Employment and Training Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Labor (Department) is issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that, if finalized, would give States increased flexibility in their administration of Employment Service (ES) activities funded under the Wagner-Peyser Act. The proposed changes would modernize the regulations to align them with the flexibility allowed under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The changes would also give States the flexibility to staff employment and farmworker-outreach services in the most effective and efficient way, using a combination of State employees, local government employees, contracted services, and other staffing models in the way that makes the most sense for them. This in turn could leave more resources to help employers find employees, and to help employees find the work they need. The proposed changes are also consistent with Executive Order (E.O.) 13777, which requires the Department to identify outdated, inefficient, unnecessary, or overly burdensome regulations that should be repealed, replaced, or modified.

The Department of Labor's (DOL's), Employment Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed revision for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Contractor and Grantee Information Gathering'' 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) is seeking public comment on the following proposed performance measures: [ssquf] Reemployment Rate for all UI Eligible Individuals after the 2nd Quarter of Program Exit (a Core Measure); [ssquf] Reemployment Rate after the 2nd Quarter of Program Exit for Reemployment Service and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) Program participants (a Program Performance Measure); and [ssquf] Median Wage in the 2nd Quarter after Program Exit for RESEA Program Participants (a Program Performance Measure). These measures are designed to align with the common performance measures for other workforce programs authorized by WIOA and will assist ETA in overseeing states' performance related to reemployment of UI claimants. This notice also informs states of the Department's discontinuance of the UI Facilitate Reemployment Core Measure.

Title I of WIOA requires the U.S. Secretary of Labor (Secretary) to update and publish the LLSIL tables annually, for uses described in the law (including determining eligibility for youth). WIOA defines the term ``low income individual'' as one whose total family annual income does not exceed the higher level of the poverty line or 70 percent of the LLSIL. This issuance provides the Secretary's annual LLSIL for 2019 and references the current 2019 Health and Human Services ``Poverty Guidelines.''

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, ``Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services Activity and Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services Outcomes.'' 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 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.