Labor Department drops affirmative action requirements for registered apprenticeship sponsors

Under the old Part 30, every sponsor had to name someone to manage its equal employment opportunity program, hold anti-harassment training and display an equal opportunity pledge. Sponsors with five or more apprentices also had to analyze their apprentices by race, sex and ethnicity, set utilization goals where groups were underrepresented, track a 7% goal for people with disabilities and invite apprentices to disclose a disability. According to the Federal Register notice, the final rule removes all of that, along with Part 30's rules on apprentice selection procedures, recordkeeping and an apprenticeship-specific ban on retaliation.

Sponsors must still comply with Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and state law. Registration agencies will stop investigating discrimination complaints and instead send them straight to the EEOC, a state fair employment agency or another enforcer. A registration agency can act against a program, up to deregistration, only after a court or agency issues a final finding of a violation, and sponsors must report any such finding. State apprenticeship agencies get one year from the effective date to submit plans showing their own apprenticeship rules conform.

The department estimates sponsors will save more than $1 billion over 10 years. Its data show nearly 270,000 registered apprentices in construction, more than in any other industry. Some commenters argued the old rules helped raise participation by women and minorities; the department called that link inconclusive. Construction Dive reported that DOL did not respond to a request for comment.