Middle-Aged and Older Workers Full Employment Act

Middle-Aged and Older Workers Full Employment Act - Title I: Statement of Findings and Declaration of Purpose - States that middle-aged and older workers find themselves disadvantaged in their efforts to retain employment and to regain employment when displaced; that legislation supplementary to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act is needed to end age discrimination in employment and to provide employment opportunities; that millions of persons age 45 and over live in poverty; and that more than a million men between 55 and 64 have given up the active search for employment primarily because of loss of hope for employment.

Sets forth as the purpose of the Act the establishment and stimulation of programs which will: (1) afford the older worker a range of real and reasonable alternatives from among which he can make a free choice depending on his individual needs and capacities; (2) help clear the obstacles which confront the older jobseeker and eliminate arbitrary discriminatory practices which deny work to qualified persons solely on account of age; (3) increase the availability of jobs by finding new work opportunities, including part-time employment in needed community services to supplement income and to facilitate the transition to full retirement or the return to full-time work; (4) improve and extend existing programs intended to facilitate the matching of skills and jobs, and to cushion the impact of unemployment; (5) pave the way for older workers, employers, labor unions, and educational institutions to prepare for, and adjust to, anticipated changes in technology in jobs, in educational requirements, and in personnel practices, and to prepare for satisfying retirement; and (6) make maximum use of existing programs and agencies and provide the special efforts required to improve significantly the employment prospects of older workers.

Title II: Midcareer Development Service and Special Problems in the Department of Labor for Middle-Aged and Older Persons - Establishes in the Department of Labor the Midcareer Development Service. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor through the bureau to make loans and grants for job training to persons age 45 or older. Permits such grants or loans to include stipends for the living expenses of trainees and their dependents. Provides for direct application by the prospective trainee and authorizes the Secretary to enter into agreements to guarantee the loans of lending institutions.

Authorizes the Secretary of Labor, with the cooperation of the Secretary of Health,, Education, and Welfare, to develop and operate a program to train persons to train and retrain older workers. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to recruit and train personnel for a special unit to be made available, upon request, to provide recruitment placement, and counseling services in a locality where a substantial number of persons are unemployed as a result of mass layoffs. Directs the Secretary to establish and operate counseling services through the bureau. Authorizes the recruitment and necessary training of retired personnel directors. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study of federally assisted job training programs to determine whether they are responsive to the needs of persons age 45 or older and requires a report of such findings and recommendation to the President for transmittal to the Congress not later than July 1, 1974. Permits payments pursuant to a grant or loan to be made in installments and in advance or by way of reimbursement.

Title III: Work Opportunities and Community Service Programs - Directs the Secretary to review future Federal programs and identify those requiring significant numbers of employees. Permits the Secretary, for the purpose of effectuating the Act, to require contracting agencies to require all bidders to file a report of staffing patterns or other estimates of the kind and number of employees to be used. Authorizes the Secretary, upon finding that such a contractor may need additional workers, to make arrangements for training older persons for such employment. States that this provision shall not be construed to obligate any employer to hire individuals so trained.

Requires the Secretary to consult with and advise the heads of agencies responsible for programs under the Economic Opportunity Act for the purpose of maximizing employment opportunities for older persons. Authorizes the Secretary, through the Federal-State employment service, or with the advise and assistance of such service, to make grants or contracts with nonprofit volunteer agencies for services related to the part-time or temporary employment of older persons.

Authorizes the Secretary to foster and promote useful part-time community service work for older persons. Requires the Secretary to assist and cooperate with public and private agencies for such purpose. Authorizes agreements for the payment of up to 90 percent of the cost of a State or local program if he determines that: (1) only individuals aged fifty-five and over will provide services in the program (except for administrative purposes) and such services will be performed in the community where such individuals reside or in nearby communities either: (a) on publicly owned and operated facilities or projects; or (b) on local projects sponsored by private nonprofit organizations (other than political parties), other than projects involving the construction, operation, or maintenance of so much of any facility used or to be used for sectarian instruction or as a place for religious worship; (2) the program will permit or contribute to an undertaking or service in the public interest that would not otherwise be provided; (3) the program will not result in the displacement of employed workers or impair existing contracts for services; (4) the program will utilize methods of recruitment and selection which will assure the assignment of qualified persons; (5) the program includes short-term training; (6) any rates of pay and other conditions of service, which may be fixed by the sponsor of each individual project, will be appropriate and reasonable and will in no case be less than the Federal minimum wage; (7) the program is being established and will be carried out with the advice of competent persons; (8) the program shall assure that safe conditions of work will be provided; and (9) the program shall assure that adequate workmen's compensation is afforded under such a program, except where equivalent protection is afforded from collateral sources.

Requires the Secretary to obtain from State Employment Services: (1) recommendations concerning the localities in which community senior service programs are most needed; and (2) evaluation of the conformance of project sponsors with paragraphs 2 through 7 above. States that persons providing their services under a community service program shall not be Federal employees. Requires the Secretary to establish criteria to achieve an equal distribution of assistance to the States, but provides that no State shall receive more than 12 percent of the funds appropriated.

Title IV: Expanding Opportunities for Employment, Education, and Retirement - Authorizes the Secretary to conduct, through services and facilities within his authority and through grants to public or private non-profit organizations and contracts with nonprofit agencies or with individuals, research into the problems related to the employment and retirement of older persons.

Empowers the President to appoint a Commission on Lifelong Adult Education composed of twelve members appointed from outside the Government with a competency in the areas to be dealt with by the Commission. Requires the Commission to be broadly representative with not less than six members drawn equally from labor, management, and education.

Requires the Secretary to study the feasibility and advisability of a program of transitional allowances for unemployed workers between age 55 and 65 who have inadequate financial resources, have exhausted their unemployment compensation, and have no prospects of employment. Requires a report to the Congress and the President by February 1, 1973 on such program.

Title V: General - Sets forth administrative powers of the Secretary in carrying out his responsibilities under the Act. Authorizes the appropriation of necessary funds through fiscal year 1978 to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Title VI: Federal Employment Opportunities for Middle-Aged and Older Workers - Authorizes and directs the Civil Service Commission to undertake a study of part-time employment in the executive branch of the Government and to report its findings to Congress by July 1, 1974. Provides that such study shall determine the extent of such employment and the limitation thereon and the measures which may be taken to increase the number of part-time positions filled by older persons. Directs the Commission to study and report on the feasibility of redesigning positions with a view to increasing the number of positions available to older persons.

Directs the Commission to undertake special work and training programs to provide persons age 45 or older who are unemployed or in a low-income category with job opportunities in the executive branch of the Government.

Title VII: Sex Discrimination - Prohibits discrimination in programs or activities under the Act on the basis of sex. Provides non-exclusive remedies through provisions and rules similar to those already established with respect to other forms of discrimination under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.