Employment and Training Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA), announces the availability of $12 million in grant funds authorized by the Workforce Investment Act to serve adult and youth ex-offenders. Services for ex-offenders will be targeted to females, but must also be open to eligible male ex-offenders. Strategies Targeting Characteristics Common to Female Ex-Offenders grants will be awarded through a competitive process. Under this solicitation, DOL expects to award eight grants up to $1.5 million each to cover a 37-month period of performance. These grants will include an integrated strategy of recruitment and assessment, empowerment and self- development, case management, education and training, workforce development, follow-up, and state/local partnerships. 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.

The Department of Labor's (Department's) Employment and Training Administration proposes to designate in regulation data exchange standards, developed in consultation with an interagency work group established by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for Unemployment Insurance (UI) administration as required by amendments to Title IX of the Social Security Act (SSA) made by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (the Act). This proposed regulation would establish data exchange standards for three categories of information: real-time applications on the Interstate Connection Network (ICON); the State Information Data Exchange System (SIDES); and implementation of the standards identified for ICON and SIDES in major Information Technology (IT) modernization projects to upgrade UI Benefits and Tax systems by State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) using Federal funds.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is announcing a new initiative to make available to the general public appropriately redacted copies of H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, H-2A, H-2B and permanent labor certification documents through its iCERT Visa Portal System. This new online tool, formally called the iCERT Labor Certification Registry (LCR), is a component of the Department of Labor's Open Government initiative and provides an additional level of transparency for the labor certification decisions issued by the ETA Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC). The iCERT LCR provides searchable access to copies of labor certification documents and labor condition application documents as well as the latest quarterly and annual case file datasets through a single location. Public access to the iCERT LCR will be available at https://icert.doleta.gov beginning July 1, 2013.

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 teleconference meeting of the Native American Employment and Training Council (Council), as constituted under WIA.

The Department of Labor (Department), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre-clearance 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, ETA is soliciting comments on the current data collection for the Registered Apprenticeship-College Consortium (RACC). The RACC exists to facilitate applying the Registered Apprenticeship completion certificate towards college credit. RACC post-secondary members agree to accept apprentice graduates from member Registered Apprenticeship sponsors who have the approximate amount of credit toward college that has been designated by a third party evaluator. The Department has modeled the RACC after the Servicemembers Opportunities Colleges Consortium supported by the Department of Defense. The RACC data collection includes three application forms to join the consortium, differentiated by membership type: (1) The application for Registered Apprenticeship sponsors requests contact information for the national, regional or single guideline standards or program; all participating training centers, if applicable; and the value of the apprenticeship program toward college credit, recommended by a third party evaluator; (2) the application for two- and four-year post-secondary institutions requests contact, degree and credit transfer information; and (3) the application for national, regional or State organizations that represent sponsors and/or two- and four-year post-secondary colleges and will facilitate membership in the consortium requests contact information and the nature of the relationship with sponsors or colleges. Subsection II of the Supplementary Information paragraphs below provides greater detail on the types of comments that would be most helpful.

The Department of Labor (we or the Department) is issuing this notice to announce new prevailing wage and piece rates covering the employment of temporary or seasonal nonimmigrant foreign workers (H-2A workers) and corresponding employees to perform agricultural labor or services in certain occupations with special procedures established under 20 CFR 655.102 in the H-2A program, including open range production of livestock, itinerant animal shearing, sheepherding, goatherding, and custom combine operations. The new prevailing wages are based on surveys conducted by State Workforce Agencies (SWA) of employers and transmitted to the Department between May 1, 2012 and June 1, 2012 in accordance with the Department's Training and Employment Guidance Letters (TEGLs) for these occupations. For open range production of livestock, sheepherding, and goatherding occupations, which are characterized by other than a reasonably regular workday or workweek, the prevailing wage results, reflected as monthly or daily prevailing wage rates, are deemed to be the Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWR) for those occupations.