Employment and Training Administration 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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 (NAETC), as constituted under WIA.

The Employment and Training Administration and the Employment Standards Administration issued a proposed rule on September 4, 2009, to amend its regulations governing the certification of temporary employment of nonimmigrant workers in temporary or seasonal agricultural (H-2A) employment and the enforcement of the contractual obligations applicable to employers of such nonimmigrant workers. The proposed rule provided a comment period for the regulatory text through October 5, 2009. The agencies have received several requests to extend the comment period and have decided to extend the comment period for an additional 15 days, to October 20, 2009. The comment period for the Paperwork Reduction Act portion remains the same as published, i.e. November 5, 2009.

The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden conducts a pre-clearance consultation program to provide the general 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 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to 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 concerning the proposed extension of data collection for the ETA Form 9117 (formerly ETA-9023), Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Reserve Funding Request Form (1205-0275, expires 1/31/2010).

Announcement regarding the Virgin Islands triggering ``on'' to the second-tier of Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08).

This notice announces a change in benefit period eligibility under the EB program for Idaho.

The Employment and Training Administration has provided guidance to State workforce agencies to assist them in qualifying for the incentive payments to modernize their State unemployment compensation (UC) law as well as to clarify the special transfer of funds, the suspension of interest on Federal loan advances and Federal tax on UC authorized by Public Law 111-5. The original guidance was issued as Unemployment Insurance Program Letter (UIPL) No. 14-09 on February 26, 2009 (available at: https://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/ attach/UIPL/UIPL14-09.pdf). Additional guidance was issued on March 19, 2009 as UIPL 14-09, Change 1 (available at: https://wdr.doleta.gov/ directives/attach/UIPL/UIPL14-09c1.pdf). Both UIPLs are published below to inform the public. There are no rescissions on this continuing guidance.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is publishing Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 11-07, Change 2, which rescinds TEGL No. 11-07, Change 1. The 2008 Final Rule implementing the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program, 73 FR 77109, Dec. 18, 2008 mirrors the clarification guidance of TEGL 11-07, Change 1, making the TEGL unnecessary and redundant.

This document contains a correction to the Final Rule of the H-2B program that was published on December 19, 2008. The Final Rule re-engineers the application filing and review process by centralizing processing and by enabling employers to conduct pre-filing recruitment of United States (U.S.) workers. In addition, the rule enhances the integrity of the H-2B program through the introduction of post- adjudication audits and procedures for penalizing employers who fail to meet program requirements. This rule also makes technical changes to both the H-1B and the permanent labor certification program regulations to reflect operational changes stemming from this regulation.