Under 49 U.S.C. 5333(b), when Federal
funds are used to acquire, improve, or operate a transit system,
the Department must ensure that the recipient of those funds
establishes arrangements to protect the rights of affected transit
employees. Federal law requires such arrangements to be ``fair and
equitable,'' and the Department of Labor (DOL or "the Department")
must certify the arrangements before the U.S. Department of
Transportation's Federal Transit Administration (FTA) can award
certain funds to grantees. These employee protective arrangements
must include provisions that may be necessary for the preservation
of rights, privileges, and benefits under existing collective
bargaining agreements or otherwise; the continuation of collective
bargaining rights; the protection of individual employees against a
worsening of their positions related to employment; assurances of
employment to employees of acquired transportation systems;
assurances of priority of reemployment of employees whose
employment is ended or who are laid off; and paid training or
retraining programs. 49 U.S.C. 5333(b)(2). Pursuant to 29 CFR Part
215, upon receipt of copies of applications for Federal assistance
subject to 49 U.S.C. 5333(b) from the FTA, together with a request
for the certification of employee protective arrangements from the
Department of Labor, DOL will process those applications, which
must be in final form. The FTA will provide the Department with the
information necessary to enable the Department to process employee
protections for certification of the project.
US Code:
49
USC 5333(b) Name of Law: Federal Transit Act
In comparison to the previous
submission (1,873 responses and 14,984 burden hours), a decrease of
202 in responses and 1,616 in annualized burden hours attributable
as a an adjustment in burden estimates is noted.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.