Employment and Training Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to Section 10 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (5 U.S.C. App. 2 Sec. 10), notice is hereby given to announce a public meeting of the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship (ACA) on March 3-5, 2014. The ACA is a discretionary committee established by the Secretary of Labor, in accordance with FACA, as amended in 5 U.S.C. App. 2, and its implementing regulations (41 CFR 101-6 and 102-3). All meetings of the ACA are open to the public.

The U.S. Department of Labor (Department) produces trigger notices indicating which states qualify for EUC08 benefits, and provides the beginning and ending dates of payable periods for each qualifying state. The trigger notices covering state eligibility for this program 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 EUC08 trigger status: Alaska triggers ``on'' to Tier 3 of EUC08 effective 12/8/ 2013. Alaska's 13-week insured unemployment rate for the week ending November 23, 2013, was 4.06%, exceeding the 4.0% trigger rate threshold necessary to trigger ``on'' Tier 3 of EUC08. The week beginning December 8, 2013, was the first week in which EUC08 claimants in Alaska who had exhausted Tier 2, and were otherwise eligible, could establish Tier 3 eligibility.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor, announces the availability of approximately $6 million for grants to State Workforce Agencies (SWA) to develop the Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI). Grants awarded will provide SWAs the opportunity to develop or expand State workforce longitudinal administrative data systems. These State longitudinal data systems will, at a minimum, include information on programs that provide training, employment services, and unemployment insurance; connect with education data contained in Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) databases; be linked longitudinally at the individual level to allow for enhanced opportunity for evaluation of federally and State-supported education and workforce programs; be capable of generating workforce training provider performance information and outcomes in a standardized, easy to understand format (e.g. scorecards), consistent with all applicable Federal and State privacy laws; and lead to better information for customers and stakeholders of the workforce system. Where such longitudinal systems do not exist or are in early development, WDQI grant assistance may be used to design and develop these systems. WDQI grant assistance can also be used to improve upon existing State longitudinal systems. Current WDQI grant recipients who did not receive a Round III award under solicitation SGA-DFA PY-12-07 and states that currently do not have a WDQI grant are eligible for this competition. 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 (DOL), 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 (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 concerning the collection of data about Form ETA-750, Application for Alien Employment Certification (OMB Control Number 1205-0015), which expires April 30, 2014. The form is used by employers to request permission to bring professional athletes to the United States and by individuals applying for a waiver in the national interest of the job offer requirement in employment- based immigration.

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 [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 concerning the collection of data validation information for the following employment and training programs: Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Title IB, Wagner-Peyser, Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), National Farmworkers Jobs Program (NFJP), and Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). The current expiration date is May 31, 2014. Please note that the data submission processes within the new data validation software for Wagner-Peyser and WIA Title IB were implemented in Program Year (PY) 2012 and PY 2013 for reporting and the underlying data validation methodology is not being modified. However, the system is still coming online and the data element validation functionality in the new enterprise data validation and reporting system will not be implemented by the current expiration date for this data collection (May 31, 2014). ETA believes the software will be completed and states will have experience with using it by the end of 2014. At that time, ETA will report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on the results, per the OMB Notice of Action in 2012 approving the implementation of the software.

Sections 3302(c)(2) and 3302(d)(3) of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) provide that employers in a state that has an outstanding balance of advances under Title XII of the Social Security Act at the beginning of January 1 of two or more consecutive years are subject to a reduction in credits otherwise available against the FUTA tax for the calendar year in which the most recent such January 1 occurs, if a balance of advances remains at the beginning of November 10 of that year. By virtue of Georgia's Unemployment Trust Fund account having an outstanding balance of Title XII advances on January 1 of four consecutive years, Georgia employers are potentially liable for a 0.9 percent reduction in their FUTA offset credit for 2013. Georgia applied for a cap on the credit reduction under FUTA, section 3302(f), and 20 CFR 606.20. If the State meets the specified criteria the 2013 credit reduction would have stayed at the 2012 percentage of 0.6 percent instead of increasing to 0.9 percent. It was determined that Georgia did not meet all of the criteria of section 3302(f) since the estimated State average tax rate on total wages for calendar year 2013 did not equal or exceed the State's average benefit cost rate for calendar years 2008-2012. Thus Georgia does not qualify for a credit reduction cap and therefore employers in Georgia will have a 0.9 percent FUTA credit reduction for calendar year 2013.

Sections 3302(c)(2) and 3302(d)(3) of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) provide that employers in a state that has an outstanding balance of advances under Title XII of the Social Security Act at the beginning of January 1 of two or more consecutive years are subject to a reduction in credits otherwise available against the FUTA tax for the calendar year in which the most recent such January 1 occurs, if a balance of advances remains at the beginning of November 10 of that year. Further, section 3302(c)(2) of FUTA provides that a state may face additional credit reduction for a year by failing to meet certain criteria. South Carolina applied for a waiver of the 2013 additional credit reduction under section 3302 (c)(2)(C) of FUTA and it has been determined that South Carolina met all of the criteria of this section necessary to qualify for the waiver of the additional credit reduction. Therefore, South Carolina employers will have no additional credit reduction applied for calendar year 2013.

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 [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 concerning the proposed extension, without change, of the report for the Interstate Arrangement for Combining Employment and Wages, Form ETA 586.