Title 20 published on 2012-04-01
The following are only the Rules published in the Federal Register after the published date of Title 20.
For a complete list of all Rules, Proposed Rules, and Notices view the Rulemaking tab.
Treasury, SSA, VA, RRB and OPM (Agencies) are adopting as final an interim rule to amend their regulation governing the garnishment of certain Federal benefit payments that are directly deposited to accounts at financial institutions. The rule establishes procedures that financial institutions must follow when they receive a garnishment order against an account holder who receives certain types of Federal benefit payments by direct deposit. The rule requires financial institutions that receive such a garnishment order to determine the sum of such Federal benefit payments deposited to the account during a two month period, and to ensure that the account holder has access to an amount equal to that sum or to the current balance of the account, whichever is lower.
This final rule is another step in our continual efforts to handle workloads more effectively and efficiently. We are publishing final rules for portions of the rules we proposed in October 2007 that relate to persons, other than the claimant or any other party to the hearing, appearing by telephone. We are also clarifying that the administrative law judge (ALJ) will allow the claimant or any other party to a hearing to appear by telephone under certain circumstances when the claimant or other party requests to make his or her appearance in that manner. We expect that these final rules will make the hearings process more efficient and help us continue to reduce the hearings backlog. In addition, we made some minor editorial changes to our regulations that do not have any effect on the rights of claimants or any other parties.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) (jointly referred to as the Departments) are amending regulations governing certification for the employment of nonimmigrant workers in temporary or seasonal non-agricultural employment. This interim final rule revises how DOL provides the consultation that DHS has determined is necessary to adjudicate H-2B petitions by revising the methodology by which DOL calculates the prevailing wages to be paid to H-2B workers and U.S. workers recruited in connection with the application for certification; the prevailing wage is then used in petitioning DHS to employ nonimmigrant workers in H-2B status. DOL and DHS are jointly issuing this rule in response to the court's order in Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas v. Solis, which vacated portions of DOL's current prevailing wage rate regulation, and to ensure that there is no question that the rule is in effect nationwide in light of other outstanding litigation. This rule also contains certain revisions to DHS's H-2B rule to clarify that DHS is the Executive Branch agency charged with making determinations regarding eligibility for H-2B classification, after consulting with DOL for its advice about matters with which DOL has expertise, particularly, in this case, questions about the methodology for setting the prevailing wage in the H-2B program.
The Department of Labor is delaying the effective date of the Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-agricultural Employment H-2B Program final rule (the Wage Rule), in order to address legislation that prohibits any funds from being used to implement the Wage Rule for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2013. The Wage Rule revised the methodology by which the Department calculates the prevailing wages to be paid to H-2B workers and United States (U.S.) workers recruited in connection with a temporary labor certification for use in petitioning the Department of Homeland Security to employ a nonimmigrant worker in H-2B status.
We are revising and reorganizing the criteria in the Listing of Impairments (listings) that we use to evaluate cases involving visual disorders in adults and children under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act). The revisions reflect our program experience and guidance we have issued in response to adjudicator questions we have received since we last revised these criteria in 2006. These revisions will provide clarification about how we evaluate visual disorders and ensure more timely adjudication of claims in which we evaluate visual disorders that result in a loss of visual acuity or field.
The purpose of this Final Rule is to establish the uniform national threshold entered employment rate (UNTEER) for veterans, as required of the Secretary in 38 U.S.C. 4102A(c)(3)(B), for use in evaluating States' performance in assisting veterans to meet their employment needs. The Final Rule also explains how the threshold will be used in the process of identifying those States to be reviewed by comparing the actual entered employment rate (EER) achieved for veterans with the threshold EER, and it identifies certain factors, in addition to the threshold, that will be included in the Department's review to determine whether an EER below the threshold reflects a deficiency in the State's performance, or is attributable to other factors beyond the State's control. Finally, in those cases in which a State's EER is determined to reflect a deficiency in a State's performance, this Final Rule identifies the procedure for the submission and review of a corrective action plan (CAP), the delivery of technical assistance (TA), and the initiation of the necessary steps to implement corrective actions to improve the State's performance in assisting veterans to meet their employment needs.
We are revising the criteria in the Listing of Impairments (listings) that we use to evaluate cases involving impairments that affect multiple body systems in adults and children under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act). The revisions reflect our program experience and address adjudicator questions we have received since we last comprehensively revised this body system in 2005. We do not expect any decisional differences due to the revisions in this body system.
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the Department of Labor (Department) is removing the regulations at 20 CFR parts 626, 627, 628, 631, 632, 633, 634, 636, 637, and 638, which implemented the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA or the Act). These regulations were designed to improve the employment status of disadvantaged youth, adults, dislocated workers, and other individuals facing barriers to employment. In 1998, Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which required the Secretary of Labor to transition any authority under the JTPA to the system created by WIA. Therefore, the Department is taking this action to remove regulations for a program that is no longer operative.
The Department of Labor (Department) is delaying the effective date of the Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-agricultural Employment H-2B Program final rule, in response to recently enacted legislation that prohibits any funds from being used to implement the Wage Rule for the first 6 months of fiscal year (FY) 2013. The Wage Rule revised the methodology by which the Department calculates the prevailing wages to be paid to H-2B workers and United States (U.S.) workers recruited in connection with a temporary labor certification for use in petitioning the Department of Homeland Security to employ a nonimmigrant worker in H-2B status.
We are revising our rules to give adjudicators the discretion to proceed to the fifth step of the sequential evaluation process for assessing disability when we have insufficient information about a claimant's past relevant work history to make the findings required for step 4. If an adjudicator finds at step 5 that a claimant may be unable to adjust to other work existing in the national economy, the adjudicator will return to the fourth step to develop the claimant's work history and make a finding about whether the claimant can perform his or her past relevant work. We expect that this new expedited process will not disadvantage any claimant or change the ultimate conclusion about whether a claimant is disabled, but it will promote administrative efficiency and help us make more timely disability determinations and decisions.
This final rule adopts, without change, the interim final rule with request for comments we published in the Federal Register on December 7, 2010, at 75 FR 75884. The interim final rule contained the rules that we apply to determine the income-related monthly adjustment amount for Medicare prescription drug coverage (also known as Medicare Part D) premiums. This new subpart implemented changes made to the Social Security Act (Act) by the Affordable Care Act. The interim final rule allowed us to implement the provisions of the Affordable Care Act related to the income-related monthly adjustment amount for Medicare prescription drug coverage premiums when they went into effect on January 1, 2011.
The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs is making technical amendments to reflect the dissolution of the Employment Standards Administration and the Secretary's delegation of authority to administer the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (and its extensions) and the Black Lung Benefits Act to the Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs. The amendments also add and update Internet addresses, and update cross-references to other regulations.
We are extending the expiration dates of the following body systems in the Listing of Impairments (listings) in our regulations: Growth Impairment, Musculoskeletal System, Respiratory System, Cardiovascular System, Digestive System, Hematological Disorders, Skin Disorders, Neurological, and Mental Disorders. We are making no other revisions to these body system listings in this final rule. This extension will ensure that we continue to have the criteria we need to evaluate impairments in the affected body systems at step three of the sequential evaluation processes for initial claims and continuing disability reviews.
The Department of Labor (the Department) is providing notice of the judicial order enjoining the Department from implementing and enforcing the Temporary Non-agricultural Employment of H-2B Aliens in the United States, published February 21, 2012 (the 2012 H-2B Final Rule). The 2012 H-2B Final Rule revised the requirements by which employers seeking H-2B workers apply for a temporary labor certification for use in petitioning the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to employ a nonimmigrant worker in H-2B status. The effective date of the 2012 H-2B Final Rule was April 23, 2012. The operative date of the 2012 H-2B Final Rule was April 27, 2012. This document provides guidance to the regulated community of the injunction, by judicial order, of the 2012 H-2B Final Rule and the continuing effectiveness of the 2008 H-2B Rule until such time as further judicial or other action suspends or otherwise nullifies the order in the Bayou II litigation.
On February 21, 2012, the Department of Labor (the Department or DOL) published a Final Rule amending H-2B regulations governing the certification of temporary employment of nonimmigrant workers in temporary or seasonal non-agricultural employment. On March 20, 2012, the Department published guidance informing employers of the dates by which their H-2B application must be postmarked in order to be governed by the Final Rule. This guidance revises these dates so that the Final Rule will become operative 60 days after it was reported to Congress.
This amendment revises the Department of Labor's (DOL) regulations governing administrative claims submitted to DOL pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), the Military Personnel and Civilian Employees' Claims Act (MPCECA), and for payment of claims arising out of the operation of the Job Corps. The regulations governing such claims were last revised in 1995. MPCECA has since been amended to allow payment of up to $100,000 if the claim arose from an emergency or extraordinary circumstance. Further, the implementing authority for the Job Corps was changed to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) since the last time the regulations were updated. These regulations are being amended to reflect those changes, improve the clarity and ease of use of the regulations, and to harmonize the regulations governing these claims between those regulations in titles 20 and 29 of the CFR, which includes deleting the references to these claims in 20 CFR part 638 as these revisions have rendered those sections unnecessary. Finally, the regulations in title 20 have also been updated to reflect the recently revised regulations regarding claims of Job Corps students under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA).
The following are ALL rules, proposed rules, and notices (chronologically) published in the Federal Register relating to Title 20 after this date.
Several body systems in our Listing of Impairments (listings) contain listings for children based on impairment of linear growth or weight loss. We propose to replace those listings with new listings, add a listing to the genitourinary body system for children, and provide new introductory text for each listing explaining how to apply the new criteria. The proposed revisions to our listings reflect our program experience, advances in medical knowledge, comments we received from medical experts and the public at an outreach policy conference, and comments we received in response to a notice of intent to issue regulations and request for comments (request for comments) and an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM). We are also proposing conforming changes in our regulations for title XVI of the Social Security Act (Act).
With this document, the Department of Labor (DOL) is withdrawing its proposed rule that accompanied its direct final rule revising the regulations governing administrative claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act and related statutes.
The Department of Labor's (Department's) Employment and Training Administration proposes to designate in regulation data exchange standards, developed in consultation with an interagency work group established by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for Unemployment Insurance (UI) administration as required by amendments to Title IX of the Social Security Act (SSA) made by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (the Act). This proposed regulation would establish data exchange standards for three categories of information: real-time applications on the Interstate Connection Network (ICON); the State Information Data Exchange System (SIDES); and implementation of the standards identified for ICON and SIDES in major Information Technology (IT) modernization projects to upgrade UI Benefits and Tax systems by State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) using Federal funds.
We propose to revise the criteria in the Listing of Impairments (listings) that we use to evaluate claims involving genitourinary disorders in adults and children under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act). The proposed revisions reflect our program experience, advances in methods of evaluating genitourinary disorders, and comments we received in response to an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM).
We propose to revise the criteria in the Listing of Impairments (listings) that we use to evaluate claims involving respiratory disorders in adults and children under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act). The proposed revisions reflect our program experience, advances in medical knowledge, and comments we received from medical experts and the public at an outreach policy conference and in response to an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM).
We propose to replace the term “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability” in our Listing of Impairments (listings) that we use to evaluate claims involving mental disorders in adults and children under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act) and in other appropriate sections of our rules. This change would reflect the widespread adoption of the term “intellectual disability” by Congress, government agencies, and various public and private organizations.
This amendment revises the Department of Labor's (DOL's) regulations governing administrative claims submitted to DOL pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), the Military Personnel and Civilian Employees' Claims Act (MPCECA), and for payment of claims arising out of the operation of the Job Corps. The regulations governing such claims were last revised in 1995. MPCECA has since been amended to allow payment of up to $100,000 if the claim arose from an emergency or extraordinary circumstance. Further, the implementing authority for the Job Corps was changed to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) since the last time the regulations were updated. These regulations are being amended to reflect those changes, improve the clarity and ease of use of the regulations, and to harmonize the regulations governing these claims between those regulations in titles 20 and 29 of the CFR, which includes deleting the references to these claims in 20 CFR part 638 as these revisions have rendered those sections unnecessary. Finally, the regulations in title 20 have also been updated to reflect the recently revised regulations regarding claims of Job Corps students under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA).
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