Federal Transit law requires that fair and equitable arrangements must be made, as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), to protect the interests of employees affected by Job Access and Reverse Commute grants. These interests include the preservation of rights, privileges, and benefits under existing collective bargaining agreements, 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 mass transportation systems, priority of reemployment, and paid training or retraining.
DOL processes the employee protection certifications required under section 5333(b) in accordance with procedural Guidelines published at 29 C.F.R. 215.3 (July 28, 1999 Federal Register). The DOL will process Job Access grants serving populations of 200,000 or more by referring a copy of the grant application to labor organizations representing affected employees and seeking the views of organized labor and the grant recipients on proposed certification terms. For grants serving populations under 200,000, DOL will issue its certification without seeking the views of the parties. In either case, the certification terms will be based on existing protective arrangements used for prior FTA grants, if any, or standard operating and/or capital arrangements developed by the DOL where there are no existing arrangements. (Such existing arrangements do not include the Special Section 13(c) Warranty that is used for projects funded under the Section 5311 program.)
It is essential where there are questions regarding the DOL certification process and/or information needed by DOL to obtain a labor certification that the applicant contact the appropriate Regional Office immediately. Where information lacks specificity, is unclear or is missing, DOL will place the grant application in an "incomplete" status until the necessary information is received. Conceptual terms such as "collaborative effort" or "working in conjunction with . . ." or "services will be provided to assist . . ." do not provide the specificity necessary for DOL to process a grant.
Upon receipt of a grant application, DOL will determine whether there is sufficient information to process the grant application. Because it is DOL’s responsibility to address the protections afforded employees through the certification of appropriate protections, it must examine the activities of each subrecipient under the grant in order to frame a protective arrangement appropriate to the activity funded. The following information is needed by DOL to process all Job Access and Reverse Commute grant applications (including those areas under 200,000).
The following is information needed by DOL to process a grant application for labor certification.
For each local of a nationally affiliated union, the applicant must provide the name of the national organization and the number or other designation of the local union. (For example, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1258.) Since DOL makes its referral to the national union’s headquarters, there is no need to provide a local contact in these situations.
However, for each independent labor organization (i.e. a union that is not affiliated with a national or international organization) the local contact information will be necessary (name of organization, contact person, mailing address, telephone number, facsimile number).
If you have any questions, please contact the U.S. Department of Labor, Division of Statutory Programs, at (202) 693-0126.