Employment and Training Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces allotments for PY 2019 for WIOA Title I Youth, Adult and Dislocated Worker Activities programs; final allotments for Employment Service (ES) activities under the Wagner- Peyser Act for PY 2019 and the allotments of Workforce Information Grants to States for PY 2019. WIOA allotments for states and the state final allotments for the Wagner-Peyser Act are based on formulas defined in their respective statutes. WIOA requires allotments for the Outlying Areas to be competitively awarded rather than based on a formula determined by the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) as occurred under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). However, for PY 2019, the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 waives the competition requirement, and the Secretary is using the discretionary formula rationale and methodology for allocating PY 2019 funds for the Outlying Areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the United States Virgin Islands) that was published in the Federal Register on February 17, 2000. WIOA specifically included the Republic of Palau as an Outlying Area, except during any period for which the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Education determine that a Compact of Free Association is in effect and contains provisions for training and education assistance prohibiting the assistance provided under WIOA; no such determinations prohibiting assistance have been made. The formula that the Department of Labor (Department) used for PY 2019 is the same formula used in PY 2018 and is described in the section on Youth Activities program allotments. The Department invites comments only on the formula used to allot funds to the Outlying Areas.

The Department of Labor's (DOL's), Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Required Elements of an Unemployment Insurance (UI) Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) Grant State Plan.'' 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 issuing new regulations governing the certification of temporary employment opportunities to be filled by nonimmigrant workers in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and the obligations applicable to employers of such workers under the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker visa program (CW-1). This interim final rule (IFR), implementing provisions of the Northern Mariana Islands U.S. Workforce Act of 2018 (Workforce Act), establishes the process by which a CNMI employer will obtain a prevailing wage determination (PWD) and temporary labor certification (TLC) from DOL for use in petitioning the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to employ a nonimmigrant worker in CW-1 status. Although the CW-1 visa classification predates the Workforce Act, classification as a CW-1 nonimmigrant does not currently require a labor certification. The Workforce Act institutes a labor certification requirement as a prerequisite for approval of a CW-1 petition by DHS and charges the Department with promulgating an IFR to administer this new labor certification requirement. We are also issuing regulations to provide for increased worker protections for both United States (U.S.) and foreign workers to ensure no U.S. worker is placed at a competitive disadvantage compared to a foreign worker or is displaced by a foreign worker.

The Department of Labor's (DOL's) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed revision for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Trade Adjustment Assistance Program Reserve Funding Request.'' 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 United States Department of Labor (DOL) is issuing this Notice to announce the annual update to: (1) The allowable charges that employers seeking H-2A workers in occupations other than herding or production of livestock on the range may charge their workers when the employer provides three meals per day; and (2) the maximum travel subsistence meal reimbursement that a worker with receipts may claim under the H-2A and H-2B programs. The Notice also includes a reminder regarding employers' obligations with respect to overnight lodging costs as part of required subsistence.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Agricultural Clearance Order.'' 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, ``Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) Program.'' 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 (Department's or DOL's) Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) is making this announcement to inform employers and other interested stakeholders of how H-2B Applications for Temporary Employment Certification, Form ETA-9142B, filed by employers on or after July 3, 2019, will be assigned to staff for review. The Department believes these procedural changes will provide for fairer and more orderly assignment and review of applications. The Department is seeking public comments on these procedural changes.

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, ``Benefit Accuracy Measurement (BAM) Program.'' 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 United States Department of Labor (Department), as part of its effort to streamline information collection, clarify statutory and regulatory requirements, and provide greater transparency and oversight of the labor certification programs, 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). 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. In accordance with the PRA, ETA, within the Department, is providing the public notice and opportunity to comment on proposed revisions to the Form ETA-9141, Application for Prevailing Wage Determination, information collection. The information collection for the existing form was approved on May 11, 2016, and expires on May 31, 2019.

Each year, the Department of Defense issues a Schedule of Remuneration used by states for UCX purposes. States must use the schedule to determine Federal military wages for UCX ``first claims'' only when the Federal Claims Control Center (FCCC) responds to a request for information indicating that there is no Copy 5 of the Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (DD Form 214) for an individual under the social security number provided. A response from the FCCC that indicates ``no DD214 on file'' will prompt the state to start the affidavit process and to use the attached schedule to calculate the Federal military wages for an unemployment insurance or UCX monetary determination. The schedule applies to UCX ``first claims'' filed beginning with the first day of the first week that begins on or after January 1, 2019, pursuant to the UCX program regulations (see 20 CFR 614.12(c)). States must continue to use the 2018 schedule (or other appropriate schedule) for UCX ``first claims'' filed before the effective date of the revised schedule.

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, ``Required Elements for Submission of the Unified or Combined State Plan and Plan Modifications under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.'' 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, ``Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX).'' 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, ``Transmittal for Unemployment Insurance Materials.'' 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 (ETA) of the Department of Labor (Department) is issuing this notice to announce the 2019 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 Department has determined must be offered and paid by employers to H-2A workers and workers in corresponding employment for a particular occupation and area so that the wages and working conditions of similarly employed workers in the United States (U.S.) will not be adversely affected. In this notice, the Department announces the annual update of the AEWRs.

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, ``Statement of Expenditures and Financial Adjustments of Federal Funds for Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees and Ex-Servicemembers 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).

This document extends the period for submitting written comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled Modernizing Recruitment Requirements for the Temporary Employment of H- 2B Foreign Workers in the United States. The comment period was initially scheduled to end on December 10, 2018. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor (collectively, the Departments) are taking this action to provide interested parties additional time to submit comments in response to requests for an extension of the commenting period.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) (collectively, the Departments), are jointly proposing regulatory revisions that would modernize the recruitment an employer seeking H-2B nonimmigrant workers must conduct when applying for a temporary labor certification. In particular, the Departments are proposing to replace the print newspaper advertisements that their regulations currently require with electronic advertisements posted on the internet, which the Departments believe will be a more effective and efficient means of disseminating information about job openings to U.S. workers. The Departments are proposing to replace, rather than supplement, the newspaper requirements because they believe that exclusive electronic advertisements posted on a website appropriate for the workers likely to apply for the job opportunity in the area of intended employment would best ensure that U.S. workers learn of job opportunities.