(a) The purpose of these guidelines is to provide information concerning the Department of Labor's administrative procedures in processing applications for assistance under the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, as amended (hereinafter "the Act").

(b) Section 13(c) of the Act reads as follows:

It shall be a condition of any assistance under section 3 of this Act that fair and equitable arrangements are made, as determined by the Secretary of Labor, to protect the interests of employees affected by such assistance. Such protective arrangements shall include, without being limited to, such provisions as may be necessary for (1) the preservation of rights, privileges, and benefits (including continuation of pension rights and benefits) under existing collective bargaining agreements or otherwise; (2) the continuation of collective bargaining rights; (3) the protection of individual employees against a worsening of their positions with respect to their employment; (4) assurances of employment to employees of acquired mass transportation systems and priority of reemployment of employees terminated or laid off; and (5) paid training or retraining programs. Such arrangements shall include provisions protecting individual employees against a worsening of their positions with respect to their employment which shall in no event provide benefits less than those established pursuant to section 5(2)(f) of the Act of February 4, 1887 (24 Stat. 379), as amended. The contract for the granting of any such assistance shall specify

the terms and conditions of the protective arrangements.

§ 215.2 General.

Upon receipt of copies of applications for Federal assistance subject to section 13(c), together with a request for the certification of employee protective arrangements from the Department of Transportation, the Department of Labor will process those applications, which may be in either preliminary or final form. To facilitate review, the section of the application dealing with labor and relocation should estimate the effects on mass transportation employees of urban mass transportation carriers of the contemplated Federal assistance including possible impact of the assistance upon existing collective bargaining agreements, employment rights, privileges and benefits (including pensions) and the continuation of collective bargaining rights. The application should identify the labor organization, if any, representing employees of urban mass transit carriers in the area of the proposed project and describe what steps, if any, have been taken to develop the required employee protections.

§ 215.3 Employees represented by a labor organization.

(a)(1) If affected employees are represented by a labor organization it is expected that protective arrangements shall be the product of negotiation, pursuant to these guidelines.

(2) In instances where states or political subdivisions are subject to legal restrictions on bargaining with employee organizations, the Department of Labor will utilize special procedures to satisfy the Federal statute in a manner which does not contravene state or local law. For example, employee protective terms and conditions, acceptable to both employee and applicant representatives, may be incorporated into a resolution adopted by the involved local government.

(b) Upon receipt of an application involving affected employees represented by a labor organization, the Department of Labor will refer a copy of the application to that organization and notify the applicant of referral.

(c) Following referral and notification under paragraph (b) of this section, and subject to the exceptions defined in §§ 215.5 and 215.6, parties will be expected to engage in good faith efforts to reach mutually acceptable protective arrangements through negotiation.

(d) As part of the Department of Labor's review of an application, a time schedule for case processing will be established by the Department of Labor where appropriate. Absent special circumstances, the time schedule will be established in cases where funding approval is anticipated and will, to the extent possible, conform to the Department of Transportation's projected time frame for funding. In situations where no action on a project by a specific time is predictable by the Department of Transportation, it is expected that no time schedule will be set by the Department of Labor. Any time schedule established by the Department of Labor will be specified in its referral letters under § 215.3(b) or subsequent written communications to the parties. The parties are thereby placed on notice of the Department's target date for the certification of the project. It is expected that negotiations will be pursued expeditiously and in good faith. The Secretary will monitor progress of negotiations and in cases where negotiations break down or irreconcilable issues are present, the Department will incorporate into the time schedule dates by which the Secretary will take alternative action.

(e) The Secretary of Labor will review negotiated protective arrangements. If an arrangement meets the requirements of section 13(c), the Secretary will so certify to the Urban Mass Transportation Administrator. If the arrangement is not in conformity with the provisions of section 13(c), the Secretary may grant parties additional time to negotiate a satisfactory agreement, or he may set forth the provisions of the protective arrangement himself.

(f) If during the processing of an application the Secretary finds that the parties are unable to reach agreement, he will review the positions of the parties to determine appropriate action. Such action may include the Secre

tary's determination of the terms and conditions upon which he will base his certification or his refusal to certify for specified reasons.

§ 215.4 Employees not represented by a labor organization.

(a) The certification made by the Secretary will afford the same level of protection to those employees who are not represented by labor organizations.

(b) If there is no labor organization representing employees, the Secretary will set forth the protective terms and conditions in his letter of certification.

§ 215.5 Processing of amendatory applications.

When an application is supplemental to or revises or amends in immaterial respects an application for which the Department of Labor has already certified that fair and equitable arrangements have been made to protect the interests of mass transit employees affected by the subject project, and absent unusual circumstances, the Department of Labor will on its own initiative apply to the supplemental or other amendatory application the same terms and conditions as were certified for the subject project as originally constituted. The Department of Labor's processing of these applications will be expedited.

§ 215.6 Recurring Operating Grants and the Model Agreement.

(a) In instances where the Department of Labor receives general purposes operating assistance grant applications and the parties have previously endorsed the Model 13(c) agreement (referred to also as the "National Agreement"), the Department will serve notice to the subject parties that it will certify the project on the basis of the Model Agreement unless informed within two weeks from the issuance of our letter of notice that special circumstances are presented by the project which require changes in the Model Agreement or supplemental arrangements as applied to the particular project involved. In the event the Secretary determines that changes in the Model Agreement or supple