Trade Adjustment Assistance
Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) helps trade-affected workers who have lost
their jobs as a result of increased imports or shifts in production out of the
United States. TAA program services and benefits are provided to help
eligible workers get back to work. To obtain TAA reemployment services and
benefits, the group of workers must first file a petition with the U.S.
Department of Labor's Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance (DTAA) requesting
certification as workers adversely affected by foreign trade. If the
petition is certified, each worker in the group must then apply for individual
services and benefits through their local One-Stop Career Center to determine
individual eligibility for reemployment services and benefits.
A petition may be filed by a
group of three or more workers, by a company official, by One-Stop operators or
partners (including state employment security agencies and dislocated worker
units), or by a union or other duly authorized representative of such workers.
The workers on whose behalf a petition is filed must be, or have been, employed
at the firm or subdivision identified on the petition. Worker's employment
must be, or have been, related to the production of articles (products)
described in the petition.
Trade Adjustment Petition Process
1. A group of three
or more workers, a company official, a union or other dually authorized
representative, or a One-Stop operator can file a petition with the U.S.
Department of Labor's Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance (DTAA) and
the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Coordinator of Dislocated Worker Unit of
the state in which the employer is located.
2. After
investigating the petition, which can take typically 40 days, DTAA certifies or
denies eligibility to apply for TAA services and benefits and notifies
petitioners and a company official.
3.Workers must be
enrolled in training 8 weeks after certification of 16 weeks after their last
qualifying separation to receive TRA benefits or a waiver of training enrollment
must be granted by the state.
Based on individual
eligibility, members of a Trade petition certified worker group may receive one
or more of the following Reemployment Trade Services available at Kentucky Area
Career Centers:
-
Job Search
Registration
-
Employment
Counseling
-
Case Assessment
-
Job Development
-
Supportive Services
-
Self-Directed Job
Search Services
-
Job Search
Allowances: for costs of job search outside the local area (anything over 100
miles one way), reimbursement of 90% of the cost up to a maximum of $1,250.00.
-
Relocation
Allowances: for costs of relocating to a job outside of the local area (anything
over 100 miles one way). Three estimates are required from commercial
carriers for household moving expenses.
-
Trade Readjustment
Allowance (TRA): Up to 104* weeks of cash payments for eligible workers enrolled
in full-time training.
-
Basic or remedial
education (including literacy training and English as a Second Language) up to
26 additional weeks are available to workers who require remedial training.
-
Training Services:
Up to 104* weeks of approved training, including: Classroom training
-
Employer-base
training
* Workers must be
enrolled in training 8 weeks after certification or 16 weeks after separation to
receive or to be eligible for TRA benefits, HCTC, or a waiver issued by OET of
training enrollment must be granted by the state.
Trade Adjustment Assistance - Health
Care Tax Credit (HCTC)
Health Care Tax
Credit assistance is available for Trade eligible individuals, who are of a
Trade petition certified worker group:
Kentucky's 'Health Insurance Assistance' program
The
Kentucky Department for Workforce Investment received a federal
grant to make the continuation of healthcare affordable for more
workers certified under the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)
program.
-
It
will pay 65 percent of the cost of qualified health insurance
coverage for up to three months. The program will help to "bridge
the gap" until the individual can complete the registration for
the primary healthcare assistance (HCTC) that is administered by
the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
-
Anthem
Blue Cross Blue Shield is offering Anthem Individual Blue Access
TAA. Call (888) 482-6847.
-
The
registration form for both the Kentucky Health Insurance
Assistance program and the IRS tax credit is available at the
Office of Employment and Training
One-Stop Career Centers.
-
Kentucky's Health
Insurance Assistance program and the IRS tax credit can be used to
pay for other types of automatically qualified insurance including
coverage under a COBRA continuation provision, a spouse's
employer-sponsored plan, an individual's health insurance plan and
state continuation coverage.
Trade Adjustment Assistance -
Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance (ATAA)
ATAA is designed to
allow TAA eligible workers for whom retraining may not be appropriate and who
find reemployment to receive a wage subsidy when there is a salary gap between
their old and new employment. These claimants are eligible for the Health
Coverage Tax Credit and Relocation Allowance, in addition to the ATAA allowance.
Alternative Trade
Adjustment Assistance (ATAA) Certification Criteria:
-
Eligibility: To
receive ATAA benefits, workers must be eligible for TAA under an ATAA certified
petition
-
A significant number
of adversely affected workers in the petitioning workers' firm are 50 years of
age or older.
-
The adversely
affected workers in the petitioning workers' firm possess job skills that are
not easily transferable to other employment: and
-
The competitive
conditions within the affected workers' industry are adverse.
Alternative Trade
Adjustment Assistance (ATAA) Certification Individual's Criteria:
-
Be at least age 50
at time of employment.
-
Obtain full time
reemployment (as determined by the employer) by the last day of the 26th week
after the worker's qualifying separation from the TAA/ATAA certified employment.
-
Must not be expected
to earn more than $50,000 annually in gross wages (excluding overtime pay) from
the reemployment.
-
Cannot return to
work to the employment from which the worker was separated. Thus, the
worker cannot return to the same division/facility that he/she was separated
from nor can the worker do the same or similar work for the employer that he/she
was separated from in another division/facility.
-
Some restrictions may apply - for
further important information on anything concerning ATAA, please visit your
local Career Center.
-
Application Process: Workers who
seek the benefits and services available under the ATAA program must file a
regular TAA petition and indicate on the form that the worker group request
consideration for eligibility under the ATAA program.
Are you considering
a Layoff or Downsizing? The Office of Employment and Training's Division
of Workforce and Employment Services Rapid Response Team is a free onsite early
intervention service offered to businesses and workers affected by layoffs and
plant closings.
Trade Act
Programs Contact Information
Division of
Trade Adjustment Assistance:
United States Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance
Room C-5311
200 Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20210
Phone: 202-693-3560
Fax: 202-693-3584 or 3585
Web:
http://www.doleta.gov/tradeact
Local One
Stop Career Center
To find the
nearest One-Stop Career Center, State TAA Coordinator, and Dislocated Workers
Units, call 1-877-US2-JOBS, 1-877-889-5627 (TYY), or visit the America's Service
Locator
Website at http://www.servicelocator.org
|
