[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 8, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1256-1258]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-00114]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Guam Military Base Realignment Contractor Recruitment Standards
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Final notice.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Labor's (Department) Employment and
Training Administration (ETA) is issuing this notice to announce
recruitment standards that construction contractors are required to
follow when recruiting United States (U.S.) workers for Guam military
base realignment projects funded through the National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2010.
DATES: This notice is effective upon publication in the Federal
Register.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anthony D. Dais or Frank Gallo, Office
of Workforce Investment, Employment and Training Administration, U.S.
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room S-4231,
Washington, DC 20210. Telephone (202) 693-2784 or (202) 693-3755,
respectively (this is not a toll-free number). Individuals with hearing
or speech impairments may access the telephone number above via TTY by
calling the toll-free Federal Information Relay Service at 1-877-889-
5627 (TTY/TDD). Fax: 202-693-3015. Email: dais.anthony@dol.gov or
gallo.frank@dol.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 2834(a) of the NDAA for Fiscal Year
2010 (Pub. L. 111-84, enacted October 28, 2009) amended Section 2824(c)
of the Military Construction Authorization Act (Pub. L. 110-417,
Division B) by adding a new subsection (6). This provision prohibits
contractors engaged in construction projects related to the realignment
of U.S. military forces from Okinawa to Guam from hiring workers
holding H-2B visas under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C.
1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b), unless the Governor of Guam (Governor), in
consultation with the Secretary of Labor (Secretary), certifies that:
(1) There is an insufficient number of U.S. workers that are able,
willing, qualified, and available to perform the work; and (2) that the
employment of workers holding H-2B visas will not have an adverse
effect on either the wages or the working conditions of workers in
Guam.
In order to allow the Governor to make this certification, the NDAA
requires contractors to recruit workers in the U.S., including in Guam,
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the
U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, according to the terms of a
recruitment plan developed and approved by the Secretary. That
recruitment plan has been reproduced in full in Section I below
(``Contractor Recruitment Standards'').
The Department has developed the Contractor Recruitment Standards
in full consultation with, and with the approval of, the Guam
Department of Labor (GDOL). Although the Department has developed the
recruitment standards, it has assigned oversight of the Contractor
Recruitment Standards and the NDAA-required consultation with the
Governor to GDOL through a Memorandum of Understanding between the
Department and GDOL, effective November 22, 2011 (the MOU can be found
on the RegInfo.gov Web site listed at the end of this Federal Register
Notice).
Under the NDAA, no Guam base realignment construction project work
may be performed by a person holding an H-2B visa under the Immigration
and Nationality Act until the contractor complies with the Department's
Contractor Recruitment Standards, and the Governor of Guam issues the
certification noted above.
The Department issued interim recruitment standards in the Federal
Register on January 24, 2012 (77 FR 3503).
This Final Notice has made several changes to the interim
contractor recruitment standards, the most significant of which reduced
the data collection burden and clarified the information that
contractors must include in the construction job postings. These
changes include the following.
1. Eliminating the requirement that contractors post the job
openings on a separate Internet job bank in addition to the other
posting requirements. The posting on the Guam Job Bank will be widely
available through the US.jobs Web site (formerly the National Labor
Exchange). The Department determined that this posting was sufficient,
and that additional Internet postings would be redundant.
2. Eliminating the requirement to advertise job opportunities in an
American Samoa newspaper, in favor of Internet job postings. This
change was made because the Department determined that utilization of
the American Samoa job bank for recruitment no longer requires
supplementation by newspaper advertising, as a result of improvements
made to that job bank.
3. Adding a statement to the job posting requirement concerning
whether the contractor will pay for worker transportation to Guam. This
change was made to conform the information included in advertisements
placed under this recruitment standard with information commonly
included in job orders submitted to the GDOL.
4. Clarifying the overtime pay requirement for the job postings.
This change was made to clarify that contractors must include a
statement regarding the availability and payment of overtime wages in
their advertisements, if overtime is required by law.
5. Adding a statement to the job posting requirement regarding
board, lodging, and fringe benefit information. This change was made to
conform the information included in advertisements placed under this
recruitment standard with information commonly included in job orders
submitted to the GDOL.
6. Eliminating the requirement that the recruitment report describe
the dates that the newspaper advertisements appeared in an American
Samoa newspaper. The Department eliminated this requirement, because
the removal of the requirement to advertise in an American Samoa
newspaper rendered this requirement moot.
7. Clarifying that contractors do not need to provide their
recruitment report in a narrative form. This change was made in order
to clarify that contractor recruitment reports may be in other formats,
including a table or spreadsheet, rather than only in a narrative form.
As required by Section 2834(b)(2) of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2010,
the Department assessed, among other things, the opportunities to
expand the recruitment of workers in the U.S. (including Guam, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the
Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico), and the ability
of labor markets to support the Guam realignment. This assessment is
included in U.S. Department of Labor Report to Congress Required by the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (July 29,
2011). The Department submitted this assessment to the Senate
Committees on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Armed
Services; and the House of
[[Page 1257]]
Representatives Committees on Education and the Workforce, and Armed
Services (this report can be found at the RegInfo.gov Web site listed
at the end of this Federal Register Notice).
I. Guam Military Base Realignment Contractor Recruitment Standards
Guam military base realignment contractors must take the following
actions to recruit U.S. workers.
1. At least 60 days before the start date of workers under a base
realignment contract, contractors must
a. Submit a job posting via a completed Job Order (Guam Form GES
514) in person at the Guam Employment Service office, which is open
Monday to Friday (except holidays) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 414 W.
Soledad Avenue, Suite 400, Hagatna (for assistance call 671-475-7000).
The job posting must be posted on the GDOL Job Bank for at least 21
consecutive days;
b. Submit a job posting with the state workforce agency's Internet
job bank in American Samoa at http://www.asjobs.org/job-search, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands at https://marianaslabor.net/employer.asp, and in the following states:
i. Alaska (www.jobs.state.ak.us);
ii. California (www.caljobs.ca.gov);
iii. Hawaii (www.hirenethawaii.com);
iv. Oregon (www.emp.state.or.us/jobs); and
v. Washington (https://fortress.wa.gov/esd/worksource/Employment.aspx).
For contractors needing assistance with job postings, additional
contact information and a link to the required Guam form GES 514 are
listed at www.jobbankinfo.org.
Each job posting must be posted for at least 21 consecutive days.
c. Submit a job posting with an Internet-based job bank that
i. is national in scope, including the entire U.S., Guam, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the
Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;
ii. allows job postings for all occupations; and
iii. is free of charge for job seekers and their intermediaries in
American Job Centers (formerly called One-Stop Career Centers) and the
U.S. employment service delivery system nationwide.
d. Where the occupation or industry is customarily unionized,
contact the local union in Guam in writing to seek U.S. workers who are
qualified and who will be available for the job opportunity.
2. Each job posting in (1)(a) through (d) must include, at a
minimum, the following information.
a. The contractor's name and appropriate contact information for
applicants to inquire about the job opportunity, or to send
applications and/or r[eacute]sum[eacute]s directly to the employer;
b. The geographic area of employment, with enough specificity to
apprise applicants of any travel requirements and where applicants will
likely have to reside to perform the services or labor;
c. A statement indicating whether or not the employer will pay for
the worker's transportation to Guam;
d. If the employer provides it, a statement that daily
transportation to and from the worksite(s) will be provided by the
employer;
e. A description of the job opportunity with sufficient information
to apprise U.S. workers of the services or labor to be performed,
including the duties, the minimum education and experience
requirements, the work hours and days, and the anticipated start and
end dates of the job opportunity;
f. If the employer makes on-the-job training available, a statement
that it will be provided to the worker;
g. If required by law, a statement that overtime will be available
to the worker and the wage offer for working any overtime hours;
h. The wage offer, and the benefits, if any, offered;
i. A statement that the position is temporary;
j. The total number of job openings the employer intends to fill;
and
k. If the employer provides the worker with the option of board,
lodging, or other facilities, including fringe benefits, or intends to
assist workers to secure such lodging, a statement disclosing the
provision and cost of the board, lodging, or other facilities,
including fringe benefits or assistance to be provided.
3. During the 28-day recruitment period, which begins on the
earliest job posting date, contractors must interview all qualified and
available Guam and U.S. construction workers who have applied for the
employment opportunity.
4. After the close of the recruitment period, and no later than 30
days before the start date of workers under a contract, the contractor
must provide a report including the following information via email to
GDOL at ndaa.recruitment@dol.guam.gov, documenting its efforts to
recruit U.S. workers from the U.S. and all U.S. territories.
a. Indicate all the recruitment approaches used to recruit
realignment workers, including an identification of the Internet job
banks where the postings occurred, the occupation or trade, a
description of wages and other terms and conditions of employment, the
dates of each posting, and the job order or requisition number;
b. A copy of each job posting;
c. How each job posting and response was handled, including
i. the number of job applications received;
ii. the name of each applicant;
iii. the position applied for;
iv. the final employment determination for each applicant or job
candidate; and
v. for each U.S. job applicant not hired, a description of the
specific, lawful, job-related reason for rejecting the applicant for
employment, which includes a comparison of the job applicant's skills
and experience against the terms listed in the original job posting.
Contractors may provide much of this information in the form of a
table or spreadsheet, so that instead of a narrative style the
contractor need only check an appropriate box or provide a phrase,
number or date (e.g., to indicate whether an individual reported for an
interview or not, or lacked specific qualifications).
II. Departmental Recruitment Support Activities
Separate from the Contractor Recruitment Standards, ETA will
facilitate a nationwide outreach and recruitment effort to maximize
hiring of U.S. construction workers, including outreach to its
workforce investment system. ETA will do the following:
Develop and issue a Training and Employment Notice (TEN),
and hold an Internet-based training session (``Webinar'') to inform
contractors, state workforce agencies, state and local workforce
investment boards, and American Job Centers (formerly called One-Stop
Career Centers) of the anticipated construction employment
opportunities on Guam and how these opportunities will be posted
[interested individuals can automatically receive notice of the TEN by
going to http://wdr.doleta.gov/directives and clicking on the last
bullet, stating ``To be added to the ETA Advisory electronic
distribution list--click here,'' and interested individuals can
automatically receive notice of the Webinar by registering for ETA's
Workforce3One by going to https://www.workforce3one.org/register.aspx,
then going to the fourth category
[[Page 1258]]
(Newsletters and Updates) and checking the box for ``Webinars/Live
Events,'' and should also check both boxes under ``Reemployment Works''
in the preceding category (labeled ``Join Communities'')];
Develop telephone scripts for a Toll-Free Help Line
directing job seekers to the GDOL job bank;
Ensure that Departmental offices--including the Office of
Unemployment Insurance, the Office of Apprenticeship, the Office of Job
Corps, the Veterans' Employment and Training Service, and the
YouthBuild program--are informed of the construction employment
opportunities; and
Brief pertinent inter-governmental and labor organizations
(including the National Governors Association, National Conference of
State Legislatures, and building trades unions), so that they can
assist in spreading information about the U.S. worker outreach effort.
III. Public Burden Statement
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the
Department's request to extend the information collection (OMB Control
Number 1205-0484) for three years, expiring September 30, 2015.
Persons are not required to respond to this collection of
information unless it displays a valid OMB control number (1205-0484).
The public reporting burden for this collection of information is
estimated at three hours per job order, including the time for
reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and
maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the
collection of information. Further information on this ICR can be
accessed using control number 1205-0484 at the RegInfo.gov Web site at
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. To do this, use the following
instructions.
1. Go to the first ``Select Agency'' box and click on the drop-down
arrow, and then select ``Department of Labor.'' Then click on the
``Submit'' button to the right of the box.
2. Each entry lists the OMB Control Number at the top of the entry.
Scroll down the screen until 1205-0484 appears (the entries are in
numerical order).
3. Once you reach 1205-0484, click on the number immediately below
that, the ICR Reference Number (not the Control Number itself).
4. To see the Information Collection notices themselves, click on
``View Information Collection (IC) List'' near the top of the page on
the left. To see the Report to Congress, the MOU, the ICR Supporting
Statement and other relevant documents, click on ``View Supporting
Statement and Other Documents'' near the top of the page on the right.
Signed at Washington, DC this 26th day of December, 2012.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training.
[FR Doc. 2013-00114 Filed 1-7-13; 8:45 am]
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