Veterans' Employment, Training, and Counseling Amendments of 1987

(Measure passed Senate, amended, in lieu of S. 999)

Veterans' Employment, Training, and Counseling Amendments of 1987 - Amends Federal veterans' employment and job training provisions to direct the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary), acting through the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans' Employment and Training (the ASVET), to: (1) carry out all programs under the Secretary's jurisdiction relating to the provision of employment and training services for disabled veterans, Vietnam veterans, and other eligible veterans and persons; (2) coordinate all such programs with programs and activities conducted by the Administrator of Veterans Affairs for the benefit of such veterans; (3) coordinate job placement activities with State and local employment officials; (4) make funds available in each State to support the efforts of disabled veterans' outreach program specialists (DVOPSs) and local veterans' employment specialists (LVERs), and to monitor the proper use of such funds; and (5) monitor the appointment of DVOPSs and the assignment of LVERs to ensure compliance with appropriate Federal law. Provides further conditions concerning the use of State funds for DVOPSs and LVERs. Requires the Secretary to assign to each region for which the Secretary operates a regional office a representative of the Veterans' Employment and Training Service to serve as the Regional Director for Veterans' Employment and Training.

Repeals specified provisions of current Federal law made inconsistent by the amendments made under this Act.

Provides that the total amount of funds to be provided to States for DVOPSs and LVERs shall be sufficient to support the assignment of 1,600 full-time LVERs and the State's administrative expenses associated with the assignment of such a number of LVERs to each State. Outlines further administrative provisions concerning the allocation of funds to each State in support of their assigned LVERs, and of the actual assignment of such LVERs within the State. Requires any eligible veterans and other persons desiring the services of LVERs to register with their local employment office. Requires LVERs to be veterans, with preference in assignment of LVERs given to disabled veterans.

Requires the Secretary to include in the Department of Labor's annual budget an estimate of the funding needed to support the LVERs as well as the proposed numbers, by States, of DVOPs and LVERs assigned in accordance with this Act. Directs the Secretary, no later than February 1 annually, to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the success during the preceding fiscal year of the Department of Labor and its affiliated State employment service agencies in carrying out the provisions of this Act regarding the provision of employment and training programs and services to meet the needs of veterans. Outlines other information to be included in such report, including the number of registered veterans and other eligible persons registering and participating in such program, and the number of such veterans and persons referred and placed in jobs and job training programs.

Directs the Secretary, after appropriate consultation, to prescribe and implement standards for the performance of DVOPSs and LVERs and monitor the activities of such specialists and representatives. Outlines appropriate measures to be included in such standards, including the extent to which DVOPSs facilitate the successful completion of training by veterans participating in job training programs under the Veterans' Job Training Act. Requires the State Directors and Assistant Directors for Veterans' Employment and Training to regularly monitor the performance of DVOPSs and LVERs under this Act, and to submit to the head of the appropriate State employment service recommendations and comments in connection with the annual performance ratings of DVOPSs and LVERs in the State.

Provides for the waiver of a State residency requirement for the position of State Director for Veterans' Employment and Training, in certain circumstances.

Directs the Secretary of Defense, in order to assist the Secretary of Labor and the Administrator of Veterans Affairs in identifying employers with potential job training opportunities under the Veterans' Job Training Act and other Federal provisions, to provide to the Secretary and the Administrator, no later than 30 days after the enactment of this Act, the then-current list of employers participating in the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, and, on the 15th day of each month, update the information provided on such list. Directs the Administrator to require each VA regional office to provide to appropriate employment services, on a monthly or more frequent basis, the name and address of each area employer that offers a program of job training approved by the Administrator under the Veterans' Job Training Act.

Requires the State Directors and Assistant Directors for Veterans' Employment and Training to supervise and monitor the provision of services to eligible veterans and other eligible persons by their State's public service employment systems and by other employment and training programs administered by the Secretary of Labor, other federally-funded programs, or by the State. Requires the Directors and Assistant Directors to conduct annual evaluations and make recommendations, as appropriate, concerning each employment office and services provided.

Revises certain responsibilities of DVOPSs under the Job Training Partnership Act and the Veterans' Job Training Act, in light of changes made under this Act.

Directs the Secretary, in order to provide training for the efficient and effective provision of employment, job training, placement, and related services to veterans, to establish and fund a National Veterans' Employment and Training Service Institute for the training of DVOPSs, LVERs, State Directors and Assistant Directors for Veterans' Employment and Training, and other appropriate personnel.

Directs the Secretary, through the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to conduct, on a biennial basis, studies of unemployment among special disabled veterans and among veterans who served in the Vietnam theater of operations, and promptly report to the Congress the results of such studies. Requires the first such study to be completed no later than July 1, 1988.

Adds to the membership of the Secretary of Labor's Committee on Veterans' Employment the representatives of the Secretary of Education and the Postmaster General.

Amends the Veterans' Job Training Act to expand the eligibility criteria for veterans participating in job training programs under such Act by eliminating the requirement that service must have been performed during the Korean Conflict or during the Vietnam era only, and by eliminating a period-of-unemployment requirement for veterans who are unemployed as a result of plant closings or major reductions in employment by an employer and who have no realistic opportunity for the same or similar employment in the same geographical area.

Requires the Administrator and the Secretary to jointly provide for a program under which a DVOPS is assigned as a case manager to each veteran participating in a job training program, the veteran has an in-person interview with the case manager no later than 60 days after entering into such a program, and periodic contact is maintained with each such veteran by his or her case manager. Requires the Administrator and the Secretary to jointly provide for: (1) a program of counseling services designed to resolve difficulties that may be encountered by veterans during their job training; and (2) a program of information services to provide information to the veteran participant relating to support services available to such veteran in counseling and career development. Waives the requirement of the assignment of a case manager for each veteran employee of an employer in certain instances. Requires a veteran who is unsuccessful in completing a job training program to be provided with appropriate vocational counseling by the Administrator before receiving a new certificate authorizing such veteran to participate in another job training program under the Veterans' Job Training Act (VJTA).

Provides that if the Secretary determines that the rates of veterans' successful completion of an employer's VJTA program are disproportionately low, then the Administrator must disapprove participation in the employer's job training programs of veterans who have not begun participation on the date that the employer is notified of the disapproval. Requires the employer to be given notice of the disapproval. Provides that such a disapproval shall remain in effect until such time as the Administrator determines that adequate remedial action has been taken by the employer to correct the situation. Provides that if the Administrator finds that actions taken by an employer, together with formula payments made to an employer for their participation in a VJTA program, are sufficient to ensure future avoidance of a disproportionately low rate, then the Administrator would be authorized to revoke the disapproval, conditioned upon the use of the payment formula for a period of time considered appropriate by the Administrator under the circumstances. Provides the payment formula to be used, which would vary depending upon the length of the job training program in question.

Amends the VJTA to extend the authorization of appropriations under such Act through FY 1989, and the availability of such authorized appropriations through FY 1991. Provides that any funds obligated for the purpose of making payments to employers under a VJTA program which are later deobligated would become immediately available to the Administrator for reobligation for VJTA payments, without the possibility of any officer or employee in the executive branch delaying the reobligation of such funds.

Postpones until June 30, 1989 (currently, July 2, 1987) the deadline for eligible veterans to apply for participation in a VJTA program, and postpones until December 31, 1989 (currently, January 2, 1988) the deadline for entering training under such a program.

Directs the Secretary, on a not less frequent than quarterly basis, to collect from State employment agencies and from the State Directors for Veterans' Employment and Training specified information concerning veterans receiving counseling under, participating in, completing, or failing to complete VJTA-sponsored job training programs.