[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 24 (Monday, February 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7743-7745]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-02177]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Wage and Hour Division


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; 
Information Collections Pertaining to Special Employment Under the Fair 
Labor Standards Act

AGENCY: Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (Department) is soliciting comments 
concerning a proposed revision of the information collection request 
(ICR) titled ``Information Collections Pertaining to Special Employment 
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act.'' This comment request is part of 
continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent 
burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). 
The Department proposes to revise and extend the existing information 
collection with minor clarifying changes to the collection instruments. 
This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the 
desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is 
minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the 
impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly 
assessed. A copy of the proposed information request can be obtained by 
contacting the office listed below in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT section of this notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
ADDRESSES section below on or before April 5, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Control Number 1235-
0001 by either one of the following methods: Email: 
[email protected]; Mail, Hand Delivery, Courier: Division of 
Regulations, Legislation, and

[[Page 7744]]

Interpretation, Wage and Hour, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3502, 
200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210.
    Instructions: Please submit one copy of your comments by only one 
method. All submissions received must include the agency name and 
Control Number identified above for this information collection. 
Commenters are encouraged to transmit their comments electronically via 
email or to submit them by mail early. Comments, including any personal 
information provided, become a matter of public record. They will also 
be summarized and/or included in the request for Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) approval of the information collection request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Waterman, Division of 
Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division, 
U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3502, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-0406 (this is not a toll-
free number). Alternative formats are available upon request by calling 
1-866-487-9243. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech 
disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay 
services.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    I. Background: The Department's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) 
administers the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. 201, et 
seq., which sets the Federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, 
and youth employment standards of most general application. See 29 
U.S.C. 206, 207, 211, 212. FLSA section 14(c) provides that the 
Secretary of Labor (Secretary), ``to the extent necessary to prevent 
curtailment of opportunities for employment, shall by regulation or 
order provide for the employment, under special certificates, of 
individuals'' whose productivity for the work performed is limited by 
disability at subminimum wages commensurate with the individual's 
productivity. 29 U.S.C. 214(c). In accordance with section 14(c), WHD 
regulates the employment of individuals with disabilities under special 
certificates and governs the application and approval process for 
obtaining the certificates. See 29 CFR part 525. The information 
collections on the forms (Form WH-226, the Application for Authority to 
Employ Workers with Disabilities at Subminimum Wages, and Form WH-226A, 
the Supplemental Data Sheet for Application for Authority to Employ 
Workers with Disabilities at Subminimum Wages) assists the Department 
in fulfilling its statutory directive to administer and enforce the 
section 14(c) program, including the conditions introduced to section 
14(c) certificate holders pursuant to the Workforce Innovation and 
Opportunity Act (WIOA), which was signed into law on July 22, 2014.
    In addition, section 11(d) of the FLSA authorizes the Secretary to 
regulate, restrict, or prohibit industrial homework as necessary to 
prevent circumvention or evasion of the minimum wage requirements of 
the FLSA. 29 U.S.C. 211(d). Pursuant to section 11(d), WHD issues 
special certificates governing the employment of individual homeworkers 
and employers of homeworkers. The Department restricts homework in 
seven industries (i.e., knitted outwear, women's apparel, jewelry 
manufacturing, gloves and mittens, button and buckle manufacturing, 
handkerchief manufacturing, and embroideries) to those employers that 
obtain certificates. See 29 CFR 530.1, 530.2. The Department may issue 
individual certificates in those industries for an individual 
homeworker (1) who is unable to adjust to factory work because of a 
disability or who must remain at home to care for a person with a 
disability in the home, and (2) who has been engaged in industrial 
homework in the particular industry prior to certain specified dates as 
set forth in the regulations or is engaged in industrial homework under 
the supervision of a State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. See 29 CFR 
530.3, 530.4. The Department also allows employers to obtain general 
(employer) certificates to employ homeworkers in all restricted 
industries, except women's apparel and hazardous jewelry manufacturing 
operations. See 29 CFR 530.101. Form WH-2, the Application for Special 
Industrial Homeworker's Certificate, and Form WH-46, the Application 
for Certificate to Employ Homeworkers, are used in the application 
process for obtaining these certificates, and Form WH-75, Homeworker 
Handbook, is used to assist with recordkeeping.
    The FLSA also requires that the Secretary, to the extent necessary 
to prevent curtailment of employment opportunities, provide 
certificates authorizing the employment of full-time students at (1) 
not less than 85 percent of the applicable minimum wage or less than 
$1.60, whichever is higher, in retail or service establishments or in 
institutions of higher education (29 U.S.C. 214(b)(1), (3); 29 CFR part 
519); and (2) not less than 85 percent of the applicable minimum wage 
or less than $1.30, whichever is higher, in agriculture (29 U.S.C. 
214(b)(2), 29 CFR part 519). The FLSA and the regulations set forth the 
application requirements as well as the terms and conditions for the 
employment of full-time students at subminimum wages under certificates 
and temporary authorization to employ such students at subminimum 
wages. The forms used to apply for these certificates are WH-200 
(retail, service, or agricultural employers seeking to employ full-time 
students for 10 percent or more of total monthly hours of employment), 
WH-201 (institution of higher learning seeking to employ its students), 
and WH-202 (retail, service, or agricultural employers seeking to 
employ six or fewer full-time students).
    Under section 14(a) of the FLSA, the Secretary is required to 
provide, by regulation or order, a special certificate for the 
employment of learners, apprentices, and messengers who may be paid 
less than the Federal minimum wage set by section 6(a) of the FLSA. See 
29 U.S.C. 214(a). The certificates are only issued to the extent 
necessary to prevent the curtailment of employment opportunities. This 
section also authorizes the Secretary to set limitations on such 
employment as to time, number, proportion, and length of service. The 
regulations at 29 CFR part 520 contain the provisions that implement 
the section 14(a) requirements. Form WH-205 is the application an 
employer uses to obtain a certificate to employ student-learners at 
wages lower than the Federal minimum wage. Form WH-209 is the 
application an employer uses to request a certificate authorizing the 
employer to employ learners and/or messengers at subminimum wage rates. 
Regulations issued by the Department's Office of Apprenticeship no 
longer permit the payment of subminimum wages to apprentices in an 
approved program, and the Department therefore has not issued 
apprentice certificates since 1987. See 29 CFR 29.5(b)(5). However, WHD 
must maintain the information collection for apprentice certificates to 
fulfill its statutory obligation under FLSA to maintain this program.

[[Page 7745]]

    II. Review Focus: The Department is particularly interested in 
comments that:
     Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected;
     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
     Minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting 
electronic submissions of responses.
    III. Current Actions: The Department seeks approval for a revision 
of this information collection in order to ensure effective 
administration of various special employment programs.
    Type of Review: Revision.
    Agency: Wage and Hour Division.
    Title: Information Collections Pertaining to Special Employment 
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
    OMB Control Number: 1235-0001.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit, not-for-profit 
institutions, Federal, State, local, or Tribal government.
    Agency Numbers: Forms WH-226, WH-226A, WH-2, WH-46, WH-75, WH-200, 
WH-201, WH-202, WH-205, WH-209.
    Total Respondents: 335,167.
    Total Annual Responses: 1,338,561.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 671,464.
    Estimated Time per Response: Varies with type of request.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $2,249.66.

    Dated: January 30, 2024.
Amy Hunter,
Director, Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation.
[FR Doc. 2024-02177 Filed 2-2-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-27-P