Department of Labor February 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The trade adjustment assistance program operates under the Trade Act of 1974 to furnish program benefits to domestic workers adversely affected in their employment by imports of articles which are like or are directly competitive with articles produced by the firm employing the workers. The Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002 amended the Trade Act of 1974, to extend eligibility to those workers whose firm shifted production to certain foreign countries; to workers of upstream supplier firms selling components to firms whose workers have received a certification of eligibility to apply for trade adjustment assistance; to workers of downstream producer firms engaged in assembly or finishing for firms whose workers have received a certification of eligibility to apply for trade adjustment assistance based on a shift in production or increased imports from Mexico or Canada; and added the program option of alternative trade adjustment assistance for older workers over age 50 years. Workers become eligible for program benefits only if the worker group is certified under the Act as eligible to apply for adjustment assistance and/or alternative trade adjustment assistance. From time to time the agency issues an Order designating or redesignating officials of the agency authorized to act as certifying officers, responsible for reviewing and signing adjustment assistance determinations. Employment and Training Order No. 1-05, was issued to revise the listing of officials designated as certifying officers, superseding the previous Order. Employment and Training Order No. 1-05, is published below.

This document contains a proposed regulation that, upon adoption, would implement the notice requirement in section 101(f) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Section 103 of the Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004 (PFEA '04) amended section 101 of ERISA by adding a new subsection (f), which requires the administrator of a multiemployer defined benefit plan to provide participants, beneficiaries, and certain other parties, including the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, with an annual funding notice indicating, among other things, whether the plan's funded current liability percentage is at least 100 percent. This document also contains a model notice that may be used by plan administrators in discharging their duties under section 101(f). This proposed regulation, upon adoption, will affect plan administrators, participants, and beneficiaries of multiemployer defined benefit pension plans, as well as labor organizations representing such participants or beneficiaries and employers that have an obligation to contribute under such plans.

This document contains exemptions issued by the Department of Labor (the Department) from certain of the prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (the Act) and/or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). A notice was published in the Federal Register of the pendency before the Department of a proposal to grant such exemption. The notice set forth a summary of facts and representations contained in the application for exemption and referred interested persons to the application for a complete statement of the facts and representations. The application has been available for public inspection at the Department in Washington, DC. The notice also invited interested persons to submit comments on the requested exemption to the Department. In addition the notice stated that any interested person might submit a written request that a public hearing be held (where appropriate). The applicant has represented that it has complied with the requirements of the notification to interested persons. No requests for a hearing were received by the Department. Public comments were received by the Department as described in the granted exemption. The notice of proposed exemption was issued and the exemption is being granted solely by the Department because, effective December 31, 1978, section 102 of Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978, 5 U.S.C. App. 1 (1996), transferred the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to issue exemptions of the type proposed to the Secretary of Labor.