Employment and Training Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the Department of Labor (Department) is issuing this notice to announce the 2021 Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) for the employment of temporary or seasonal nonimmigrant foreign workers (H-2A workers) to perform 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 so that the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States (U.S.) similarly employed will not be adversely affected. In this notice, the Department announces the annual update of the AEWR for workers engaged in the herding or production of livestock on the range, as required by the methodology established in the Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Foreign Workers in the Herding or Production of Livestock on the Range in the United States, 80 FR 62958, 63067-63068 (Oct. 16, 2015); 20 CFR 655.211.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``DOL-only Performance Accountability, Information, and Reporting System.'' 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 a retroactive change in benefit period eligibility under the EB program for Washington, DC.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration, pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations implementing procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Department's own implementing regulations, provides the Department's final determination that the proposed disposal of a 91-acre area of excess property at the Atterbury Job Corps Center, and that this project will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment.

The Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is amending its regulations governing the certification of agricultural labor or services to be performed by temporary foreign workers in H-2A nonimmigrant status (H-2A workers). Specifically, the Department is amending its regulations to revise the methodology by which it determines the hourly Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWRs) for non-range agricultural occupations using wage data reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Labor Survey (FLS) and the Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey. This final rule improves the consistency and accuracy of the AEWRs based on the actual work being performed by H-2A workers, and establishes better stability and predictability for employers to comply with their wage obligations. These regulations are consistent with the Secretary of Labor's (Secretary) statutory responsibility to certify that the employment of H-2A workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed. While the Department intends to address all of the remaining proposals from the July 26, 2019 proposed rule in a subsequent, second final rule governing other aspects of the certification of agricultural labor or services to be performed by H-2A workers and enforcement of the contractual obligations applicable to employers of such nonimmigrant workers, the Department focused this final rule on the immediate need for regulatory action to revise the methodology by which it determines the hourly AEWRs for non-range agricultural occupations before the end of the calendar year.

The purpose of this notice is to announce the annual Labor Surplus Area (LSA) list for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``ETA 581 Contribution Operations.'' The ETA 581 provides information on volume of work and state agency performance in determining the taxable status of employers and the processing of wage items; in the collection of past due contributions and payments in lieu of contributions, and delinquent reports; and in field audit activity. The data provide measures of the effectiveness of the tax 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 Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the Department of Labor (the Department) is removing the regulations which implement and govern the Welfare-to-Work (WtW) programs conducted at the state and local area levels and provide program requirements applicable to all WtW formula and competitive funds under the Social Security Act (SSA). Congressional authorization for this program has expired, and all remaining grant funding was rescinded by the Department in 2004. Accordingly, these regulations are no longer necessary. This technical amendment is a ministerial action to remove obsolete regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations.

The Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is soliciting comments concerning a proposed extension for the authority to conduct the information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Joint Quarterly Narrative Performance 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).