Emergency Request Letter

U.S. Department of Labor

Employment and Training Administration
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20210

October 15, 2021

Sharon Block
Acting Administrator
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Office of Management and Budget
725 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20503
Dear Ms. Block:
Pursuant to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) procedures established at
5 CFR Part 1320, Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public, I request that the proposed
information collection project, “COVID-19 Symptom Tracker for Students, Emotional
Wellness Form for Students, and Student Vaccination Status and Test Consent Form Collection
(OMB 1205-0NEW),” be processed as an Emergency Clearance Request, in accordance with
section 5 CFR § 1320.13, Emergency Processing. I have determined that this information must
be collected prior to the time periods established under Part 1320 of the Paperwork Reduction
Act (PRA) and that this information is essential to the mission of the Department’s
Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to collect data on Job Corps students to
ensure their safety and provide them with appropriate healthcare during their time in the
program. U.S. Department of Labor regulations for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act (WIOA) —Job Corps’ authorizing statute—require Job Corps to provide medical, dental,
and mental health care services to students during the program. 20 C.F.R. § 686.530(d).
Job Corps provides education and jobs training to a unique cross-section of opportunity youth,
including those who did not complete high school or who are basic skills deficient, parents, or
victims of human trafficking. Job Corps largely serves this population in a residential setting.
COVID-19 is a highly dangerous communicable disease, which can spread easily through
residential programs like Job Corps. Additionally, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic—and the
protections needed to avoid illness—have had a profound negative mental health impact on
many Job Corps students. In sum, the aforementioned forms collect information critical to
detecting COVID-19 and preventing its spread to students and staff, determining how to best
protect students based on vaccination status, and identifying warning signs that a student is in
distress due to the mental toil of the COVID-19 pandemic. ETA cannot reasonably comply
with the normal clearance procedures under the PRA as ETA has an urgent necessity to collect
this information from Job Corps students to assess and prevent the potential spread of COVID19.
Therefore, ETA requests a 180-day emergency clearance to establish the “COVID-19
Symptom Tracker for Students, Emotional Wellness Form for Students, and Student
Vaccination Status and Test Consent Form Collection (OMB 1205-0NEW)” to capture the
impact of COVID-19 amongst the Job Corps students and ensure adequate prevention and

containment measures. During the 180-day approval, ETA will work to establish a regular
clearance submission of this data collection.
Please provide an approval/disapproval determination of this request to collect information
under an emergency clearance by close of business on October 22, 2021.
Respectfully,

Angela Hanks
Acting Assistant Secretary