U.S. Department of Labor, Civil Rights Center, Publishes Direct Final Rule And Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Rescinding Outdated Regulations Implementing Provisions of the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM), Civil Rights Center (CRC), will publish in tomorrow’s Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking as well as a Direct Final Rule that would rescind its regulations implementing the nondiscrimination and equal opportunity provisions in Section 167 of the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982, as amended (JTPA). CRC proposed the rescission because the regulations concern programs that are no longer operative.

Under the JTPA, the Department of Labor provided financial assistance for the purpose of establishing programs to meet the job training needs of youth and adults facing serious barriers to employment. The JTPA was repealed and replaced by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), and the Department’s regulations implementing the WIA provided for the phased transition of the JTPA programs to the WIA. The WIA in turn was superseded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA). The JTPA nondiscrimination and equal opportunity regulations have been superseded by similar nondiscrimination and equal opportunity regulations under Section 188 of WIA, and more recently, WIOA. The current WIOA regulations governing nondiscrimination and equal opportunity were issued on December 2, 2016, and can be found at 29 CFR part 38.

All funding under the JTPA, together with the obligation to comply with the nondiscrimination and equal opportunity requirements of Section 167, has expired. The JTPA regulations proposed to be rescinded govern a program that has not been in operation for more than a decade and thus are outdated and unnecessary.  As such, CRC does not expect to receive any adverse comments on this rescission. 

CRC administers and enforces laws that apply to recipients of financial assistance under Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and its predecessor, the Workforce Investment Act; American Job Center partners listed in WIOA/WIA Section 121(b) that offer programs or activities through the workforce development system; state and local governments and other public entities operating programs and activities related to labor and the workforce; and other recipients of financial assistance from, or programs conducted by, the Department.

For more information about CRC, call (202) 693-6500 (voice) or 800-877-8339 (relay) or go to http://www.dol.gov/crc/.