29 CFR Chapter XXV - EMPLOYEE BENEFITS SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

OSHA is proposing a nine-month extension of the compliance date for certain ancillary requirements of the general industry beryllium standard (from March 12, 2018 to December 12, 2018). This proposal would not extend the compliance date for the permissible exposure limits (PELs), exposure assessment, respiratory protection, medical surveillance, or medical removal protection provisions, or for any provisions for which the standard already establishes compliance dates in 2019 and 2020. OSHA has preliminarily determined that this proposal will maintain essential safety and health protections for workers while OSHA prepares an NPRM to clarify specific provisions of the beryllium standard that would both maintain the standard's worker safety and health protections and address employers' compliance burdens.

OSHA proposes to update its standard for cranes and derricks in construction by permanently extending and clarifying each employer's duty to ensure the competency of crane operators through required training, certification or licensing, and evaluation. OSHA is also proposing to remove an existing provision that requires different levels of certification based on rated lifting capacity of equipment. This proposal would clarify that while testing organizations are not required to issue certifications distinguished by rated capacities, they are permitted to do so. Finally, it would establish minimum requirements for determining operator competency. OSHA believes that this proposal would maintain safety and health protections for workers while reducing employers' compliance burdens.

This final rule amends the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulation on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans to prescribe interest assumptions under the regulation for valuation dates in June 2018. The interest assumptions are used for paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans covered by the pension insurance system administered by PBGC.

On November 18, 2015, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (the Departments) published a final rule in the Federal Register titled “Final Rules for Grandfathered Plans, Preexisting Condition Exclusions, Lifetime and Annual Limits, Rescissions, Dependent Coverage, Appeals, and Patient Protections Under the Affordable Care Act” (the November 2015 final rule), regarding, in part, the coverage of emergency services by non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance issuers offering non-grandfathered group or individual health insurance coverage, including the requirement that non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance issuers offering non-grandfathered group or individual health insurance coverage limit cost-sharing for out-of-network emergency services and, as part of that rule, pay at least a minimum amount for out-of-network emergency services. The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which on August 31, 2017 granted in part and denied in part without prejudice ACEP's motion for summary judgment and remanded the case to the Departments to respond to the public comments from ACEP and others. In response, the Departments are issuing this notice of clarification to provide a more thorough explanation of the Departments' decision not to adopt recommendations made by ACEP and certain other commenters in the November 2015 final rule.

In a final rule published on January 19, 2017, federal departments and agencies made revisions to the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (hereafter the “2018 Requirements”). The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) adopted the same regulatory changes in a separate final rule published on September 18, 2017. The 2018 Requirements were scheduled to become effective on January 19, 2018, with a general compliance date of January 19, 2018 (with the exception of the revisions to the cooperative research provision). The departments and agencies listed in this document have also published an interim final rule delaying the effective date and general compliance date for the 2018 Requirements for six months, to cover the time period of January 19, 2018 until July 19, 2018. As per the interim final rule, the effective date of the 2018 Requirements is now July 19, 2018. The departments and agencies listed in this document propose delaying the general compliance date for the 2018 Requirements for an additional six months, for the time period of July 19, 2018 until January 21, 2019. This proposed rule is intended to provide additional time to regulated entities for the preparations necessary to implement the 2018 Requirements. This proposed rule, if finalized, would require regulated entities to continue to comply with the requirements of the current Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (hereafter the “pre-2018 Requirements”) until January 21, 2019. This proposal also takes comment on whether to permit institutions to implement, for certain research studies, the following provisions in the 2018 Requirements during the period from July 19, 2018, until January 21, 2019, that the general compliance date is delayed. Those three provisions, intended to reduce burdens on regulated entities, are the 2018 Requirements' definition of “research,” which deems certain activities not to be research, the allowance for no annual continuing review of certain categories of research, and the elimination of the requirement that institutional review boards (IRBs) review grant applications related to the research. The way that this option is proposed, regulated entities would be required to comply with all pre-2018 Requirements during the period that the general compliance date is delayed, except for provisions substituted by the three burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements. As described in section III, below, this flexibility is proposed only for studies for which an institution makes a choice to transition to comply with the 2018 Requirements, beginning on July 19, 2018. In order to clearly describe this proposed flexibility, including how it would impact institutions choosing to transition research to comply with the 2018 Requirements, this document proposes a redrafted transition provision.

This final rule amends the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulation on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans to prescribe interest assumptions under the regulation for valuation dates in May 2018. The interest assumptions are used for paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans covered by the pension insurance system administered by PBGC.

The National Labor Relations Board (the Board) published a Request for Information in the Federal Register of December 14, 2017, seeking information from the public regarding the representation election regulations (the Election Regulations), with a specific focus on amendments to the Board's representation case procedures adopted by the Board's final rule published on December 15, 2014 (the Election Rule or Rule). On January 29, 2018, the Board extended the response deadline to March 19, 2018. The Board has decided to grant an additional 30 days to file responses to the request for information.

This rule contains proposals amending the definition of short-term, limited-duration insurance for purposes of its exclusion from the definition of individual health insurance coverage. This action is being taken to lengthen the maximum period of short-term, limited-duration insurance, which will provide more affordable consumer choice for health coverage.

This final rule amends the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulation on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans to prescribe interest assumptions under the regulation for valuation dates in March 2018. The interest assumptions are used for paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans covered by the pension insurance system administered by PBGC.

The National Labor Relations Board (the Board) published a Request for Information in the Federal Register on December 14, 2017, seeking information from the public regarding its representation election regulations, with a specific focus on amendments to the Board's representation case procedures adopted by the Board's final rule published on December 15, 2014. The date to submit responses to the request for information is extended for three days as a result of the lapse in appropriations for the Federal government. The Board is also granting an additional 30 days to file responses to the request for information.

In a final rule published on January 19, 2017, federal departments and agencies listed in this document made revisions to the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) adopted the same regulatory changes in a separate final rule published on September 18, 2017. The revised policy, reflected in both final rules, is described here as the “2018 Requirements.” The 2018 Requirements are scheduled to become effective on January 19, 2018, with a general compliance date of January 19, 2018 (with the exception of the revisions to the cooperative research provision). This interim final rule delays the effective date and general compliance date of the 2018 Requirements to July 19, 2018. The federal departments and agencies listed in this document are in the process of developing a proposed rule to further delay implementation of the 2018 Requirements. The limited implementation delay accomplished by this interim final rule both provides additional time to regulated entities for the preparations necessary to implement the 2018 Requirements, and additional time for the departments and agencies listed in this document to seek input from interested stakeholders through a notice and comment rulemaking process that allows for public engagement on the proposal for a further implementation delay.

In accordance with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, which further amended the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, this final rule adjusts for inflation the civil monetary penalty for violation of the notice-posting requirements in Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act.

This document contains a proposed regulation under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) that would broaden the criteria under ERISA section 3(5) for determining when employers may join together in an employer group or association that is treated as the “employer” sponsor of a single multiple-employer “employee welfare benefit plan” and “group health plan” as those terms are defined in Title I of ERISA. By treating the association itself as the employer sponsor of a single plan, the regulation would facilitate the adoption and administration of such arrangements. The regulation would modify the definition of “employer,” in part, by creating a more flexible “commonality of interest” test for the employer members than the Department of Labor (DOL or Department) had adopted in sub-regulatory interpretive rulings under ERISA section 3(5). At the same time, the regulation would continue to distinguish employment-based plans, the focal point of Title I of ERISA, from mere commercial insurance programs and administrative service arrangements marketed to employers. For purposes of Title I of ERISA, the proposal would also permit working owners of an incorporated or unincorporated trade or business, including partners in a partnership, to elect to act as employers for purposes of participating in an employer group or association sponsoring a health plan and also to be treated as employees with respect to a trade, business or partnership for purposes of being covered by the employer group's or association's health plan. The goal of the rulemaking is to expand access to affordable health coverage, especially among small employers and self-employed individuals, by removing undue restrictions on the establishment and maintenance of association health plans under ERISA. The proposed regulation would affect such association health plans, health coverage under these health plans, groups and associations of employers sponsoring such plans, participants and beneficiaries with health coverage under these plans, health insurance issuers, and purchasers of health insurance not purchased through association health plans.

The U.S. Department of Labor (Department) is publishing this final rule to adjust for inflation the civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced in its regulations, pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Inflation Adjustment Act). The Inflation Adjustment Act requires the Department to annually adjust its civil money penalty levels for inflation no later than January 15 of each year. The Inflation Adjustment Act provides that agencies shall adjust civil monetary penalties notwithstanding Section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Additionally, the Inflation Adjustment Act provides a cost-of-living formula for adjustment of the civil penalties. Accordingly, this final rule sets forth the Department's 2018 annual adjustments for inflation to its civil monetary penalties.