42 USC Sec. 3056 (1993)

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July 28, 2003 DOL Home > OALJ Home > Miscellaneous Collection

Older American Amendments of 1975 to the Older American Community Service Employment Act, 42 U.S.C.

§ 3056. Older American Community Service Employment Program

(a) Employment

In order to foster and promote useful part-time opportunities in community service activities for unemployed low-income persons who are fifty-five years old or older and who have poor employment prospects, the Secretary of Labor (hereinafter in this subchapter referred to as the `Secretary`) is authorized to establish an older American community service employment program.

(b) Authority of Secretary; execution of agreements with terms and conditions for furthering purposes and goals of program; regulations for execution of subchapter provisions; development of alternatives for innovative work modes; creation of job opportunities; Senior Environmental Employment Corps

(1) In order to carry out the provisions of this subchapter, the Secretary is authorized to enter into agreements with public or private nonprofit agencies or organizations, including national organizations, agencies of a State government or a political subdivision of a State (having elected or duly appointed governing officials), or a combination of such political subdivisions, or tribal organizations in order to further the purposes and goals of the program. Such agreements may include provisions for the payment of costs, as provided in subsection (c) of this section, of projects developed by such organizations and agencies in cooperation with the Secretary in order to make the program effective or to supplement the program. No payment shall be made by the Secretary toward the cost of any project established or administered by any such organization or agency unless the Secretary determines that such project -

(A) will provide employment only for eligible individuals, except for necessary technical, administrative, and supervisory personnel, but such personnel shall, to the fullest extent possible, be recruited from among eligible individuals;

(B) will provide employment for eligible individuals in the community in which such individuals reside, or in nearby communities;

(C) will employ eligible individuals in services related to publicly owned and operated facilities and projects, or projects sponsored by organizations, other than political parties, exempt from taxation under the provisions of section 501(c)(3) of title 26, except projects involving the construction, operation, or maintenance of any facility used or to be used as a place for sectarian religious instruction or worship;

(D) will contribute to the general welfare of the community;

(E) will provide employment for eligible individuals;

(F)(i) will result in an increase in employment opportunities over those opportunities which would otherwise be available, (ii) will not result in the displacement of currently employed workers (including partial displacement, such as a reduction in the hours of nonovertime work or wages or employment benefits), and (iii) will not impair existing contracts or result in the substitution of Federal funds for other funds in connection with work that would otherwise be performed;

(G) will not employ or continue to employ any eligible individual to perform work the same or substantially the same as that performed by any other person who is on layoff;

(H) will utilize methods of recruitment and selection (including listing of job vacancies with the employment agency operated by any State or political subdivision thereof) which will assure that the maximum number of eligible individuals will have an opportunity to participate in the project;

(I) will include such training as may be necessary to make the most effective use of the skills and talents of those individuals who are participating, and will provide for the payment of the reasonable expenses of individuals being trained, including a reasonable subsistence allowance;

(J) will assure that safe and healthy conditions of work will be provided, and will assure that individuals employed in community service jobs assisted under this subchapter shall be paid wages which shall not be lower than whichever is the highest of (i) the minimum wage which would be applicable to the employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), if section 6(a)(1) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)), applied to the participant and if the participant were not exempt under section 13 thereof (29 U.S.C. 213), (ii) the State or local minimum wage for the most nearly comparable covered employment, or (iii) the prevailing rates of pay for individuals employed in similar public occupations by the same employer;

(K) will be established or administered with the advice of persons competent in the field of service in which employment is being provided, and of persons who are knowledgeable with regard to the needs of older persons;

(L) will authorize pay for necessary transportation costs of eligible individuals which may be incurred in employment in any project funded under this subchapter, in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Secretary;

(M) will assure, that to the extent feasible, such project will serve the needs of minority, limited English-speaking, and Indian eligible individuals, and eligible individuals who have greatest economic need, at least in proportion to their numbers in the State and take into consideration their rates of poverty and unemployment;

(N)(i) will prepare an assessment of -

(I) the participants` skills and talents;

(II) their need for supportive services; and

(III) their physical capabilities; except to the extent such project has, for the particular participant involved, an assessment of such skills and talents, such need, or such capabilities prepared recently pursuant to another employment or training program (such as a program under the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) or the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act (20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.));

(ii) will provide to eligible individuals training and employment counseling based on strategies that identify appropriate employment objectives and the need for supportive services, developed as a result of the assessment provided for in clause (i); and

(iii) will provide counseling to participants on their progress in meeting such objectives and satisfying their need for supportive services;

(O) will authorize funds to be used, to the extent feasible, to include individuals participating in such project under any State unemployment insurance plan; and

(P) will post in such project workplace a notice, and will make available to each person associated with such project a written explanation, clarifying the law with respect to allowable and unallowable political activities under chapter 15 of title 5, applicable to the project and to each category of individuals associated with such project and containing the address and telephone number of the Inspector General of the Department of Labor, to whom questions regarding the application of such chapter may be addressed.

(2) The Secretary is authorized to establish, issue, and amend such regulations as may be necessary to effectively carry out the provisions of this subchapter.

(3) The Secretary shall develop alternatives for innovative work modes and provide technical assistance in creating job opportunities through work sharing and other experimental methods to prime sponsors, labor organizations, groups representing business and industry and workers as well as to individual employers, where appropriate.

(4) The Secretary may enter into an agreement with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a Senior Environmental Employment Corps.

(1) The Secretary is authorized to pay not to exceed 90 percent of the cost of any project which is the subject of an agreement entered into under subsection (b) of this section, except that the Secretary is authorized to pay all of the costs of any such project which is (A) an emergency or disaster project, or (B) a project located in an economically depressed area, as determined by the Secretary in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

(2) The non-Federal share shall be in cash or in kind. In determining the amount of the non-Federal share, the Secretary is authorized to attribute fair market value to services and facilities contributed from non-Federal sources.

(3) Of the amount for any project to be paid by the Secretary under this subsection, not more than 13.5 percent for fiscal year 1987 and each fiscal year thereafter shall be available for paying the costs of administration for such project, except that -

(A) whenever the Secretary determines that it is necessary to carry out the project assisted under this subchapter, based on information submitted by the public or private nonprofit agency or organization with which the Secretary has an agreement under subsection (b) of this section, the Secretary may increase the amount available for paying the cost of administration to an amount not more than 15 percent of the cost of such project; and

(B) whenever the public or private nonprofit agency or organization with which the Secretary has an agreement under subsection (b) of this section demonstrates to the Secretary that -

(i) major administrative cost increases are being incurred in necessary program components, including liability insurance, payments for workers` compensation, costs associated with achieving unsubsidized placement goals, and other operation requirements imposed by the Secretary;

(ii) the number of employment positions in the project or the number of minority eligible individuals participating in the project will decline if the amount available for paying the cost of administration is not increased; or

(iii) the size of the project is so small that the amount of administrative expenses incurred to carry out the project necessarily exceed 13.5 percent of the amount for such project; the Secretary shall increase the amount available for the fiscal year for paying the cost of administration to an amount not more than 15 percent of the cost of such project.

(d) Project and program distribution review; notice and opportunity for hearing

(1) Whenever a national organization or other program sponsor conducts a project within a planning and service area in a State such organization or program sponsor shall conduct such project in consultation with the area agency on aging of the planning and service area and shall submit to the State agency and the area agency on aging a description of such project to be conducted in the State, including the location of the project, 30 days prior to undertaking the project, for review and comment according to guidelines the Secretary shall issue to assure efficient and effective coordination of programs under this subchapter.

(2) The Secretary shall review on his own initiative or at the request of any public or private nonprofit agency or organization, or an agency of the State government, the distribution of programs under this title within the State including the distribution between urban and rural areas within the State. For each proposed reallocation of programs within a State, the Secretary shall give notice and opportunity for a hearing on the record by all interested individuals and make a written determination of his findings and decision.

(e) Second career training and job placement experimental projects; equitable geographic distribution; project criteria; evaluation of program; interim and final reports

(1) The Secretary, in addition to any other authority contained in this subchapter, shall conduct experimental projects designed to assure second career training and the placement of eligible individuals in employment opportunities with private business concerns. The Secretary shall enter into such agreements with States, public agencies, nonprofit private organizations and private business concerns as may be necessary to conduct the experimental projects authorized by this subsection. The Secretary, from amounts reserved under section 3056d(a)(2)(A) of this title in any fiscal year, may pay all of the costs of any agreements entered into under the provisions of this subsection. The Secretary shall, to the extent feasible, assure equitable geographic distribution of projects authorized by this subsection.

(2) The Secretary shall issue, and amend from time to time, criteria designed to assure that agreements entered into under paragraph (1) of this subsection -

(A) will involve different kinds of work modes, such as flex-time, job sharing, and other arrangements relating to reduced physical exertion;

(B) will emphasize projects involving second careers and job placement and give consideration to placement in growth industries and in jobs reflecting new technological skills; and

(C) require the coordination of projects carried out under such agreements, with the programs carried out under section 124 of the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1534).

(3)(A) The Secretary shall carry out an evaluation of the second career training and job placement projects authorized by this subsection.

(B) The evaluation shall include but not be limited to the projects described in paragraph (2).

(C) The Secretary shall prepare and submit, not later than one year after December 29, 1981, to the Congress an interim report describing the agreements entered into under paragraph (1) and the design for the evaluation required by this paragraph. The Secretary shall prepare and submit to the President and the Congress a final report on the evaluation required by this paragraph not later than February 1, 1984, together with his findings and such recommendations, including recommendations for additional legislation, as the Secretary deems appropriate.

(D) The Secretary shall make the final report submitted under subparagraph (C) available to interested private business concerns.

(4) For the purpose of this subsection, `eligible individual` means any individual who is 55 years of age or older and who has an income equal to or less than the intermediate level retired couples budget as determined annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.