Department of Labor Announces Plan to Rescind all IRAP's

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced plans to permanently rescind previous efforts to create Industry Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAPs) from all industries.

Introduced during the Trump administration, IRAPs were widely criticized by the labor community due to their lack of oversight. These “self-monitored” apprenticeship programs rely on employers or affiliated partners to train new workers without any government regulation or oversight.

Many feared these programs could lead to a permanent class of apprentices.

On Nov. 12, the DOL issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding IRAPS. The announcement stressed the DOL and the Biden administration are committed to registered apprenticeship programs, such as those supported for more than a century by building trades unions.

In the proposed rule, the DOL said it no longer, “considers it appropriate or necessary to create an additional apprenticeship model, particularly one that does not guarantee the same protections for apprentices.”

Registered Apprenticeship Programs were described by the DOL as, “a far more effective system than IRAPs.”

“The proposal is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s larger apprenticeship effort, including expanding and strengthening the proven registered apprenticeship model, investing in pipelines to these programs, and improving the quality of apprenticeship programs,” the release said.

As part of the process, the DOL will hold a public comment period on this proposed rulemaking to rescind IRAPs. Comments can be filed until Jan. 14, 2022.

After an aggressive lobbying campaign in opposition to IRAPs, the construction industry was permanently exempted from IRAPs on March 10, 2020. In a March 2020 ruling, the DOL recognized the quality of the already available construction industry apprenticeship model.

“The Department has determined that programs that seek to train apprentices to perform construction activities, as described in section 29.30, will not be recognized as IRAPs. This is because the construction sector is unique in that its registered apprenticeship programs materially outnumber programs in other sectors, are widespread and are well established and high quality.”

The decision to exempt the construction industry from IRAPs came after a comment period, where building trades unions from the International level down to numerous Local Unions encouraged members to submit a comment in support of the permanent exemption.