Department of Labor June 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is amending its regulations regarding temporary employment of foreign professionals to implement procedural requirements applicable to the H-1B1 visa category. The H-1B1 visa category permits the temporary entry of professionals in specialty occupations from countries that have entered into agreements with the United States as identified in section 214(g)(8)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Congress created the H-1B1 visa category as part of its approval of the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement and the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. This Final Rule reflects the public comments received on the interim final rule that the Department published on November 23, 2004 at 69 FR 68222. As a result, the Department did not make any substantive changes; however, this Final Rule reflects one technical change as described in this Part. The Department made this technical change as a result of the recent regulation amendments to the H-1B and H-1B1 regulations that were published on December 5, 2005 at 70 FR 72556. The regulation published on December 5, 2005 generally requires employers to use web-based electronic filing of H-1B and H-1B1 application forms. The Department made the technical change to this Final Rule consistent with the previously published amendments.

This notice provides further clarification as to the jurisdiction and enforcement responsibilities of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and 14 of its approved State Plans at various Department of Energy (DOE) sites which are not subject to the Atomic Energy Act (AEA). OSHA's regulations in 29 CFR 1952 are amended to reflect this jurisdiction, as appropriate.

This document contains corrections to the final rule addressing ``Diesel Particulate Matter Exposure of Underground Metal and Nonmetal Miners,'' and published in the Federal Register on Thursday, May 18, 2006 (71 FR 28924).

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is correcting errors in the final rule addressing occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium that appeared in the Federal Register on February 28, 2006.

The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, the Employment Standards Administration is soliciting comments concerning the proposed collection: Uniform Billing Form (OWCP-92). A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the addressee section of this Notice.

In notice document 06-4857 (SGA 06-06) beginning on page 30175 of the Thursday, May 25, 2006 issue of the Federal Register make the following corrections (A. and B.): A. On page 30185 in the 2nd column, add the following language to Section III ``Eligibility Information'':

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is publishing final voluntary guidelines for self-evaluation of compensation practices for compliance with Executive Order 11246, as amended, with respect to systemic compensation discrimination. This document sets forth the final voluntary guidelines and discusses comments that OFCCP received in response to proposed voluntary guidelines published in the Federal Register on November 16, 2004.

The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-clearance consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments concerning the proposed revision of the ``International Price ProgramU.S. Import Product Information.'' A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the individual listed below in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-clearance consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments concerning the proposed revision of the ``National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997.'' A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the individual listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.