9482 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 35 / Monday, February 23, 2015 / Notices 

1Consumer Price Index—December 2014, 

published January 16, 2015 at http://data.bls.gov/

pdq/SurveyOutputServlet 

collection of information that does not 

display a valid Control Number. See 5 

CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6. The DOL 

obtains OMB approval for this 

information collection under Control 

Number 1205–0398. 

OMB authorization for an ICR cannot 

be for more than three (3) years without 

renewal, and the current approval for 

this collection is scheduled to expire on 

February 28, 2015. The DOL currently 

seeks to extend PRA authorization for 

this information collection, without any 

change to existing requirements. The 

DOL notes that existing information 

collection requirements submitted to the 

OMB receive a month-to-month 

extension while they undergo review. 

For additional substantive information 

about this ICR, see the related notice 

published in the Federal Register on 

September 10, 2014 (79 FR 53786). 

Interested parties are encouraged to 

send comments to the OMB, Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs at 

the address shown in the ADDRESSES

section within thirty (30) days of 

publication of this notice in the Federal 

Register. In order to help ensure 

appropriate consideration, comments 

should mention OMB Control Number 

1205–0398. The OMB is particularly 

interested in comments that: 

• Evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; 

• Evaluate the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; 

• Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and 

• Minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, including through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology, 

e.g., permitting electronic submission of 

responses. 

Agency: DOL–ETA. 

Title of Collection: Planning Guidance 

and Instructions for Strategic State Plan 

and Plan Modifications Submission for 

Workforce Investment Act Title I and 

Wagner-Peyser Act. 

OMB Control Number: 1205–0398. 

Affected Public: State, Local, and 

Tribal Governments. 

Total Estimated Number of 

Respondents: 10. 

Total Estimated Number of 

Responses: 10. 

Total Estimated Annual Time Burden: 

400 hours. 

Total Estimated Annual Other Costs 

Burden: $0. 

Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D). 

Dated: February 12, 2015. 

Michel Smyth, 

Departmental Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2015–03561 Filed 2–20–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–FN–P 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Employment and Training 

Administration 

Labor Certification Process for the 

Temporary Employment of Aliens in 

Agriculture in the United States: 2015 

Allowable Charges for Agricultural 

Workers’ Meals and Travel 

Subsistence Reimbursement, 

Including Lodging 

AGENCY: Employment and Training 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Employment and 

Training Administration (ETA) of the 

Department of Labor (Department) is 

issuing this Notice to announce (1) the 

allowable charges for 2015 that 

employers seeking H–2A workers may 

charge their workers when the employer 

provides three meals a day, and (2) the 

maximum travel subsistence meal 

reimbursement that a worker with 

receipts may claim in 2015. The Notice 

also includes a reminder regarding 

employers’ obligations with respect to 

overnight lodging costs as part of 

required subsistence. 

DATES: Effective Date: This notice is 

effective on February 23, 2015. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

William W. Thompson, Acting 

Administrator, Office of Foreign Labor 

Certification (OFLC), U.S. Department of 

Labor, Room C–4312, 200 Constitution 

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210. 

Telephone: 202–693–3010 (this is not a 

toll-free number). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

The United States (U.S.) Citizenship 

and Immigration Services of the 

Department of Homeland Security will 

not approve an employer’s petition for 

the admission of H–2A nonimmigrant 

temporary agricultural workers in the 

U.S. unless the petitioner has received 

from the Department an H–2A labor 

certification. The H–2A labor 

certification provides that: (1) there are 

not sufficient U.S. workers who are able, 

willing, and qualified, and who will be 

available at the time and place needed 

to perform the labor or services involved 

in the petition; and (2) the employment 

of the foreign worker(s) in such labor or 

services will not adversely affect the 

wages and working conditions of 

workers in the U.S. similarly employed. 

8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a), 1184(c)(1), 

and 1188(a); 8 CFR 214.2(h)(5). 

Allowable Meal Charge 

Among the minimum benefits and 

working conditions that the Department 

requires employers to offer their U.S. 

and H–2A workers are three meals a day 

or free and convenient cooking and 

kitchen facilities. 20 CFR 655.122(g). 

Where the employer provides the meals, 

the job offer must state the charge, if 

any, to the worker for such meals. Id. 

The Department provides, at 20 CFR 

655.173(a), the methodology for 

determining the maximum amounts that 

H–2A agricultural employers may 

charge their U.S. and foreign workers for 

providing them with three meals per 

day during employment. This 

methodology provides for annual 

adjustments of the previous year’s 

maximum allowable charge based upon 

updated Consumer Price Index (CPI) 

data. The maximum charge allowed by 

20 CFR 655.173(a) is adjusted by the 

same percentage as the 12-month 

percent change in the CPI for all Urban 

Consumers for Food (CPI–U for Food).1

The OFLC Certifying Officer may also 

permit an employer to charge workers a 

higher amount for providing them with 

three meals a day, if the higher amount 

is justified and sufficiently documented 

by the employer, as set forth in 20 CFR 

655.173(b). 

The Department has determined that 

the percentage change between 

December of 2013 and December of 

2014 for the CPI–U for Food was 2.4 

percent. Accordingly, the maximum an 

employer is allowed to charge under 20 

CFR 655.122(g) shall be no more than 

$11.86 per day, unless the OFLC 

Certifying Officer approves a higher 

charge for a specific employer as 

authorized under 20 CFR 655.173(b). 

Reimbursement for Daily Travel 

Subsistence 

The regulations at 20 CFR 655.122(h) 

establish that the minimum daily travel 

subsistence expense for meals, to which 

a worker is entitled to reimbursement, 

must be at least as much as the 

employer would charge for providing 

the worker with three meals a day 

during employment (if applicable), but 

in no event less than the amount 


Rmajette on DSK2VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 35 / Monday, February 23, 2015 / Notices 9483 

2Maximum Per Diem Rates for the Continental 

United States (CONUS), 79 FR 48168 (August. 15, 

2014); see also www.gsa.gov/perdiem. 

permitted under § 655.173(a), i.e. the 

charge annually adjusted by the 12- 

month percentage change in CPI–U for 

Food. 

The Department determines the 

maximum meals component of the daily 

travel subsistence expense on the 

standard minimum Continental United 

States (CONUS) per diem rate as 

established by the General Services 

Administration (GSA) at 41 CFR part 

301, formerly published in Appendix A, 

and now found at www.gsa.gov/

perdiem. The CONUS minimum meals 

component remains $46.00 per day for 

2015.2 Workers who qualify for travel 

reimbursement are entitled to 

reimbursement for meals up to the 

CONUS meal rate when they provide 

receipts. In determining the appropriate 

amount of reimbursement for meals for 

less than a full day, the employer may 

provide for meal expense 

reimbursement, with receipts, to 75 

percent of the maximum reimbursement 

for meals of $34.50, as provided for in 

the GSA per diem schedule. If a worker 

has no receipts, the employer is not 

obligated to reimburse above the 

minimum stated at 20 CFR 655.173(a) as 

specified above. 

The term ‘‘subsistence’’ includes both 

meals and lodging during travel to and 

from the worksite. Therefore, an 

employer is responsible for providing 

(either paying in advance or 

reimbursing a worker) the reasonable 

costs of transportation and daily 

subsistence between the employer’s 

worksite and the place from which the 

worker comes to work for the employer, 

if the worker completes 50 percent of 

the work contract period. Upon the 

worker completing the contract, the 

employer is obligated to pay the return 

costs. In those instances where a worker 

must travel to obtain a visa so that the 

worker may enter the U.S. to come to 

work for the employer, the employer 

must pay for the transportation and 

daily subsistence costs of that part of the 

travel as well. 

As the Department has stated before, 

we interpret the regulation to require 

the employer to assume responsibility 

for the reasonable costs associated with 

the worker’s travel, including 

transportation, food, and, in those 

instances where it is necessary, lodging. 

The minimum and maximum daily 

travel meal reimbursement amounts are 

established above. If transportation and 

lodging are not provided by the 

employer, the amount an employer must 

pay for transportation and, where 

required, lodging, must be no less than 

(and is not required to be more than) the 

most economical and reasonable costs. 

The employer is responsible for those 

costs necessary for the worker to travel 

to the worksite if the worker completes 

50 percent of the work contract period, 

but is not responsible for unauthorized 

detours, and if the worker completes the 

contract the employer is further 

responsible for return transportation 

and subsistence costs, including lodging 

costs where necessary. This policy also 

applies to instances where the worker is 

traveling within the U.S. to the 

employer’s worksite. 

For further information on when the 

employer is responsible for 

transportation, lodging and meal costs, 

please see the Department’s H–2A 

Frequently Asked Questions on Travel 

and Daily Subsistence, which may 

found on the OFLC Web site: http://

www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/. 

Portia Wu, 

Assistant Secretary, Employment and 

Training Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2015–03596 Filed 2–20–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–FP–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 50–271; NRC–2015–0034] 

Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., 

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power 

Station 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Exemption; issuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is issuing an 

exemption in response to a October 31, 

2013, request from Entergy Nuclear 

Operations, Inc. (Entergy or the 

licensee), from certain regulatory 

requirements. The exemption would 

remove the requirement that a licensed 

senior operator approve the emergency 

suspension of security measures for 

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station 

(VY) during certain emergency 

conditions or during severe weather. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2015–0034 when contacting the 

NRC about the availability of 

information regarding this document. 

You may obtain publicly-available 

information related to this document 

using any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2015–0034. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Carol 

Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463; 

email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions, contact the 

individual listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and then 

select ‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS 

Search.’’ For problems with ADAMS, 

please contact the NRC’s Public 

Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 

1–800–397–4209, 301–415–4737, or by 

email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The 

ADAMS accession number for each 

document referenced in this document 

(if that document is available in 

ADAMS) is provided the first time that 

a document is referenced. 

• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and 

purchase copies of public documents at 

the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

James Kim, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001; telephone: 301–415–4125; email: 

James.Kim@nrc.gov. 

I. Background 

Entergy is the holder of Renewed 

Facility Operating License No. DPR–28. 

The license provides, among other 

things, that the facility is subject to all 

rules, regulations, and orders of the NRC 

now or hereafter in effect. The facility 

consists of a boiling-water reactor 

located in Windham County, Vermont. 

By letter dated January 12, 2015, 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML15013A426), 

Entergy submitted to the NRC the 

certification, in accordance with Section 

50.82(a)(1)(i) and 50.82(a)(1)(ii) of Title 

10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 

(10 CFR), indicating it permanently 

ceased power operations and that the 

VY reactor vessel was permanently 

defueled. 

II. Request/Action 

On October 31, 2013 (ADAMS 

Accession No. ML13317A077), the 

licensee requested an exemption from 

10 CFR 73.55(p)(1)(i) and 73.55(p)(1)(ii), 

pursuant to 10 CFR 73.5, ‘‘Specific 

exemptions.’’ Section 73.55(p)(1)(i) and 

73.55(p)(1)(ii) require, in part, that the 

suspension of security measures during 

certain emergency conditions or during 

severe weather be approved by a 

licensed senior operator. The exemption 

request relates solely to the licensing 


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