2610 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 7 / Monday, January 13, 2025 / Rules and Regulations 

1On January 11, 2021, DOL transmitted to the 

Office of the Federal Register (‘‘OFR’’) a draft of an 

unpublished draft final rule covering certain 

aspects of the NPRM. On January 20, 2021, prior to 

the draft final rule being published in the FR and 

prior to OFR making it available for public 

inspection, DOL requested that OFR withdraw the 

document from processing ‘‘for the purpose of 

reviewing issues of law, fact, and policy raised by 

the rule.’’ See Announcement, U.S. Department of 

Labor Withdraws Forthcoming H–2A Temporary 

Agricultural Program Rule for Review, (Jan. 20, 

2021), https://perma.cc/CTW2-VH2U. 2Although this provision vests approval authority 

in the ‘‘Attorney General,’’ the Secretary of 

Homeland Security now may exercise this 

authority. See 6 U.S.C. 202(3)–(4), 251, 271(b), 291, 

551(d)(2), 557; 8 U.S.C. 1103(c) (2000). 3 Guedes v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms 

& Explosives, 920 F.3d 1, 13 (D.C. Cir. 2019). 

program integrity measures. We also 

agree with the Department’s 

certification that the Final Rule does not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

See Final Rule, 75 FR at 6953. 

Therefore, pursuant to our authorities 

as the Assistant Secretary for 

Employment and Training and the 

Administrator of the Wage and Hour 

Division, and based on our independent 

review of the action and the reasons for 

taking it, we hereby affirm and ratify the 

Final Rule, as of January 7, 2025, 

including all regulatory analysis 

certifications contained therein. This 

action is taken without prejudice to any 

right to litigate the validity of the Final 

Rule as approved and published on 

February 12, 2010. Nothing in this 

action is intended to suggest any legal 

defect or infirmity in the approval or 

publication of the Final Rule. 

Jose ́ Javier Rodrı ́guez, 

Assistant Secretary, Employment and 

Training Administration, Labor. 

Jessica Looman, 

Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, 

Labor. 

[FR Doc. 2025–00525 Filed 1–8–25; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4510–FP–P 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Employment and Training 

Administration 

20 CFR Parts 653 and 655 

Wage and Hour Division 

29 CFR Part 501 

[DOL Docket No. ETA–2019–0007] 

Temporary Agricultural Employment of 

H–2A Nonimmigrants in the United 

States; Ratification of Department’s 

Actions 

AGENCY: Employment and Training 

Administration and Wage and Hour 

Division, Department of Labor. 

ACTION: Ratification. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor is 

publishing notification of the Assistant 

Secretary for Employment and 

Training’s and the Administrator of the 

Wage and Hour Division’s ratification of 

the rule published October 12, 2022, 

titled Temporary Agricultural 

Employment of H–2A Nonimmigrants in 

the United States. 

DATES: This ratification was signed on 

January 7, 2025. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

For further information regarding 20 

CFR part 653, contact Kimberly Vitelli, 

Administrator, Office of Workforce 

Investment, Employment and Training 

Administration, Department of Labor, 

200 Constitution Avenue NW, 

Washington, DC 20210, telephone: (202) 

693–3980 (this is not a toll-free 

number). 

For further information regarding 20 

CFR part 655, contact Brian Pasternak, 

Administrator, Office of Foreign Labor 

Certification, Employment and Training 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, 

Room N–5311, Washington, DC 20210, 

telephone: (202) 693–8200 (this is not a 

toll-free number). 

For further information regarding 29 

CFR part 501, contact Daniel Navarrete, 

Director of the Division of Regulations, 

Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage 

and Hour Division, Department of 

Labor, Room S–3502, 200 Constitution 

Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210, 

telephone: (202) 693–0406 (this is not a 

toll-free number). 

Individuals with hearing or speech 

impairments may access the telephone 

numbers above via Teletypewriter 

(TTY)/Telecommunications Device for 

the Deaf (TDD) by calling the toll-free 

Federal Information Relay Service at 1 

(877) 889–5627. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

On July 26, 2019, the Department of 

Labor (‘‘DOL’’ or ‘‘Department’’) issued 

a notice of proposed rulemaking 

(‘‘NPRM’’) in the Federal Register 

(‘‘FR’’) to amend its regulations 

regarding the certification of temporary 

employment of nonimmigrant workers 

employed in temporary or seasonal 

agricultural employment and the 

enforcement of the obligations 

applicable to employers of such 

nonimmigrant workers. See Temporary 

Agricultural Employment of H–2A 

Nonimmigrants in the United States, 84 

FR 36168 (July 26, 2019) (‘‘NPRM’’). The 

NPRM was open for public comment for 

60 days from July 26, 2019 until 

September 24, 2019. See id. at 36168. 

On October 12, 2022, DOL published 

a final rule in the FR that adopted much 

of the regulatory text proposed in the 

NPRM, with some significant changes. 

Temporary Agricultural Employment of 

H–2A Nonimmigrants in the United 

States, 87 FR 61660 (Oct. 12, 2022) 

(‘‘Final Rule’’).1 The Final Rule 

included improvements to the 

minimum standards and conditions of 

employment that employers must offer 

to workers, improvements to program 

integrity measures, such as program 

debarment for substantial violations of 

program requirements, revisions to the 

standards and procedures for 

determining prevailing wage rates, and 

revisions to modernize and simplify the 

temporary employment certification 

process. The Final Rule went into effect 

on November 14, 2022. 

Since publication of the Final Rule, a 

question has been raised in litigation 

concerning whether a separate rule, 

Adverse Effect Wage Rate Methodology 

for the Temporary Employment of H–2A 

Nonimmigrants in the Non-Range 

Occupations in the United States, 88 FR 

12760 (Feb. 28, 2023), was approved by 

the Attorney General in consultation 

with the Secretary of Labor and the 

Secretary of Agriculture. 8 U.S.C. 1188, 

Statutory Note.2 With respect to the 

Final Rule, prior to its issuance in 

October 2022, the Final Rule was 

provided to the Departments of 

Homeland Security and Agriculture 

through the interagency review process 

prescribed by Executive Order 12866. 

On November 7, 2024, the Secretary of 

Homeland Security, in consultation 

with the Secretary of Labor and 

Secretary of Agriculture, approved the 

Final Rule. 

To resolve any possible uncertainty 

with respect to the Final Rule, the 

Department, through its Assistant 

Secretary for Employment and Training 

and its Administrator of the Wage and 

Hour Division, is ratifying the Final 

Rule. Under established case law, an 

agency may, through ratification, 

‘‘purge[ ] any residual taint or prejudice 

left over from’’ a potential defect in a 

prior governmental action.3 The 

Department is issuing this ratification 

out of an abundance of caution, and this 

ratification is not a statement that the 

Final Rule is invalid absent this 

ratification. 

II. Ratification 

By virtue of the authority vested in 

the Secretary of Labor by law, including 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 7 / Monday, January 13, 2025 / Rules and Regulations 2611 

1The Improvements Act amended the Federal 

Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990. 

See Public Law 101–410 (codified at 28 U.S.C. 2461 

note). 

2Under the Improvements Act, Federal agencies 

were required to adjust their civil monetary 

penalties for inflation with an initial ‘‘catch-up’’ 

adjustment through an interim final rulemaking in 

2016 and must make subsequent inflation 

adjustments not later than January 15 annually, 

beginning in 2017. Public Law 114–74, sec. 

701(b)(1). 

by the Immigration and Nationality Act 

of 1952, as amended, 8 U.S.C. 1101 et 

seq. (‘‘INA’’), and as delegated to the 

Assistant Secretary for Employment and 

Training, 75 FR 66268, and the 

Administrator of the Wage and Hour 

Division, 75 FR 55352, we are affirming 

and ratifying a prior action by Martin J. 

Walsh, Secretary of Labor. On October 

12, 2022, the Employment and Training 

Administration and the Wage and Hour 

Division published in the FR the Final 

Rule codifying amendments to the 

Department’s regulations regarding the 

certification of temporary employment 

of nonimmigrant workers employed in 

temporary or seasonal agricultural 

employment and the enforcement of the 

obligations applicable to employers of 

such nonimmigrant workers. 87 FR 

61660 (Oct. 12, 2022). 

The Final Rule was signed by 

Secretary Walsh. We have full and 

complete knowledge of the Final Rule 

action taken by former Secretary Walsh. 

Subsequent to the Secretary of 

Homeland Security’s documented 

approval of the Final Rule dated 

November 7, 2024, in consultation with 

the Secretary of Labor and Secretary of 

Agriculture, and out of an abundance of 

caution and to avoid any doubt as to its 

validity, we have independently 

evaluated the Final Rule and the basis 

for adopting it. We have determined that 

the amendments to the regulations in 

the Final Rule are consistent with the 

Secretary of Labor’s statutory 

responsibility to certify that there are 

insufficient able, willing, and qualified 

U.S. workers available to perform the 

needed work and that the employment 

of H–2A workers will not adversely 

affect the wages and working conditions 

of workers in the United States similarly 

employed. We have also determined 

that the changes adopted in the Final 

Rule strike an appropriate balance 

between the statute’s competing goals of 

providing employers with an adequate 

supply of legal agricultural labor and 

protecting the wages of workers in the 

United States similarly employed by 

strengthening protections for workers, 

modernizing and simplifying the H–2A 

application and temporary labor 

certification process, and easing 

regulatory burdens on employers. We 

also agree with the Department’s 

certification that the Final Rule does not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

See 87 FR 61660, 61787. 

Therefore, pursuant to our authorities 

as the Assistant Secretary for 

Employment and Training and the 

Administrator of the Wage and Hour 

Division, and based on our independent 

review of the action and the reasons for 

taking it, we hereby affirm and ratify the 

Final Rule, as of January 7, 2025, 

including all regulatory analysis 

certifications contained therein. This 

action is taken without prejudice to any 

right to litigate the validity of the Final 

Rule as approved and published on 

October 12, 2022. Nothing in this action 

is intended to suggest any legal defect 

or infirmity in the approval or 

publication of the Final Rule. 

Jose ́ Javier Rodrı ́guez, 

Assistant Secretary, Employment and 

Training Administration, Labor. 

Jessica Looman, 

Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, 

Labor. 

[FR Doc. 2025–00526 Filed 1–8–25; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4510–FP–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 

30 CFR Parts 550 and 553 

[Docket ID: BOEM–2025–0001] 

RIN 1010–AE22 

2025 Civil Penalties Inflation 

Adjustments for Oil, Gas, and Sulfur 

Operations in the Outer Continental 

Shelf 

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management, Interior. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This final rule implements 

the 2025 inflation adjustments to the 

maximum daily civil monetary penalties 

in the Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management’s (BOEM) regulations for 

violations of the Outer Continental Shelf 

Lands Act (OCSLA) and the Oil 

Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). These 

inflation adjustments are made pursuant 

to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation 

Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 

2015 (Improvements Act) and Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

memorandum M–25–02. The 2025 

adjustment multiplier of 1.02598 

accounts for 1 year of inflation from 

October 2023 through October 2024. 

DATES: This rule is effective on January 

13, 2025. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Questions regarding the inflation 

adjustment methodology or amount 

should be directed to Jayson Pollock, 

Economics Division, BOEM, at 

jayson.pollock@boem.gov or at (703) 

787–1537. Questions regarding the 

timing of this adjustment or the 

applicability of the regulations should 

be directed to Karen Thundiyil, 

Director, Office of Regulatory Affairs, 

BOEM at karen.thundiyil@boem.gov or 

at (202) 742–0970. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Legal Authority 

II. Background and Purpose 

III. Calculation of the 2025 Adjustments 

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews 

A. Statutes 

1. National Environmental Policy Act 

2. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

3. Paperwork Reduction Act 

4. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

5. Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act 

6. Congressional Review Act 

B. Executive Orders (E.O.) 

1. Governmental Actions and Interference 

With Constitutionally Protected Property 

Rights (E.O. 12630) 

2. Regulatory Planning and Review (E.O. 

12866); Modernizing Regulatory Review 

(E.O. 14094); Improving Regulation and 

Regulatory Review (E.O. 13563) 

3. Civil Justice Reform (E.O. 12988) 

4. Federalism (E.O. 13132) 

5. Consultation and Coordination With 

Indian Tribal Governments (E.O. 13175) 

6. Actions Concerning Regulations That 

Significantly Affect Energy Supply, 

Distribution, or Use (E.O. 13211) 

I. Legal Authority 

OCSLA authorizes the Secretary of the 

Interior (the Secretary) to impose a daily 

civil monetary penalty for a violation of 

OCSLA or its implementing regulations, 

leases, permits, or orders. It also directs 

the Secretary to adjust the maximum 

penalty at least every 3 years to reflect 

any inflation increase in the Consumer 

Price Index. 43 U.S.C. 1350(b)(1). 

Similarly, OPA authorizes civil 

monetary penalties for failure to comply 

with OPA’s financial responsibility 

provisions or its implementing 

regulations. 33 U.S.C. 2716a(a). OPA 

does not include a maximum daily civil 

penalty inflation adjustment provision, 

but such adjustment is authorized by 

the Improvements Act. See 28 U.S.C. 

2461 note. 

The Improvements Act 1 requires that 

Federal agencies publish inflation 

adjustments to their civil monetary 

penalties in the Federal Register not 

later than January 15 annually.2 The 

purposes of these inflation adjustments 

are to maintain the deterrent effect of 

civil penalties and to further the policy 


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