Some Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) are structured as group programs—meaning that the apprentices enrolled in their programs do not work for the sponsor, but instead work for companies that participate in the apprenticeship program. These participating employers are the apprentices’ employers of record and are responsible for the apprentices’ on-the-job training.

When participating employers begin their participation in a RAP and set up their relationship with the RAP sponsor, they enter into Employer Acceptance Agreements (EAAs) with the sponsor that places apprentices with them. The U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Apprenticeship (OA) provides an EAA template for the sponsor and participating employers to use. (Completed EAAs are appended to the sponsor’s Registered Apprenticeship Standards as Appendix E.)

Some group-program RAPs have found that the OA’s EAA template is not explicit enough in specifying what participating employers must do to fulfill their obligations under the Apprenticeship EEO regulations (29 CFR part 30). To fill this gap, JFF and Donna Lenhoff Associates are providing a version of the EAA template that contains additional provisions for RAP sponsors. These provisions supplement the OA template; they are not inconsistent with it in any way. The suggested additional terms are the ones highlighted in yellow below.

Please note that the suggested terms in this version of the EAA template have not been reviewed or approved by the OA.

The content in this document is up to date in accordance with federal regulations as of June 2022. The latest regulations can be found on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Equal Employment Opportunity in Registered Apprenticeship website.

This product has been funded, either wholly or in part, with Federal funds from the Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration under Contract number 1605C2-20-C-0007. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement of same by the U.S. Government.