/CTW2-VH2U.
2 Although this provision vests approval authority
in the ‘‘Attorney General,’’ the Secretary of
Homeland Security now may exercise this
authority. See 6 U.S.C. 202(3)–(4), 251, 271(b), 291,
551(d)(2), 557; 8 U.S.C. 1103(c) (2000).
3 Guedes v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
& Explosives, 920 F.3d 1, 13 (D.C. Cir. 2019).
E:\FR\FM\13JAR1.SGM
13JAR1
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 7 / Monday, January 13, 2025 / Rules and Regulations
by the Immigration and Nationality Act
of 1952, as amended, 8 U.S.C. 1101 et
seq. (‘‘INA’’), and as delegated to the
Assistant Secretary for Employment and
Training, 75 FR 66268, and the
Administrator of the Wage and Hour
Division, 75 FR 55352, we are affirming
and ratifying a prior action by Martin J.
Walsh, Secretary of Labor. On October
12, 2022, the Employment and Training
Administration and the Wage and Hour
Division published in the FR the Final
Rule codifying amendments to the
Department’s regulations regarding the
certification of temporary employment
of nonimmigrant workers employed in
temporary or seasonal agricultural
employment and the enforcement of the
obligations applicable to employers of
such nonimmigrant workers. 87 FR
61660 (Oct. 12, 2022).
The Final Rule was signed by
Secretary Walsh. We have full and
complete knowledge of the Final Rule
action taken by former Secretary Walsh.
Subsequent to the Secretary of
Homeland Security’s documented
approval of the Final Rule dated
November 7, 2024, in consultation with
the Secretary of Labor and Secretary of
Agriculture, and out of an abundance of
caution and to avoid any doubt as to its
validity, we have independently
evaluated the Final Rule and the basis
for adopting it. We have determined that
the amendments to the regulations in
the Final Rule are consistent with the
Secretary of Labor’s statutory
responsibility to certify that there are
insufficient able, willing, and qualified
U.S. workers available to perform the
needed work and that the employment
of H–2A workers will not adversely
affect the wages and working conditions
of workers in the United States similarly
employed. We have also determined
that the changes adopted in the Final
Rule strike an appropriate balance
between the statute’s competing goals of
providing employers with an adequate
supply of legal agricultural labor and
protecting the wages of workers in the
United States similarly employed by
strengthening protections for workers,
modernizing and simplifying the H–2A
application and temporary labor
certification process, and easing
regulatory burdens on employers. We
also agree with the Department’s
certification that the Final Rule does not
have a significant economic impact on
a substantial number of small entities.
See 87 FR 61660, 61787.
Therefore, pursuant to our authorities
as the Assistant Secretary for
Employment and Training and the
Administrator of the Wage and Hour
Division, and based on our independent
review of the action and the reasons for
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:15 Jan 09, 2025
Jkt 265001
taking it, we hereby affirm and ratify the
Final Rule, as of January 7, 2025,
including all regulatory analysis
certifications contained therein. This
action is taken without prejudice to any
right to litigate the validity of the Final
Rule as approved and published on
October 12, 2022. Nothing in this action
is intended to suggest any legal defect
or infirmity in the approval or
publication of the Final Rule.
José Javier Rodrı́guez,
Assistant Secretary, Employment and
Training Administration, Labor.
Jessica Looman,
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division,
Labor.
[FR Doc. 2025–00526 Filed 1–8–25; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4510–FP–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
30 CFR Parts 550 and 553
[Docket ID: BOEM–2025–0001]
2611
Director, Office of Regulatory Affairs,
BOEM at karen.thundiyil@boem.gov or
at (202) 742–0970.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Legal Authority
II. Background and Purpose
III. Calculation of the 2025 Adjustments
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
A. Statutes
1. National Environmental Policy Act
2. Regulatory Flexibility Act
3. Paperwork Reduction Act
4. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
5. Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act
6. Congressional Review Act
B. Executive Orders (E.O.)
1. Governmental Actions and Interference
With Constitutionally Protected Property
Rights (E.O. 12630)
2. Regulatory Planning and Review (E.O.
12866); Modernizing Regulatory Review
(E.O. 14094); Improving Regulation and
Regulatory Review (E.O. 13563)
3. Civil Justice Reform (E.O. 12988)
4. Federalism (E.O. 13132)
5. Consultation and Coordination With
Indian Tribal Governments (E.O. 13175)
6. Actions Concerning Regulations That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply,
Distribution, or Use (E.O. 13211)
RIN 1010–AE22
I. Legal Authority
2025 Civil Penalties Inflation
Adjustments for Oil, Gas, and Sulfur
Operations in the Outer Continental
Shelf
OCSLA authorizes the Secretary of the
Interior (the Secretary) to impose a daily
civil monetary penalty for a violation of
OCSLA or its implementing regulations,
leases, permits, or orders. It also directs
the Secretary to adjust the maximum
penalty at least every 3 years to reflect
any inflation increase in the Consumer
Price Index. 43 U.S.C. 1350(b)(1).
Similarly, OPA authorizes civil
monetary penalties for failure to comply
with OPA’s financial responsibility
provisions or its implementing
regulations. 33 U.S.C. 2716a(a). OPA
does not include a maximum daily civil
penalty inflation adjustment provision,
but such adjustment is authorized by
the Improvements Act. See 28 U.S.C.
2461 note.
The Improvements Act 1 requires that
Federal agencies publish inflation
adjustments to their civil monetary
penalties in the Federal Register not
later than January 15 annually.2 The
purposes of these inflation adjustments
are to maintain the deterrent effect of
civil penalties and to further the policy
Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management, Interior.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:
This final rule implements
the 2025 inflation adjustments to the
maximum daily civil monetary penalties
in the Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management’s (BOEM) regulations for
violations of the Outer Continental Shelf
Lands Act (OCSLA) and the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). These
inflation adjustments are made pursuant
to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation
Adjustment Act Improvements Act of
2015 (Improvements Act) and Office of
Management and Budget (OMB)
memorandum M–25–02. The 2025
adjustment multiplier of 1.02598
accounts for 1 year of inflation from
October 2023 through October 2024.
DATES: This rule is effective on January
13, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Questions regarding the inflation
adjustment methodology or amount
should be directed to Jayson Pollock,
Economics Division, BOEM, at
jayson.pollock@boem.gov or at (703)
787–1537. Questions regarding the
timing of this adjustment or the
applicability of the regulations should
be directed to Karen Thundiyil,
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
1 The Improvements Act amended the Federal
Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990.
See Public Law 101–410 (codified at 28 U.S.C. 2461
note).
2 Under the Improvements Act, Federal agencies
were required to adjust their civil monetary
penalties for inflation with an initial ‘‘catch-up’’
adjustment through an interim final rulemaking in
2016 and must make subsequent inflation
adjustments not later than January 15 annually,
beginning in 2017. Public Law 114–74, sec.
701(b)(1).
E:\FR\FM\13JAR1.SGM
13JAR1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 7 (Monday, January 13, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 2610-2611]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00526]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
20 CFR Parts 653 and 655
Wage and Hour Division
29 CFR Part 501
[DOL Docket No. ETA-2019-0007]
Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Nonimmigrants in the
United States; Ratification of Department's Actions
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration and Wage and Hour
Division, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Ratification.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Labor is publishing notification of the
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training's and the Administrator
of the Wage and Hour Division's ratification of the rule published
October 12, 2022, titled Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A
Nonimmigrants in the United States.
DATES: This ratification was signed on January 7, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
For further information regarding 20 CFR part 653, contact Kimberly
Vitelli, Administrator, Office of Workforce Investment, Employment and
Training Administration, Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20210, telephone: (202) 693-3980 (this is not a
toll-free number).
For further information regarding 20 CFR part 655, contact Brian
Pasternak, Administrator, Office of Foreign Labor Certification,
Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200
Constitution Avenue NW, Room N-5311, Washington, DC 20210, telephone:
(202) 693-8200 (this is not a toll-free number).
For further information regarding 29 CFR part 501, contact Daniel
Navarrete, Director of the Division of Regulations, Legislation, and
Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor, Room S-
3502, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210, telephone:
(202) 693-0406 (this is not a toll-free number).
Individuals with hearing or speech impairments may access the
telephone numbers above via Teletypewriter (TTY)/Telecommunications
Device for the Deaf (TDD) by calling the toll-free Federal Information
Relay Service at 1 (877) 889-5627.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On July 26, 2019, the Department of Labor (``DOL'' or
``Department'') issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (``NPRM'') in
the Federal Register (``FR'') to amend its regulations regarding the
certification of temporary employment of nonimmigrant workers employed
in temporary or seasonal agricultural employment and the enforcement of
the obligations applicable to employers of such nonimmigrant workers.
See Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Nonimmigrants in the
United States, 84 FR 36168 (July 26, 2019) (``NPRM''). The NPRM was
open for public comment for 60 days from July 26, 2019 until September
24, 2019. See id. at 36168.
On October 12, 2022, DOL published a final rule in the FR that
adopted much of the regulatory text proposed in the NPRM, with some
significant changes. Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A
Nonimmigrants in the United States, 87 FR 61660 (Oct. 12, 2022)
(``Final Rule'').\1\ The Final Rule included improvements to the
minimum standards and conditions of employment that employers must
offer to workers, improvements to program integrity measures, such as
program debarment for substantial violations of program requirements,
revisions to the standards and procedures for determining prevailing
wage rates, and revisions to modernize and simplify the temporary
employment certification process. The Final Rule went into effect on
November 14, 2022.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ On January 11, 2021, DOL transmitted to the Office of the
Federal Register (``OFR'') a draft of an unpublished draft final
rule covering certain aspects of the NPRM. On January 20, 2021,
prior to the draft final rule being published in the FR and prior to
OFR making it available for public inspection, DOL requested that
OFR withdraw the document from processing ``for the purpose of
reviewing issues of law, fact, and policy raised by the rule.'' See
Announcement, U.S. Department of Labor Withdraws Forthcoming H-2A
Temporary Agricultural Program Rule for Review, (Jan. 20, 2021),
https://perma.cc/CTW2-VH2U.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since publication of the Final Rule, a question has been raised in
litigation concerning whether a separate rule, Adverse Effect Wage Rate
Methodology for the Temporary Employment of H-2A Nonimmigrants in the
Non-Range Occupations in the United States, 88 FR 12760 (Feb. 28,
2023), was approved by the Attorney General in consultation with the
Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Agriculture. 8 U.S.C. 1188,
Statutory Note.\2\ With respect to the Final Rule, prior to its
issuance in October 2022, the Final Rule was provided to the
Departments of Homeland Security and Agriculture through the
interagency review process prescribed by Executive Order 12866. On
November 7, 2024, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation
with the Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Agriculture, approved the
Final Rule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Although this provision vests approval authority in the
``Attorney General,'' the Secretary of Homeland Security now may
exercise this authority. See 6 U.S.C. 202(3)-(4), 251, 271(b), 291,
551(d)(2), 557; 8 U.S.C. 1103(c) (2000).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
To resolve any possible uncertainty with respect to the Final Rule,
the Department, through its Assistant Secretary for Employment and
Training and its Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, is
ratifying the Final Rule. Under established case law, an agency may,
through ratification, ``purge[ ] any residual taint or prejudice left
over from'' a potential defect in a prior governmental action.\3\ The
Department is issuing this ratification out of an abundance of caution,
and this ratification is not a statement that the Final Rule is invalid
absent this ratification.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Guedes v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives,
920 F.3d 1, 13 (D.C. Cir. 2019).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. Ratification
By virtue of the authority vested in the Secretary of Labor by law,
including
[[Page 2611]]
by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended, 8 U.S.C.
1101 et seq. (``INA''), and as delegated to the Assistant Secretary for
Employment and Training, 75 FR 66268, and the Administrator of the Wage
and Hour Division, 75 FR 55352, we are affirming and ratifying a prior
action by Martin J. Walsh, Secretary of Labor. On October 12, 2022, the
Employment and Training Administration and the Wage and Hour Division
published in the FR the Final Rule codifying amendments to the
Department's regulations regarding the certification of temporary
employment of nonimmigrant workers employed in temporary or seasonal
agricultural employment and the enforcement of the obligations
applicable to employers of such nonimmigrant workers. 87 FR 61660 (Oct.
12, 2022).
The Final Rule was signed by Secretary Walsh. We have full and
complete knowledge of the Final Rule action taken by former Secretary
Walsh. Subsequent to the Secretary of Homeland Security's documented
approval of the Final Rule dated November 7, 2024, in consultation with
the Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Agriculture, and out of an
abundance of caution and to avoid any doubt as to its validity, we have
independently evaluated the Final Rule and the basis for adopting it.
We have determined that the amendments to the regulations in the Final
Rule are consistent with the Secretary of Labor's statutory
responsibility to certify that there are insufficient able, willing,
and qualified U.S. workers available to perform the needed work and
that the employment of H-2A workers will not adversely affect the wages
and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly
employed. We have also determined that the changes adopted in the Final
Rule strike an appropriate balance between the statute's competing
goals of providing employers with an adequate supply of legal
agricultural labor and protecting the wages of workers in the United
States similarly employed by strengthening protections for workers,
modernizing and simplifying the H-2A application and temporary labor
certification process, and easing regulatory burdens on employers. We
also agree with the Department's certification that the Final Rule does
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities. See 87 FR 61660, 61787.
Therefore, pursuant to our authorities as the Assistant Secretary
for Employment and Training and the Administrator of the Wage and Hour
Division, and based on our independent review of the action and the
reasons for taking it, we hereby affirm and ratify the Final Rule, as
of January 7, 2025, including all regulatory analysis certifications
contained therein. This action is taken without prejudice to any right
to litigate the validity of the Final Rule as approved and published on
October 12, 2022. Nothing in this action is intended to suggest any
legal defect or infirmity in the approval or publication of the Final
Rule.
Jos[eacute] Javier Rodr[iacute]guez,
Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training Administration, Labor.
Jessica Looman,
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, Labor.
[FR Doc. 2025-00526 Filed 1-8-25; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4510-FP-P