Overview of the Department of Labor Standards—Division of Apprentice Standards

This section describes the makeup and responsibilities of the Department of Labor Standards—Division of Apprentice Standards.

Overview

The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) was established by Section 1 of Chapter 23 of the Massachusetts General Laws. According to its website, the agency aims to “ensure that workers, employers, and the unemployed have the tools and training needed to succeed in the Massachusetts economy.” EOLWD has five divisions: the Department of Unemployment Assistance, the Department of Career Services, the Department of Industrial Accidents, the Department of Labor Relations, and the Department of Labor Standards (DLS). The Division of Apprentice Standards (DAS) is a division within DLS.

According to Section 26.02 of Title 454 of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations, a registered apprentice program is “a plan registered with [DAS] containing all terms and conditions for the qualification, recruitment, selection, employment and training of apprentices” as required by state and federal regulations. The National Apprenticeship Act of 1937 created registered apprentice programs¹ for workers primarily in the manufacturing, construction, and utility industries and later expanded to include police officers, firefighters, and other health and safety workers. In June 2017, the “Presidential Executive Order Expanding Apprenticeships in America” called for the promotion of apprentice programs in several critical industries, including manufacturing, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and healthcare. The Office of Apprenticeship within the US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration administers the program. States can choose whether to participate in the federal apprentice program or administer their own apprentice programs, which must comply with the federal standards. Massachusetts is one of the 25 states that have chosen to administer their own programs; it does so through DAS.

DAS

DAS employs seven staff members to administer the state’s apprentice program: a deputy director, two project coordinators, two compliance officers, one office support specialist, and one administrative assistant. The director of DLS oversees the operation of DAS.

DAS’s duties include providing guidance and support to sponsors² to operate their apprentice programs, monitoring sponsors to ensure that they provide apprentices with the training and on-the-job experience needed to be successful in their fields, ensuring that there is an active agreement for each apprentice involved in an apprentice program, ensuring that sponsors with five or more apprentices have active affirmative action programs (AAPs),³ and promoting the apprentice program to industries that have not traditionally offered apprenticeships.

Apprenticeship Guidance

DAS is responsible for staying current on new apprenticeship guidance from the federal government and understanding how it affects sponsors’ apprentice programs. DAS is also responsible for providing support to sponsors and helping them update their apprentice programs based on the new guidance. DAS also responds to information requests from apprentices and from sponsors seeking clarity on issues such as how best to administer a program.

Sponsor Oversight

DAS monitors sponsors in two phases. When a new sponsor establishes an apprentice program, DAS enters the sponsor in its Access database and collects the annual $300 sponsor application fee. The sponsor then begins a one-year probationary period as a provisional sponsor. At the end of that period, DAS performs a quality assurance assessment (QAA) to ensure that (1) the apprentice program was administered according to regulations and (2) the sponsor has at least one active apprentice. After a provisional sponsor has passed the QAA and achieved “permanent sponsor” status, DAS is responsible for performing a QAA of the sponsor and its administration of its apprentice program no less than once every five years.

Apprentice Agreement Management

DAS ensures that every apprentice in a sponsor’s apprentice program has a signed apprentice agreement on file and is entered in DAS’s database. The apprentice agreement should incorporate all the terms and conditions required by federal and state regulations. DAS also ensures that all apprentices have paid their annual $35 fees for their apprentice identification cards, which they are required to carry when working.

AAP Compliance

Each sponsor with five or more apprentices in its program is required by state and federal law to develop an AAP. The controlling document of the program is the affirmative action plan. Each plan must include statistical analysis comparing the composition of the sponsor’s apprentice workforce with the population of the county where the sponsor is located. Using federal census data and DAS technical assistance as needed, each sponsor must perform a workforce analysis that determines whether its apprentice workforce employs a lower percentage of members of any specific minority population than the county in which it operates. If the percentage of any specific minority in the sponsor’s apprentice workforce is lower than the percentage in the county’s overall workforce, the sponsor must prepare an affirmative action plan to address the underrepresentation by hiring a minority from the underrepresented group. DAS is responsible for performing a review of each sponsor’s affirmative action plan at least once every five years. In addition, DAS conducts equal employment opportunity compliance reviews, which DAS calls maintenance reviews, annually to monitor each sponsor’s efforts to correct the underrepresentation identified in the affirmative action plan.

Apprentice Program Promotion

Traditionally, apprentice programs have been strong in trade industries such as electrical work and plumbing. In recent years, apprenticeship proponents have worked to expand programs into industries that have not traditionally offered apprenticeships, such as healthcare. DAS has received grant funds to create a position to focus on expanding into these industries and others that may benefit from having apprentice programs.

1.    The National Apprenticeship Act of 1937, also known as the Fitzgerald Act, established a registered apprentice system to provide protections for both the apprentice and the sponsor to ensure that basic standards and requirements of the apprentice programs are met. In 1941, the Massachusetts Legislature established the state’s apprentice training program.

2.    According to Section 11H of Chapter 23 of the General Laws, an apprentice program sponsor is “a person, association, committee, organization, corporation, partnership, trust or other entity operating an apprentice program and in whose name the program is registered with [DAS].”

3.    Section 30.4 of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations requires sponsors to design AAPs to “ensure equal opportunity and prevent discrimination in apprenticeship programs.”

Date published:	August 15, 2019