Department of Labor March 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Section 101(c) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 and 30 CFR Part 44 govern the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for modification. This notice is a summary of petitions for modification filed by the parties listed below to modify the application of existing mandatory safety standards published in Title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

This Notice announces allotments for PY 2010 for WIA Title I Youth, Adults and Dislocated Worker Activities programs; final allotments for Employment Service (ES) activities under the Wagner- Peyser Act for PY 2010 and Workforce Information Grants allotments for PY 2010. Allotments for the Work Opportunity Tax Credits will be announced separately.

The Women's Bureau (WB) and the Employment and Training Administration's (ETA) Office of Apprenticeship (OA), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL or Department), announce the availability of approximately $1,800,000 to establish a grant program for the purpose of assisting employers and labor management organizations in the placement and retention of women in apprenticeship and nontraditional occupations as defined in Section VIII.F., Acronyms and Definitions. This Program Year (PY) 2009 and 2010 SGA is authorized under the WANTO Act of 1992, Public Law 102-530, 29 USC 2501 et seq. To that end, the OA and WB plan to disburse PY 2009 and 2010 WANTO grant funds to six community-based organization (CBO)/registered apprenticeship program (RAP) consortia to conduct innovative projects to improve outreach, recruitment, hiring, training, employment, and retention of women in apprenticeships in the nontraditional occupations, as defined in Section VIII.F. This SGA focuses upon recruitment, training, placement and retention in the industries described in Section I.B of this SGA.

The Maritime Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (MACOSH) was established under Section 7 of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 to advise the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health on issues relating to occupational safety and health in the maritime industries. The purpose of this Federal Register notice is to announce the Committee and workgroup meetings scheduled for April 27, 2010 and April 29, 2010.

On February 12, 2010, the Department of Labor (the Department or DOL) amended the H-2A regulations at 20 CFR part 655 governing the certification of temporary employment of nonimmigrant workers in temporary or seasonal agricultural employment. See Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Aliens in the United States, Final Rule, 75 FR 6884, Feb. 12, 2010 (the Final Rule). The Department's Final Rule also amended the regulations at 29 CFR part 501 to provide for enhanced enforcement when employers fail to meet their obligations under the H-2A program. The Final Rule also made changes to the Application for Temporary Employment Certification, ETA Form 9142. All H-2A applications filed as of March 15, 2010, the effective date of the Final Rule, will be required to comply with the requirements set forth in the Final Rule.

Pursuant to Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (Pub. L. 92-463), as amended, and Section 166(h)(4) of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) [29 U.S.C. 2911(h)(4)], notice is hereby given of the next meeting of the Native American Employment and Training Council (Council), as constituted under WIA.

On March 2, 2010, President Obama signed the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-144), which extended, for a second time, and expanded the availability of the health care continuation coverage premium reduction provided for COBRA and other health care continuation coverage as required by ARRA (Pub. L. 111-5). ARRA, as amended, retained the requirement that the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary), in consultation with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Health and Human Services, develop model notices. These models are for use by group health plans and other entities that, pursuant to ARRA, as amended, must provide notices of the availability of premium reductions and additional election periods for health care continuation coverage. This document announces the availability of the model health care continuation coverage notices required by ARRA, as further amended by TEA.

This document proposes regulations to implement Executive Order 13495, Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts, signed by President Obama on January 30, 2009. The Executive Order establishes a general policy of the Federal Government that service contracts and solicitations for such contracts shall include a clause that requires the contractor, and its subcontractors, under a contract that succeeds a contract for performance of the same or similar services at the same location, to offer those employees employed under the predecessor contract whose employment will be terminated as a result of the award of the successor contract, a right of first refusal of employment under the contract in positions for which they are qualified. The Executive Order also directs the Department of Labor (DOL), in consultation with the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FARC), to issue regulations, within 180 days of the date of the Order to the extent permitted by law, to implement the requirements of this Order. The Regulatory Information Number (RIN) identified for this rulemaking will change with publication of the Spring Regulatory Agenda due to an organizational restructuring. The old RIN was assigned to the Employment Standards Administration, which no longer exists; a new RIN has been assigned to the Wage and Hour Division.

On December 29, 2009, OSHA announced that it would hold informal public hearings on its proposal to revise the Hazard Communication Standard in Washington, DC; Pittsburgh, PA; and Los Angeles, CA (74 FR 68756). OSHA will hold the Pittsburgh hearing at the Marriott Pittsburgh City Center on March 31, 2010. OSHA is canceling the Los Angeles, CA, hearing.

Section 101(c) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 and 30 CFR Part 44 govern the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for modification. This notice is a summary of petitions for modification filed by the parties listed below to modify the application of existing mandatory safety standards published in Title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

On February 28, 2006, OSHA published a final rule for Occupational Exposure to Hexavalent Chromium (Cr(VI). Public Citizen Health Research Group (Public Citizen) and other parties petitioned for review of the standard in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The court denied the petitions for review on all but one issue. The Third Circuit remanded the employee notification requirements in the standard's exposure determination provisions for further consideration. More specifically, the court directed the Agency to either provide an explanation for its decision to limit employee notification requirements to circumstances in which Cr(VI) exposures exceed the permissible exposure limit (PEL) or take other appropriate action with respect to that paragraph of the standard. After reviewing the rulemaking record on this issue, and reconsidering the provision in question, OSHA has decided to revise the notification requirements, by means of this direct final rule, to require employers to notify employees of the results of all exposure determinations.