On Dec. 2, in a win for ABC and its members, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs published a notice that the U.S. Department of Labor’s flawed final rule overhauling its apprenticeship regulations has been withdrawn.
For more information, read ABC’s press release and visit abc.org/apprenticeship.
“ABC fully supports government-registered apprenticeship programs as a key component of the construction industry’s all-of-the-above solution to upskilling the more than half a million new workers needed in 2024 alone, but the DOL’s proposed apprenticeship overhaul was out of touch with the needs of employers and apprentices, and was a missed opportunity to modernize and expand the apprenticeship system,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs. “We are pleased that the Biden administration heeded the concerns of ABC and industry GRAP stakeholders and halted this unnecessarily costly and burdensome policy change, which would have restricted GRAP system growth and exacerbated the construction industry’s labor shortage.”
On March 18, ABC submitted more than 40 pages of comments on the DOL’s controversial proposed rule, urging the DOL to withdraw the illegal and misguided provisions of the proposal.
Ben Brubeck will also discuss the apprenticeship issue during ABC’s Virtual Legal Conference in his session, “Learn About Significant Changes to Government-Registered Apprenticeships Programs and New Onerous Mandates on Private Work.” Register today!