Department of Labor 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) sponsored information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Medical Travel Refund Request,'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval for continued use, without change, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) sponsored information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Employer Children's Health Insurance Program Notice,'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval for continued use, without change, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

This notice announces the grant of a permanent variance to Avalotis Corp., Bowen Engineering Corporation, Commonwealth Dynamics, Inc., Gibraltar Chimney International, LLC, Hamon Custodis, Inc., Hoffmann, Inc., International Chimney Corporation, Karrena International Chimney, Kiewit Power Constructors Co., Matrix SME, Inc., NAES Power Contractors, Pullman Power, LLC, R and P Industrial Chimney Co., Inc., T. E. Ibberson Company, TICThe Industrial Company (``the employers''). From 1973 to the present, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA or the Agency) granted permanent variances to a number of chimney-construction companies from the provisions of the OSHA standards that regulate boatswain's chairs and hoist towers, specifically paragraph (o)(3) of 29 CFR 1926.452 and paragraphs (c)(1) through (c)(4), (c)(8), (c)(13), (c)(14)(i), and (c)(16) of 29 CFR 1926.552. These variances use temporary personnel hoist systems to transport workers to and from worksites in a personnel cage while constructing chimneys of various configurations using jump-form construction techniques and procedures. The Agency received applications from 15 employers for a variance addressing chimney and chimney-related construction that, like the previous variances, propose to use temporary personnel hoist systems to transport workers to and from worksites in a personnel cage. These variance applications, however, included conditions that address construction of chimneys and chimney-related structures using temporary hoist systems and procedures in association with two different methods of construction (i.e., jump- form and slip-form construction), regardless of the structures' configurations (i.e., tapered or straight-barreled of any diameter). OSHA consolidated these variance applications into a single application and published the application and request for comments in the Federal Register on March 21, 2013 (78 FR 17432). After considering the record as a whole, OSHA finds that these alternative conditions protect workers at least as well as the requirements specified by 29 CFR 1926.452(o)(3) and 29 CFR 1926.552(c)(1) through (c)(4), (c)(8), (c)(13), (c)(14)(i), and (c)(16). This permanent variance applies in Federal OSHA enforcement jurisdictions and in those states and territories with OSHA-approved State-Plans covering private-sector employers that have identical standards and agree to the terms of the variance.

In 1974, Congress extended the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA or the Act) to ``domestic service'' employees, but it exempted from the Act's minimum wage and overtime provisions domestic service employees who provide ``companionship services'' to elderly people or people with illnesses, injuries, or disabilities who require assistance in caring for themselves, and it exempted from the Act's overtime provision domestic service employees who reside in the household in which they provide services. This Final Rule revises the Department's 1975 regulations implementing these amendments to the Act to better reflect Congressional intent given the changes to the home care industry and workforce since that time. Most significantly, the Department is revising the definition of ``companionship services'' to clarify and narrow the duties that fall within the term; in addition third party employers, such as home care agencies, will not be able to claim either of the exemptions. The major effect of this Final Rule is that more domestic service workers will be protected by the FLSA's minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping provisions.

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 submitted to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) by the parties listed below to modify the application of existing mandatory safety standards codified in Title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

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 submitted to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) by the parties listed below to modify the application of existing mandatory safety standards codified in Title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

This final rule revises the Black Lung Benefits Act (BLBA or Act) regulations to implement amendments made by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA amended the BLBA in two ways. First, it revived a rebuttable presumption of total disability or death due to pneumoconiosis for certain claims. Second, it reinstituted automatic entitlement to benefits for certain eligible survivors of coal miners whose lifetime benefit claims were awarded because they were totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis. These regulations clarify how the statutory presumption may be invoked and rebutted and the application and scope of the survivor-entitlement provision. The rule also eliminates several unnecessary or obsolete provisions.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is requesting comments on revised instruction guides for coal mine rescue team training. MSHA prescribes training materials through the issuance of instruction guides. Existing standards for coal mine rescue teams include criteria for mine operators to certify the qualifications of these teams. The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006 requires MSHA to update these criteria every 5 years; this requirement applies only to coal mine rescue teams. The revised instruction guides update existing mine rescue training materials referenced in the criteria to certify coal mine rescue team qualifications. The revised instruction guides provide improved advanced mine rescue training for coal mine rescue teams by including additional exercises to provide more hands-on skills training to enhance team performance when responding to an actual mine emergency.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is publishing revisions to the current implementing regulations of the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended by the Jobs for Veterans Act of 2002, (VEVRAA). OFCCP is responsible for enforcement of VEVRAA, which prohibits employment discrimination against protected veterans by covered Federal contractors and subcontractors. VEVRAA also requires each covered Federal contractor and subcontractor to take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment these veterans. The final rule strengthens several provisions that are intended to aid in recruitment and hiring efforts, such as clarifying the mandatory job listing requirements, requiring data collection pertaining to protected veteran applicants and hires, and establishing hiring benchmarks to assist in measuring the effectiveness of their affirmative action efforts. However, some of the proposals set forth in the NPRM, particularly with regard to the creation and maintenance of certain records and specific mandated affirmative action obligations, have been eliminated or made more flexible in order to reduce the time and cost burden on contractors. The specific revisions made, and the rationale for making them, are set forth in the Section-by-Section Analysis.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) sponsored information collection request (ICR) revision titled, ``Certificate of Electrical Training and Applications for Mine Safety and Health Administration Approved Tests and State Tests Administered as Part of a Mine Safety and Health Administration Approved State Program,'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval for use, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) sponsored information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Labor Standards for Federal Service Contracts,'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval for continued use, without change, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

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 Office of Workers' Compensation (OWCP) is soliciting comments concerning the proposed collection: Employer's First Report of Injury or Occupational Disease (LS-202) and Employer's Supplementary Report of Accident or Occupational Illness (LS-210). A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the address section of this Notice.

This document contains an individual exemption from certain prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA or the Act) and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). The transactions involve UBS, and certain entities within UBS's Global Asset Management and Wealth Management Americas divisions that function as ``qualified professional asset managers'' (QPAMs) under Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14 (PTE 84-14).\1\ The individual exemption affects UBS QPAMS, and participants and beneficiaries of ERISA plans the assets of which plan are managed by a UBS QPAM.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposes to amend its existing standards for occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica. The basis for issuance of this proposal is a preliminary determination by the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health that employees exposed to respirable crystalline silica face a significant risk to their health at the current permissible exposure limits and that promulgating these proposed standards will substantially reduce that risk. This document proposes a new permissible exposure limit, calculated as an 8-hour time-weighted average, of 50 micrograms of respirable crystalline silica per cubic meter of air (50 [mu]g/m\3\). OSHA also proposes other ancillary provisions for employee protection such as preferred methods for controlling exposure, respiratory protection, medical surveillance, hazard communication, and recordkeeping. OSHA is proposing two separate regulatory textsone for general industry and maritime, and the other for constructionin order to tailor requirements to the circumstances found in these sectors.

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. Currently, the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs is soliciting comments concerning the proposal to extend OMB approval of the information collection: Operator Response to Schedule for Submission of Additional Evidence (CM-2970) and Operator Response to Notice of Claim (CM-2970a). A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the addresses section of this Notice.