Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) provides benefits to workers who lose
their jobs, or whose hours of work and wages are reduced as a result of
increased imports, or whose jobs were exported offshore (“trade-affected
workers”). The TAA benefits include a variety of reemployment services designed
to help trade-affected workers prepare for and obtain suitable employment.
Workers may be eligible for training, a job search allowance, a relocation
allowance, health coverage tax credit, re-employment trade adjustment assistance
(“wage insurance”), and other reemployment services. Additionally, weekly
Trade
Readjustment Allowances (TRA) may be payable to eligible workers following the
exhaustion of unemployment benefits. Usually, TRA will be paid only to
individuals enrolled in TAA-approved training.
The TAA Program is administered by the Employment and Training Administration
of the U.S. Department of Labor. The States serve as agents to the Labor
Department in administering the TAA program. The eligibility process is
initiated by the filing of a petition for determination that the company’s lay
offs were trade-affected. Once the investigation is concluded granting
certification of the company, each individual worker must also apply for
eligibility.
A petition must be filed both with the Office of the
Colorado TAA Coordinator and the Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance to
establish group eligibility to apply for TAA.
A petition should be filed if your employer is a
private company or public
agency that:
has shifted or will shift production or service operations to a
foreign country
will import products made in a foreign country, or is already
doing so
has acquired or will acquire services from a foreign country that are
like or competitive with services previously or currently provided by a public
agency
is losing, or has lost sales to customers importing products or
services from another country
is losing or has lost business as a supplier,
finisher, or assembler of products or components for a company that is already
certified as trade-affected
Petitions may be filed by a company
representative, a group of three or more workers, or a union official or other
duly authorized worker representative. A TAA Counselor at a Colorado Workforce
Center can also assist you to file a petition and/or file it on the
trade-affected workers’ behalf.
If you are
unable to download a petition, you can get a copy at a Colorado Workforce
Center, or contact the Colorado TAA Coordinator’s Office by phone or e-mail.
U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training
Administration
Office of Adult Services
Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance
200 Constitution Ave., N.W. , Room C-5311
Washington, D.C. 20210
Phone #: (202)
693-3564
OTAA
Fax #: (202) 693-3584 or (202) 693-3585
Main OTAA Phone #: (202)
693-3560
File the petition via FAX to:
Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance:
(202)693-3584 or (202)693-3585, and
Colorado TAA Coordinator: (303)318-8932 or
attached to an eMail message to: taa.web@state.co.us
If sending the petition via
eMail, write TAA Petition on the subject Line. Upon receiving a petition, the
Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance (OTAA) initiates an investigation to
determine whether foreign trade activity, including increased imports and shift
of production to a foreign country, contributed significantly to decreased sales
to worker separations in a particular company. If foreign trade is found to have
contributed to layoffs by your employer, the OTAA certifies the affected group
of workers as “eligible to apply for TAA.” The certification will contain an
"Impact Date", which may be up to one year prior to the date of the
certification. Workers who are separated on or after the impact date and who are
covered by a certification are eligible to apply for TAA benefits. The period of
the certification is 2 years from the date the layoff was certified. Workers who
are separated within the period of certification are eligible to apply for
individual TAA benefits.
Once the layoff has been certified, you should
receive a letter from the Colorado TRA Coordinator. That letter will explain the
various TAA benefits and how to apply for them. Whether or not you receive a
letter, if you know your layoff is certified, contact the TAA counselor at your
local Colorado Workforce Center to request a determination of your individual
eligibility for Trade Readjustment Allowances (TRA) and for Trade Adjustment
Assistance (TAA) benefits. Your TAA counselor will submit your request for you.
If you have received notice of your layoff date, you can request an
eligibility determination prior to your actual last day of work. You will
receive a "Determination of Entitlement to Trade Adjustment Assistance/Trade
Readjustment Allowance" by mail. Once you have received your determination,
contact your local Colorado Workforce Center and make
an appointment with a TAA Counselor who will help you determine what TAA
re-employment services you may need. To be eligible for TAA benefits and
reemployment services, you must:
be laid off or have received notice of the date you will be laid
off, or
had your wages and work hours reduced to part-time:
To be considered part-time employed:
your hours of work must be reduced to less than 80 percent of your
average weekly hours, and
your wages must be reduced to less than 80 percent of your
average weekly wage.
To be eligible for TRA, you must have worked at least 26
weeks at your certified employer during the year prior to your separation. Even
if you are not eligible to receive TRA, if you have a qualifying separation, you
may be eligible to apply for other TAA Benefits.
The TAA Program is governed by two different laws. The differences between
them include which types of businesses can be certified and what benefits
affected workers are eligible to receive. Your TAA eligibility will be under the
Trade Act of 2002 or the Trade Act of 2009; not both. Ask your TAA Counselor
which law applies to you.
If your TAA Counselor cannot locate suitable employment for you,
retraining to acquire marketable skills may be an option.
On-the-Job training
(OJT) is approvable if the training meets certain guidelines. Your TAA Counselor
will assist you. For as long as the training continues, the TAA Program will
reimburse your OJT employer up to 50% of your basic starting full time wage.
This may help you get the job over other candidates. The Program will purchase
tools and uniforms for you, if the OJT employer doesn’t usually furnish these
items. Tools purchased by the Program remain the property of the Division of
Employment and Training until your OJT is completed. Then, ownership will be
transferred to you. The maximum duration of OJT is
104 weeks.
If you choose
VOCATIONAL TRAINING, your training must lead to a specific
vocational/educational goal (certification, degree, etc.). This means the
training must prepare you to do the work you want to do. If approved, the total
cost of your training (including tuition, fees, required books and tools, and
necessary supplies) will be assumed by the TAA Program.
Vocational training can
be approved for up to 156 weeks
of "in-classroom" time. The number of "calendar weeks" may be greater,
since breaks in training are not counted. Your TAA Counselor will
explain.
You may choose to train part-time, although you will qualify for
TRA
Weekly Benefits only if you are in training full-time. Your TAA Counselor will
explain.
The cost of your training includes commuting costs for the portion of
travel that exceeds 50 miles.
from your home to your training provider. Although you may choose any school, only the
cost of the training offered by the least expensive training provider will be
approved. This is important to know, because training can only be approved if
none of the costs will be paid from personal funds, including student loans.
Your TAA Counselor will explain.
The TAA Program will reimburse your
travel expenses to
attend a scheduled, verified interview with an employer if you must travel over
50 miles to the interview. Reimbursable costs include transportation, plus food
and lodging.
You may receive allowance for more than one trip; however the
total reimbursement for all trips will not exceed
$1500.00.
You must apply for
your allowance before you leave for your interview, and within
365 days of your
separation (or the date your employer was certified, if later), or within
182
days of the date you completed TAA-approved training.
The employment for which
you interview must be in the United States.
If you accept employment located 50 or more miles from your current residence,
the TAA Program will reimburse the cost to relocate your family and your
household, to a new residence closer to your job (within the United States).
Reimbursement can include the cost of hiring a commercial moving contractor, the
cost of travel for you and your family to your new home (including meals and
lodging along the way), and temporary storage of your household goods, if
necessary.
In addition, you will receive a lump sum allowance of 3 times your
weekly salary up to a maximum of $1,500.00.
You must apply for relocation
allowance prior to your move, and within
425 days of your separation (or the
date of the TAA certification, if later), or within
182 days of the date your
completed TAA-approved training.
You must complete your move within
182 days
of the date you applied for relocation allowance. Reimbursement will be paid
when your move is complete.
Your move will be approved if your counselor
determines there is no suitable work for you in your home area and:
you have
obtained suitable work of long-term duration or a bona fide offer of such work
in the area to which you will move
you have not have previously received a
relocation allowance under the same
certification
you are totally separated
from employment at the time of relocation
TRA, a weekly allowance payable after exhaustion of
unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, is
100% of the weekly benefit amount for
the Unemployment Insurance (UI) claim that covers your separation from
trade-affected employment. Your TRA will also be reduced by any earnings or
other income you receive in the same way that your weekly unemployment benefits
would have been reduced. To qualify for TRA you must:
be covered by a
certification.
be laid off due to lack of work in adversely affected
employment or received notice of your layoff date.
be laid off from that employment (or have received notice of your
layoff date) on or after the impact date and
before the ending date of the certification.
have worked at least 26 weeks at
wages of $30 or more per week in adversely affected employment with a single
firm or subdivision in the 52-week period ending with the week of separation.
(Up to 7 weeks of non-work for specified reasons and up to 26 weeks or workers’
compensation may be counted toward the 26 weeks.)
have been entitled to and
have exhausted all rights to unemployment insurance benefits.
be enrolled in approved training program:
by the last day of the 26th week of your most
recent qualifying separation or, if later,
by the last day of the 26th week
after the date that your employer was certified.
In some cases, the
training requirement can be waived. Your TAA Counselor will explain. If you do
not qualify for TRA, you may still be eligible for reemployment services,
including training, job search allowance and relocation allowance if you have a qualifying separation from adversely affected employment
and have met certain timelines. Your TAA Counselor will explain.
If you elected to purchase health insurance
on you own after losing your employer-paid coverage, you may use the HCTC to
cover a substantial portion of your monthly health insurance premiums, or if you
choose to pay your entire premium you may claim the HCTC benefit as a credit on
your income tax return. For more information:
go online to www.irs.gov and
enter “HCTC” in the search bar; or
click here to view the explanation of HCTC benefits; or
call HCTC
toll free at 1-866-628-4282. TTY/TDD callers call 1-866-626-4282.
RTAA is a partial
replacement of wages an eligible worker lost as the result of accepting
employment paying less than the worker’s trade-affected employment.
You must
establish individual eligibility:
You must be at least 50 years of age when
you became reemployed.
You must be employed within the RTAA eligibility
period. If you did not receive TRA, this is the 2-year period following the date
you started your new job, or, if earlier the date you exhausted UI. Ask your TAA
Counselor for details.
Your new job must meet certain criteria:
Your new wage
must be less than your last wage in trade-affected employment.
You must be
expected to earn no more than $55,000 in your first year of employment.
Your
new job must not be with your trade-affected employer.
You must be employed
full time (unless you are enrolled in TAA-approved training. Your TAA Counselor
will explain).
RTAA supplemental payments equal half the difference between your
old trade-affected wage and your new wage. Those payments will continue until:
You have received your maximum RTAA benefit, or
Your RTAA eligibility has
expired, or
It is determined you are expected to earn over
$55,000 per year
in regular pay, or
You become unemployed.
You can receive HCTC while you are
collecting RTAA, but not TRA (though you can have received TRA prior to starting
your new job. Your TAA Counselor will explain).
Your TAA Counselor will assist you in applying for RTAA.
