County of Los Angeles, Service Delivery Area v. United States Department of Labor

This is a petition for review of an order of the Secretary of Labor (SoL) dismissing the Los Angeles Service Delivery Area’s (County) complaint and denying the County’s request to intervene as a matter of right in a state administrative proceeding.

We affirm the SoL’s decision in part. We agree that the County does not have a right to a hearing under 29 U.S.C. § 1576 (a). We have concluded, however, the SoL erred in ruling that the County, pursuant to 29 C.F.R. § 18.10 (b) (1988), did not have the right to intervene in the State’s Department of Labor (DoL) proceeding. We therefore remand the case to the SoL for further proceedings.

Background

The ease involves the results of an audit conducted by the State of California (State) regarding the use and expenditure by the County of funds administered under the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). See 29 U.S.C. §§ 1501-1781 . In 1984, the State conducted an audit of the County’s JTPA program. The audit covered the time period of October 1, 1983 through March 31, 1984. The State made findings in which it disallowed $3,130,502 in JTPA costs incurred by the County.

Pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1554 (a), the County requested a state hearing…