Economic Dislocation and Worker Adjustment Assistance Act

(Reported to House from the Committee on Education and Labor with amendment, H. Rept. 100-285)

Economic Dislocation and Worker Adjustment Assistance Act - Title I: Worker Readjustment - Amends the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) to rename title III the Worker Readjustment Act.

Authorizes appropriations to carry out title III for FY 1988 and succeeding fiscal years. Makes 30 percent of such funds available to carry out parts B (Service Delivery System and Basic Program Requirements) and C (Basic Readjustment Services), 50 percent for part D (Worker Readjustment Training Program), and 20 percent for part E (Federal Readjustment Programs).

Sets forth definitions, including "eligible dislocated workers."

Sets forth part B provisions (Service Delivery System and Basic Program Requirements).

Requires each State Governor to enter into a worker readjustment agreement with the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) prior to each fiscal year in order to be allotted specified funds.

Requires each State Governor to establish a State worker readjustment council composed equally of representatives of: (1) labor; (2) management; and (3) public and private nonprofit organizations, agencies, or instrumentalities. Sets forth council responsibilities.

Requires State Governors, in order to obtain funds under title III, to submit to the Secretary annual plans for carrying out State responsibilities, with performance standards, specified assurances, and a description of methods to be meeting certain requirements.

Requires each State to designate an identifiable State dislocated worker unit or office with the capability to respond rapidly, on site, to mass dislocation events throughout the State to provide early readjustment assistance. Requires each State to ensure the capability to respond to dislocation events in sparsely populated areas. Requires such units or offices to include specialists responsible for: (1) establishing on-site contact with employer and employee representatives shortly after becoming aware of dislocation events; (2) promoting the formation of labor-management committees; (3) obtaining and disseminating information; and (4) providing or obtaining financial and technical advice and liaison with economic development agencies to avert worker dislocation.

Makes each State responsible for coordinating the unemployment compensation system and worker readjustment programs.

Requires Governors of States participating in certain programs to designate substate areas, after receiving recommendations from the State worker readjustment council. Requires each service delivery area (SDA) in a State to be included within a substate area. Prohibits dividing an SDA among two or more substate areas. Sets forth factors for consideration in designation of areas. Requires designation as a substate area for: (1) any single SDA with 200,000 or more population; (2) any two or more contiguous SDAs with an aggregate population of 200,000 or more, if they request the designation (which the Governor may deny under specified circumstances); and (3) any concentrated employment program grantee for a rural area described under specified provisions of JTPA.

Requires the designation of a substate grantee for each substate area in accordance with an agreement among the Governor, local elected officials, and private industry councils of the area. Directs the Governor to select the grantee if such an agreement is not reached. Sets forth entities eligible for such designation.

Requires each substate grantee to submit a substate plan for approval by the Governor, who shall consider the recommendations of the State worker readjustment council. Prescribes contents of such plans.

Provides that individual participation in any title III program shall be deemed to be acceptance of training with the approval of the State within the meaning of any other provision of Federal law relating to unemployment benefits.

Sets forth requirements for Basic Readjustment Services (BRS).

Directs the Secretary to allot certain funds among the States on the basis of the members of: (1) unemployed individuals; (2) unemployed individuals in excess of four and one-half percent of the civilian labor force; (3) individuals who have been unemployed for 15 weeks or more; and (4) as soon as satisfactory data are available, dislocated workers, as determined under mass layoff data and farmer-rancher dislocation data.

Authorizes the Governor to retain up to ten percent of the State allotment for State-level administration, staff for the State worker readjustment council, technical assistance, coordination of title III programs, and rapid response activities. Authorizes the Governor to retain up to an additional ten percent of the allotment for discretionary programs allowable for certain programs, including services and activities carried out by the State dislocated worker unit.

Directs the Governor to allocate the remainder of the State allotment to all substate areas for basic readjustment services on the basis of a formula prescribed by the Governor. Sets forth types of data which may be used in such formula.

Sets forth authorized basis readjustment services and activities.

Authorizes the substate grantee to provide appropriate supportive services to participants in BRS programs. Prohibits providing such participants with benefit payments under title III (although they may receive unemployment benefits), but allows BRS participants receiving retraining services to receive supportive services and benefits authorized under the Worker Readjustment Training Program.

Limits to 15 percent the portion of BRS expenditures which a substate grantee may make for, respectively, administrative costs and supportive services and benefits.

Authorizes the Secretary to reallot used BRS allotments. Authorizes Governors to reallocate BRS grants among substate grantees either through voluntary transfers or whenever minimum expenditure levels are not being achieved.

Sets forth part D provisions for a Worker Readjustment Training Program (WRTP).

Directs the Secretary to make WRTP allotments to States. Directs the Secretary to establish an annual availability target for each State equal to one and two-thirds times the amount of the State's BRS allotment. Provides for semiannual availability targets, reduction of targets based on actual expenditures, and requests for changes in targets. Provides for transfer of WRTP funds to BRS programs. Directs governors to establish procedures for making WRTP funds available to substate areas.

Limits to 15 percent the amount of WRTP funds which may be used for administrative costs. Limits to 30 percent the amount of WRTP funds which may be used for supportive services and benefits.

Authorizes the substate grantee to provide appropriate supportive services and benefits to WRTP participants. Provides for a weekly benefit for the period the participant is enrolled in retraining services after exhaustion of all unemployment compensation. Conditions eligibility for such weekly benefits upon enrollment in such retraining program by a certain time in the participant's regular unemployment compensation period. Provides for needs-based benefits for participants not receiving such weekly benefits.

Authorizes substate grantees to provide WRTP training services to eligible participants.

Prohibits funds under title III from being used to provide public service employment or work experience. Limits title III support of training programs for individuals to 104 weeks.

Provides that eligible readjustment training participants shall receive either retraining services or a certificate of continuing eligibility. Requires that, to the maximum extent feasible, training services be provided through systems of individual certificates that permit participants to seek out and arrange their own training.

Sets forth requirements for Federal Readjustment Programs (FRP).

Authorizes the Secretary to expend FRP funds for authorized activities and to make appropriate grants and contracts. Directs the Secretary to annually establish criteria for the application for and disbursement of such funds.

Authorizes use of FRP funds for BRS and WRTP services under the following circumstances: (1)) mass layoffs; (2) industry-wide projects; (3) multistate projects; (4) special projects with Indian tribal entities; (5) special projects to address national or regional concerns; (6) demonstration projects; and (7) emergency financial assistance to dislocated workers in a particular distressed industry or area.

Limits to five percent the amount of FRP funds which may be used for staff training and technical assistance.

Requires that FRP funds be used to provide training of staff, including specialists, providing rapid response services. Requires that such training include instruction in proven methods of promoting, establishing, and assisting labor-management committees.

Authorizes the Secretary to undertake special projects of national or regional concern, extend them over more than one year, and evaluate their effectiveness and impact.

Provides for a dislocated workers training loan demonstration program. Directs the Secretary to carry out such program in communities having the largest number of dislocated workers, and to give priority to communities with the highest concentrations of dislocated workers. Provides for such programs in not more than ten such communities.

Authorizes the Secretary to enter into agreements with State dislocated workers units or State or local public agencies or nonprofit private organizations to conduct such demonstration programs. Allows such agreements to provide for the establishment and maintenance of dislocated workers direct loan funds.

Provides that such loans, up to $5,000 per worker, may be used for: (1) vocational and and on-the-job training; (2) basic education and literacy instruction; (3) relocation expenses; and (4) child care services.

Requires the Secretary to provide for evaluation of the direct loan approach and to report to the Congress by October 1, 1989.

Provides for a public works employment demonstration program. Directs the Secretary to carry out such program in cities and counties: (1) which are geographically diverse; (2) which represent urban and rural areas; and (3) for which the unemployment rate for the last six months exceeded the national average by at least two percent. Provides for such programs in not more than ten cities or countries.

Makes an individual eligible to participate in such public works employment demonstration projects if the individual: (1) is an eligible dislocated worker who has been unemployed for at least 15 weeks; (2) has been unemployed or without steady employment for two years; or (3) is a recipient of aid to families with dependent children for at least two years. Requires each participant to be tested for basic reading and writing competence by the private industry council prior to employment by an assisted job project. Provides for counseling and instruction to be given to those who fail such tests. Requires each participant to have received a secondary school diploma or its equivalent, or maintain satisfactory progress toward such a diploma.

Requires the private industry council to select the job projects to be assisted. Limits such employment to 32 hours per week. Sets wages at the higher of: (1) the minimum wage; or (2) the amount received in welfare or unemployment compensation, plus ten percent.

Directs the private industry council for the area in which the demonstration is conducted to establish job clubs to assist eligible participants with the preparation of resumes, the development of interviewing techniques, and evaluation of individual job search activities.

Directs the private industry councils to select projects which are designed to develop marketable skills and show potential for assisting participants to find jobs in the private sector.

Directs the Secretary to evaluate such employment demonstration program and report to the Congress by October 1, 1989.

Provides for an agricultural worker demonstration program. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out such program by using certain reserved funds and by entering into contracts or agreements with States. Directs the Secretary to give priority to States most affected by adverse agricultural conditions. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into agreements with priority States for demonstrations of two or more years in duration.

Requires eligible States to submit plans describing how they will use program funds to meet the unique basic readjustment needs of eligible farmers, ranchers, farm workers, and other eligible individuals.

Includes among those who may be eligible to receive program services under the State plan: (1) individuals who can certify or demonstrate that the farm or ranch operations which provide their primary occupation have terminated or will terminate because of one or more specified circumstances; (2) individuals who may reasonably be expected to leave farming or ranching as their primary occupation because of an unfavorable debt to asset ratio; (3) individuals displaced from agriculture-related businesses and industries, including farm workers, who have been displaced or adversely affected by the declining agricultural economy; and (4) individuals and their immediate families who are attempting to continue farming or ranching, but whose ability to do so is threatened because of ranching, but whose ability to do so is threatened because of one or more specified factors.

Sets forth authorized activities and services under the agricultural worker demonstration program States that such services shall supplement other services and activities established to assist dislocated workers. Encourages States participating in this demonstration to provide a comprehensive set of services to eligible individuals at a single site.

Authorizes the Secretary to provide BRS-WRTP and FRP-type services. Requires proposals for such services to be submitted to the Secretary, who shall consult with the Governor of the affected State. Requires that multistate proposals be submitted by the Governor of one State, with the concurrence of the Governors of the other State.

Requires review of proposals for financial assistance by local private industry councils, with specified exceptions. Requires proposals intended to provide services to a substantial number of members of a labor organization to be submitted only after consultation with such labor organization.

Amends title V (Miscellaneous Provisions) of JTPA to authorize appropriations for FY 1988 and succeeding fiscal years for job bank systems in each State. Directs the Secretary to make such funds available to the U.S. Employment Service for systems designed to use computerized electronic data processing and telecommunications for job opening identification and referral, occupational supply and demand information, and career information.

Directs the Secretary to develop, in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture, statistical data relating to permanent dislocation of farmers and ranchers due to farm and ranch failures. Directs the Secretary to report annually: (1) comparing such data with that used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in determining annual employment and unemployment rates; (2) analyzing whether farmers and ranchers are being adequately counted in such employment statistics; and (3) analyzing alternative methods for reducing the adverse effects of farmer and rancher displacements on individuals and communities.

Directs the Secretary to conduct a study to identify the extent to which countries recognize and enforce, and the producers fail to comply with, internationally recognized worker rights. Requires a biennial report on such study to the Congress. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 and thereafter to the Secretary for entering into agreements with the private sector to monitor activities, studies, and information gathering to enable trade unions abroad to provide information and comments to international organizations and other bodies on their respective governments' compliance with internationally recognized worker rights.

Directs the National Commission for Employment Policy to conduct research related to the provisions of this title. Requires such research to include examinations of: ((1) the role of employment services in implementing programs to enhance services provided under this title; and (2) alternative techniques for managing production cutbacks without permanently reducing workforces. Requires a report on such research to be submitted to the Congress within 18 months after enactment of this Act.

Title II: Labor-Management Notification and Consultation - Sets forth provisions for labor-management notification and consultation in the event of plant closings and mass layoffs. Prohibits employers from ordering a plant closing or mass layoffs until the end of a specified period after the employer notifies: (1) the employees' representative or if none, each affected employee; and (2) the State dislocated workers unit and the chief elected official of the local government.

Prohibits an employer from ordering a plant closing or mass layoff unless the employer has met and consulted in good faith with representatives of the affected employees and the local government. Gives the employer the duty of disclosing relevant information during such consultation. Provides for protective orders to protect such information from disclosure to competitors.

Makes employers who fail to notify or consult with the affected employees or their representatives liable for back pay and the cost of related benefits. Makes employers who fail to notify the State dislocated worker unit or notify and consult with the local government liable for a specified amount for each day of the violation. Makes employees or representatives of affected employees or local governments liable for violations of protective orders for the amount of financial loss suffered by the employer.

Defines "employer" as any business enterprise in any State that employs: (1) 50 or more full-time employees; or (2) 50 or more employees who in the aggregate work at least 2,000 hours per week (exclusive of overtime). Defines "plant closing or mass layoff" as an employment loss for 50 or more full-time employees of an employer at any site during any 30-day period.

Expresses the sense of the Congress that employers who are not required to comply with such notice and consultation requirements should provide notice to, consult with, and disclose information to their employees about proposals to close a plant or permanently reduce its workforce.