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Proposed Rule Changes for Temporary/ Agricultural Workers

By Chuck Kallendorf

The United States Department of Labor, for one, has been pretty busy the past few months it seems, with new rule proposals and an extension of the time period for comments for another.

On December 13, 2007, rules were proposed ?to align the national apprenticeship system with the tools & flexibility needed for the 21st. century global economy.?

29 CFR Part 29 was created in 1977 to establish, for Federal purposes, ?labor standards, policies and procedures for the registration, cancellation and deregistration of apprenticeship programs and agreements.? It also provides for the recognition of state apprenticeship agencies to register local apprenticeship programs for Federal purposes. The new rules would update those regulations by both making the procedures for apprenticeship program registration more flexible and by strengthening oversight of program performance.. They also take into consideration technological advances in the delivery of related instruction. (See here)

The original 60-day comment period for these rules now been extended until March 12, 2008. Comments should be identified by Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 1205-AB50, and can be made either electronically via the Federal e-Rulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov/ or mailed to Thomas Dowd at the address in the Federal Register.

Our second mention is the Wage & Hour Division?s proposed changes to Family and Medical Leave Act regulations.

The proposed changes are the result of a comprehensive review of two Department of Labor studies done in 1996 and 2001, several U.S. Supreme Court and lower court rulings, some 15,000 comments received in response to a ?request for information about experiences with FMLA and comments about on the effectiveness of the existing regulations,? appearing in the Federal Register on December 1, 2006, and summarized in the Department?s June 2007 Report on the RFI. (First Press Release)

In addition to current FMLA regulations, the proposed rules include a description of new military family leave provisions, a discussion of issues identified under those provisions, and a series of questions seeking public comment on subjects & issues that may be addresses in the final regulations. (Second Press Release)

Recent amendments to the FMLA were also enacted on January 28, 2006. ( Text and Explanation).

Comments to this set of proposed rules again can be made electronically or via regular mail addressed to Richard Brennan, and identified by (RIN) 1215-AB35. Comments need to be received on or before April 11, 2008.

Rule proposals were also announced February 11th. that are directed at modernizing the Department of Labor?s ?H-2A program? for employing foreign workers in temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs. (See Here)

DOL?s release states that the package follows the administration?s announcement that the Labor Department would review current regulations, most of which haven?t been updated for more than 20 years, and ?propose changes to provide the nation?s farmers with an orderly & timely flow of legal workers while protecting the rights of both the United States and H2-A workers.? In part, that involves building on the successful re-engineering of the permanent labor certificate program, modernized in March 2005.

More information is available in today?s Federal Register. Comments for these proposals may be submitted, again to Thomas Dowd, using the Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 1205- AB55 on or before March 31, 2008.

Along with the Department of Labor proposals just reviewed, the Department of Homeland Security is also proposing amendments to its regulations affecting temporary & seasonal agricultural workers in the H-2A program.

These changes include revising current limitations on workers? length of stay including the amount of time a worker may remain in the U.S. after his/her employment has ended, and the establishment of a pilot program under which aliens admitted on certain temporary worker visas at a port of entry participating in the program would also depart through a port of entry participating in the program and give designated biographical information, possibly including biometric identifiers, on their leaving the country.

Comments to this set should be identified by DHS Docket No. USCIS-2007-0055 and be received on or before April 14, 2008. They may be made electronically to http://www.regulations.gov/ , or via regular mail to Chief, Regulatory Management Division, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, 111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 3008, Washington, D.C., 20529.

Full post as published by Cincinnati Law Library Blog on February 13, 2008 (boomark / email).