The federal government provides additional services to workers whose jobs are lost due to foreign trade or shifts in production out of the United States. While not all job loss due to foreign competition meets the requirements of the Trade Act, the Rapid Response team will work with your company to provide information on Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and the benefits you can receive if your company is certified as trade-affected. Your company, the Rapid Response team, or the workers themselves can file a trade petition with the United States Department of Labor.

TAA and its benefits are provided at no cost to you as an employer and allow your workers to access an even wider array of services than they would otherwise be eligible for. Ask your Rapid Response contact for more information on TAA and the petition process.

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.

The first step to receiving TAA benefits and services is to file a petition online or by mail with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Petitions are available online, by downloadable form (available in English and Spanish), or may be obtained from a local Kentucky Career Center.
A Petition may be filed by:

• A group of three or more workers
• A certified union official or representative
• An official of the employer/firm
• A One-Stop agency or partner agency
• A State dislocated worker TAA unit staff

Filing a petition is typically done in conjunction with immediate rapid response and basic adjustment services to workers. Rapid re-employment is the goal.

After the investigation, which may take up to 40 days to complete, DOL determines group eligibility to apply for TAA benefits and services. Workers in a certified group will be notified by a Kentucky Career Center, at which time they may apply for individual eligibility for benefits and services.

Based on individual eligibility, members of a certified Trade petition may receive one or more of the following re-employment Trade services available at any Kentucky Career Center:

• Job Search Assistance
• Employment Counseling
• Case Assessment
• Job Development
• Supportive Services
• Self-Directed Job Search Services
• Job Search allowances
• Relocation allowances
• Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) funded training.
• Bi-weekly Trade Readjustment Allowances (TRA) for eligible workers who have exhausted all rights to their Unemployment Compensation benefits
• Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC)
• Re-employment Trade Adjustment Assistance (RTAA)
• On-the-job training (OJT)

Training (TAA)

TAA training helps trade-impacted workers obtain the skills necessary to gain suitable employment. TAA will pay 100 percent of tuition, course fees, books and required supplies and equipment and other items or services deemed necessary for the completion of an approved occupational skills training program.

Trade Readjustment Allowance (TRA)

Trade Readjustment Allowance (TRA) is a weekly income support payment that is available to trade-impacted workers who are enrolled in a full-time, TAA-approved training program or who have received a Waiver of Training and are actively seeking employment.

The amount of money participants receive through TRA is generally the same as the unemployment insurance benefits they previously received. In this way, TRA benefits act like an extended income support after a participant has exhausted their unemployment benefits.

Reemployment Trade Adjustment Assistance provides a wage supplement for up to two (2) years for trade-impacted workers who are 50 or over and for whom retraining may not be appropriate. RTAA can provide up to 50 percent of the difference between a participant's former trade-impacted wages and their re-employed annual wages of $50,000 or less.

RTAA recipients are eligible for the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) and relocation allowances.

For additional information, please contact
Roanna Kirk - Reemployment/Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance Specialist
Phone: 502-564-7456 , E-mail: Roanna.Kirk@ky.gov