Employment and Training Administration April 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requires this notice to set forth the effectiveness of information collection requirements contained in 20 CFR part 655, related to the Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment of H-2B Aliens in the United States; Final Rule. See 77 FR 10038, Feb. 21, 2012.

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 (PRA) [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, ETA seeks a regular 3 year extension of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for collecting site visit data from organizations that received grants under four Solicitations for Grant Applications (SGAs) that were issued under the ARRA Initiative: Pathways Out of Poverty (POP), Energy Training Partnership (ETP), State Energy Sector Partnership (SESP), and Health Care and Other High Growth and Emerging Industries Training grant initiative. POP, ETP and SESP are all Green Jobs training programs. The overall aim of these evaluations is to determine the extent to which enrollees achieve increases in employment, earnings, and career advancement as a result of their participation in the training provided and to identify promising best practices and strategies for replication. It is necessary to collect data from the grant sites included in both studies while they are still in operation. Failure to collect site visit data will affect our ability to conduct rigorous evaluations of these grants. For example, site visits are the only way the research team can observe the training programs in operation and collect real time data that amplifies the findings through other documentation. Lack of a rigorous evaluation process will mean that no information will be available on the potential of training for green jobs as a strategy for reducing poverty or increasing employment. Conducting these evaluations rigorously requires appropriate operational data collection. This information collection follows an emergency review that was conducted in accordance with PRA and 5 CFR 1320.13. The submission for OMB emergency review was approved on January 19, 2012.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), in coordination with Department of Labor's (DOL's) Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), announces the availability of approximately $20 million for a third round of cooperative agreements to state agencies that administer the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998. These funds provide an opportunity for states to develop and implement a plan for improving effective and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in the workforce. DOL is using this funding to make six to ten grant awards designed to: (1) Improve educational, training, and employment opportunities and outcomes of youth and adults with disabilities who are unemployed, underemployed, and/or receiving Social Security disability benefits; and (2) help these individuals with disabilities find a path into the middle class through exemplary and model service delivery by the public workforce system. The DOL will award DEI grants for a three-year period of performance. The complete SGA and any subsequent SGA amendments, in connection with this solicitation are described in further detail on ETA's Web site at https://www.doleta.gov/grants/ or on https://www.grants.gov. The Web sites provide application information, eligibility requirements, review and selection procedures and other program requirements governing this solicitation.

This amendment revises the Department of Labor's (DOL) regulations governing administrative claims submitted to DOL pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), the Military Personnel and Civilian Employees' Claims Act (MPCECA), and for payment of claims arising out of the operation of the Job Corps. The regulations governing such claims were last revised in 1995. MPCECA has since been amended to allow payment of up to $100,000 if the claim arose from an emergency or extraordinary circumstance. Further, the implementing authority for the Job Corps was changed to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) since the last time the regulations were updated. These regulations are being amended to reflect those changes, improve the clarity and ease of use of the regulations, and to harmonize the regulations governing these claims between those regulations in titles 20 and 29 of the CFR, which includes deleting the references to these claims in 20 CFR part 638 as these revisions have rendered those sections unnecessary. Finally, the regulations in title 20 have also been updated to reflect the recently revised regulations regarding claims of Job Corps students under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA).

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.

Announcement regarding states triggering ``off'' in the Emergency Unemployment Compensation 2008 (EUC08) program and the Federal State Extended Benefits (EB) Program. The Department of Labor produces trigger notices indicating which states qualify for both EB and EUC08 benefits, and provides the beginning and ending dates of payable periods for each qualifying state. The trigger notices covering state eligibility for these programs can be found at: https://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/claims arch.asp. The following changes have occurred since the publication of the last notice regarding states' EB and EUC08 trigger status: Based on data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on January 24, 2012 the three month average, seasonally-adjusted total unemployment rate (TUR trigger) for Texas fell below the 8.5% threshold to remain ``on'' Tier Four of the EUC08 program. The 13-week mandatory ``on'' period for Texas in Tier Four of the EUC08 program concluded on March 10, 2012. As a result, the week ending March 10, 2012 was the last week in which EUC claimants in Texas could exhaust Tier 3, and establish Tier 4 eligibility. With this change, the maximum potential entitlement in Texas for the EUC08 program decreased from 53 weeks to 47 weeks. Under the phase-out provisions, claimants can receive any remaining entitlement they have in Tier 4 after March 10, 2012. Based on data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on March 13, 2012, the TUR triggers for Minnesota and Utah fell below the 6% threshold to remain ``on'' in Tier 3 of the EUC08 program. As a result, the current maximum potential entitlement in both of these states in the EUC08 program will decrease from 47 weeks to 34 weeks. The week ending April 7, 2012 will be the last week in which EUC08 claimants in these states can exhaust Tier 2, and establish Tier 3 eligibility. Under the phase-out provisions, claimants in these states can receive any remaining entitlement they have in Tier 3 after April 7, 2012. Based on data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on March 13, 2012, the TUR triggers for Alabama, Idaho, and Ohio fell below the 8.5% threshold to remain ``on'' in Tier 4 of the EUC08 program. As a result, the current maximum potential entitlement in these states for the EUC08 program will decrease from 53 weeks to 47 weeks. The week ending April 7, 2012 will be the last week in which EUC claimants in these states can exhaust Tier 3, and establish Tier 4 eligibility. Under the phase-out provisions, claimants in these states can receive any remaining entitlement they have in Tier 4 after April 7, 2012. Based on data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on March 13, 2012, the TUR trigger for Kansas fell to 6.3%, below the 6.5% threshold to remain ``on'', and triggering them ``off'' of the EB program with the week ending March 17, 2012. The payable period for Kansas in the EB program will conclude with the week ending April 7, 2012. Based on data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on March 13, 2012, the TUR triggers in Colorado, Texas, and West Virginia fell below the 8.0% threshold required to remain ``on'' in a high unemployment period (HUP) for EB. Claimants in these states will remain eligible for up to 20 weeks of benefits through April 7, 2012, but starting April 8, 2012, the maximum potential entitlement in the EB program for these states will decrease from 20 weeks to 13 weeks. Based on data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on March 13, 2012, as well as revisions to prior year data released on February 29, 2012, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin no longer meet one of the criteria to remain ``on'' in EB, having their current TUR triggers be at least 110% of one of the trigger rates from a comparable prior period in one of the three prior years. This triggers these states ``off'' of the EB program with the week ending March 17, 2012. The payable period in these states for the EB program will conclude with the week ending April 7, 2012. Information for Claimants