Department of Labor July 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document contains final regulations regarding coverage of certain preventive services under section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act), added by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended, and incorporated into the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code. Section 2713 of the PHS Act requires coverage without cost sharing of certain preventive health services by non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance coverage. These regulations finalize provisions from three rulemaking actions: Interim final regulations issued in July 2010 related to coverage of preventive services, interim final regulations issued in August 2014 related to the process an eligible organization uses to provide notice of its religious objection to the coverage of contraceptive services, and proposed regulations issued in August 2014 related to the definition of ``eligible organization,'' which would expand the set of entities that may avail themselves of an accommodation with respect to the coverage of contraceptive services.

The Department of Labor (DOL), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the 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 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). This program helps 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 and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning the information collections in the H-2B temporary non-agricultural employment-based visa program, which includes Form ETA-9142B, H-2B Application for Temporary Employment Certification; Appendix B; Form ETA-9155 H-2B Registration; and the Seafood Industry Attestation. These forms all expire on October 31, 2015. A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained free of charge by contacting the office listed below in the addressee section of this notice.

The Department of Labor (Department), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, provides this notice to the public and Federal agencies to provide an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)] (PRA). The PRA helps ensure that respondents can provide requested data in the desired format with minimal reporting burden (time and financial resources), collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, ETA is soliciting comments concerning the collection process for unemployment insurance (UI), Extended Benefits, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). The NPRM is titled, Federal-State Unemployment Compensation Program; Implementing the Total Unemployment Rate as an Extended Benefits Indicator and Amending for Technical Corrections; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (RIN 1205-AB62).

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 an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collection of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)] (PRA). The PRA helps to ensure that respondents can provide requested data in the desired format with minimal reporting burden (time and financial resources), collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, ETA is soliciting comments concerning the collection of data about the ETA 9128, and the ETA 9129 and the new ETA 9128 X and ETA 9129 X. The current expiration date for the ETA 9128 and ETA 9129 reports is January 31, 2016. Beginning in 2016, states will be required to target for the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program one-third of those regular claimants most likely to exhaust their benefits and all claimants receiving UCX. For this reason the Department is proposing that states send an ETA 9128 report for one-third of those regular claimants most likely to exhaust their benefits and a separate ETA 9128 X report for UCX recipients. These two reports will reflect different populations and all data elements will be the same as are currently collected on the ETA 9128 report. To review the outcomes of the RESEA program, the Department is proposing to use the ETA 9129 report and the ETA 9129 X report for UCX participants. The data elements in these reports will parallel those of the treatment group on the current reports. Data collection for the comparison group in the ETA 9129 is being discontinued under this revision and will not be included in the ETA 9129 X. All these reports will reflect the new name for the Reemployment and Eligibility Assessment (REA) program, which changed in 2015 to the RESEA program.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA or Act) guarantees a minimum wage and overtime pay at a rate of not less than one and one- half times the employee's regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. While these protections extend to most workers, the FLSA does provide a number of exemptions. The Department of Labor (Department) proposes to update and revise the regulations issued under the FLSA implementing the exemption from minimum wage and overtime pay for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer employees. This exemption is referred to as the FLSA's ``EAP'' or ``white collar'' exemption. To be considered exempt, employees must meet certain minimum tests related to their primary job duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than a specified minimum amount. The standard salary level required for exemption is currently $455 a week ($23,660 for a full-year worker) and was last updated in 2004. By way of this rulemaking, the Department seeks to update the salary level to ensure that the FLSA's intended overtime protections are fully implemented, and to simplify the identification of nonexempt employees, thus making the EAP exemption easier for employers and workers to understand. The Department also proposes automatically updating the salary level to prevent the level from becoming outdated with the often lengthy passage of time between rulemakings. Lastly, the Department is considering whether revisions to the duties tests are necessary in order to ensure that these tests fully reflect the purpose of the exemption.

The Department of Labor (Department), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the 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 [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)] (PRA). The PRA helps ensure that respondents can provide requested data in the desired format with minimal reporting burden (time and financial resources), collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, ETA is soliciting comments concerning the collection of data entailed by the American Apprenticeship Initiative Grants, which are designed to support grantees in providing education, training, and job placement assistance through registered apprenticeships in occupations and/or industries that have high-growth potential for which employers are using H-1B visas to hire foreign workers, and the related activities necessary to support such education, training, and placement activities.