Employment and Training Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Secretary of Labor (Secretary) has determined that the renewal of the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship (ACA or Committee) is necessary and in the public interest. The Department of Labor (DOL) intends to renew the ACA charter with revisions which are not intended to change the Committee's purpose or original intent. The revisions update the charter to ensure its closer alignment with the Department's current apprenticeship priorities.

This notice announces allotments for PY 2023 for WIOA Title I Youth, Adult, and Dislocated Worker Activities programs; allotments for Employment Service (ES) activities under the Wagner-Peyser Act for PY 2023 and the allotments of Workforce Information Grants to States for PY 2023.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, Agricultural Recruitment System Forms Affecting Migratory Farm Workers.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

The Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA), requires the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) to conduct reallotment of certain WIOA formula allotted funds based on ETA-9130 financial reports submitted by states at of the end of the prior Program Year (PY). This notice publishes the Dislocated Worker PY 2022 funds for recapture by state and the amount to be reallotted to eligible states.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker (MSFW) Monitoring Report and Complaint/Apparent Violation Form.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

The Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is amending its regulations governing the certification of agricultural labor or services to be performed by temporary foreign workers in H-2A nonimmigrant status (H-2A workers). Specifically, the Department is revising the methodology by which it determines the hourly Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWRs) for non-range occupations (i.e., all occupations other than herding and production of livestock on the range) using a combination of wage data reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Labor Reports (better known as the Farm Labor Survey, or FLS), and the Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, formerly the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey prior to March 31, 2021. For the vast majority of H-2A job opportunities represented by the six Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes comprising the field and livestock worker (combined) wages reported by USDA, the Department will continue to rely on the FLS to establish the AEWRs where a wage is reported by the FLS. For all other SOC codes, the Department will use the OEWS survey to establish the AEWRs for each SOC code. Additionally, in circumstances in which the FLS does not report a wage for the field and livestock workers (combined) occupational group in a particular State or region, the Department will use the OEWS survey to determine the AEWR for that occupational group. These regulatory changes are consistent with the Secretary of Labor's (Secretary) statutory responsibility to certify that the employment of H-2A workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed. The Department believes this methodology strikes a reasonable balance between the statute's competing goals of providing employers with an adequate supply of legal agricultural labor and protecting the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration, pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations) implementing procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), gives final notice of the proposed disposal of two tracts at the Gary Job Corps Center totaling 244.91 acres and that this project will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment.

The Department of Labor's (DOL or Department) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Job Corps Health Questionnaire.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

The Department of Labor's (DOL or Department) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Job Corps Enrollee Allotment Determination.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

As further discussed below, the Department of Labor (Department) and United States Postal Service (USPS), working with states, plan to provide an in-person option for conducting the identity verification states perform in administering Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits (the ``Project''). In this notice, the Department recognizes that for purposes of conducting in-person identity verification in connection with UI benefits, pursuant to a signed Interagency Agreement (``IAA'') with the Department, the USPS has in place safeguards adequate to satisfy the requirements of section 303(a)(1), SSA. As a result, including the safeguards and security requirements, do not apply to disclosures of confidential unemployment compensation (UC) information by state UC agencies to the Department, for redisclosure to USPS, for the limited purposes set forth herein.

The Department of Labor's (DOL or Department) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Job Corps Placement and Assistance Record.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

The Department of Labor's (DOL's), Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Petition for Classifying Labor Surplus Areas.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Nonmonetary Determination Activities Report.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

The U.S. Department of Labor (Department) is publishing this final rule to adjust for inflation the civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced by the Department, pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Inflation Adjustment Act). The Inflation Adjustment Act requires the Department to annually adjust its civil money penalty levels for inflation no later than January 15 of each year. The Inflation Adjustment Act provides that agencies shall adjust civil monetary penalties notwithstanding Section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Additionally, the Inflation Adjustment Act provides a cost- of-living formula for adjustment of the civil penalties. Accordingly, this final rule sets forth the Department's 2023 annual adjustments for inflation to its civil monetary penalties.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Pre-Implementation Planning Checklist for State Unemployment Insurance Information Technology Modernization Projects.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

The Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor (DOL) is issuing this notice to announce the 2023 Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWR) for the employment of temporary or seasonal nonimmigrant foreign workers (H-2A workers) to perform agricultural labor or services other than the herding or production of livestock on the range. AEWRs are the minimum wage rates the DOL has determined must be offered and paid by employers to H-2A workers and workers in corresponding employment to help ensure the Department meets its statutory obligation to certify that the employment of H-2A foreign workers will not have an adverse effect on the wages of agricultural workers in the United States (U.S.) similarly employed. In this notice, DOL announces updates of the AEWRs and the average AEWR, which is used to calculate adjustments to required bond amounts for H-2A Labor Contractors.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), notice is hereby given to announce a public meeting of the ACA. All meetings of the ACA are open to the public.

The Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is amending its regulations governing the certification of agricultural labor or services to be performed by temporary foreign workers in H-2A nonimmigrant status (H-2A workers) and enforcement of the contractual obligations applicable to employers of such nonimmigrant workers. These regulations are consistent with the Secretary of Labor's (Secretary) statutory responsibility to certify that there are not sufficient able, willing, and qualified workers available to fill the petitioning employer's job opportunity, and that the employment of H-2A workers in that job opportunity will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed. Among the issues addressed in this final rule are improving the minimum standards and conditions of employment that employers must offer to workers; expanding the Department's authority to use enforcement tools, such as program debarment for substantial violations of program requirements; modernizing the process by which the Department receives and processes employers' job orders and applications for temporary agricultural labor certifications, including the recruitment of United States workers (U.S. workers); and revising the standards and procedures for determining the prevailing wage rate. This final rule will strengthen protections for workers, modernize and simplify the H- 2A application and temporary labor certification process, and ease regulatory burdens on employers.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Interstate Arrangement for Combining Employment and Wages.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

Notice is hereby given that the Workforce Information Advisory Council (WIAC or Advisory Council) will meet for two days, virtually. Information for public attendance at the virtual meetings will be posted at www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/wioa/wiac/meetings several days prior to each meeting date. The meetings will be open to the public.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Fidelity Bonding Demonstration.'' This comment request is part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) establishes six primary indicators of performance. Currently, the regulations contain definitions for five of the six performance indicators. However, in the final rule implementing WIOA, the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education (the Departments) indicated that they would initially implement the sixth indicator of performance effectiveness in serving employersin the form of a pilot program to test the feasibility and rigor of the three proposed approaches. With the pilot completed, the Departments are engaging in this rulemaking that proposes to define in a standardized way the performance indicator for effectiveness in serving employers for the regulations implementing the jointly administered requirements governing WIOA's six core programs.