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For Workforce Professionals

Helping Job Seekers with Layoff

Workforce Investment Act (WIA)

• Information on the Workforce Investment Act (DWD).
• WIA Workforce Programs Guide

Trade Programs

• Trade Act Programs: Resource Room (DOL)
• Trade Act Fact Sheet (DOL)
• Trade Act Programs: Key Terms Defined (DOL)
• Trade Act Directives (Federal)
• Petition
• Determination

The new Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Manual is now available on-line. (Adobe PDF file, May, 2005)

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) has a practical guide to help with filing successful petitions. "Getting Certified for Trade Adjustment Assistance: A Guide for Unions, Workforce Agencies, and Community Groups" is available at no cost. This manual begins by discussing the basics of getting certified for TAA. A detailed overview of the legal requirements for TAA certification follows. It includes a review of a sample TAA petition and supporting materials. Throughout the manual are practical tips based upon the experience of NELP that will help you get favorable TAA certification decisions from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Financial Education 

Below are several resources for helping people cope with job loss and personal finances. These resources that are free and downloadable.

• UW Extension Publications, Family Finance and Consumer Issues has numerous articles on coping with stress, job loss, personal finances and managing your limited resources.
• Bankrate.com provides free, objective information on many financial topics. See How to Survive a Lost Job.
• MSN Money is another free site with information on many topics including personal finances and job loss. See A Survival Guide for the Unemployed and 5 ways the tax code can help you in a layoff.
• Working for America Unemployment Help. Whether unemployment results from layoff, plant closure, illness, injury or termination, it means a drop in income that can make life difficult and change the way we live. This web site provides good strategies, tips, techniques and tools to help you survive a layoff.  Sponsored by the AFL-CIO. Also see Help for Working Families.
• The Employee Benefits Guidebook can help employees better understand pay and employer sponsored benefits. The charts at the end will help the employee appropriately value the benefits offered by an employer. This publication is sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and is available en Español

Tools from the Career OneStop

• Career OneStop Coach will walk you step-by-step through the tools and features available from the Career OneStop website.
• Employability Check Up  provides workers with a snapshot of their ability to find a similar job at a similar wage if they became unemployed today.
• Skills Profiler is a tool to help customers identify their employment skills. The Skills Profiler contains three tools: the Skills Identifier, Skills Explorer, and Skills Gap Analyzer. 
• Resume Tutorial Help clients create a great resumes using this instruction guide.  It is a tutorial in how to write resumes and not a resume writing software.
• Employer Locator  lets customers search a database of nearly 12 million employers to find company contact information and maps to potential employers.  You can search by  industry, occupation, and company name within geographic areas. 
• Career Tools is a full list of customer tools available from the Career OneStop.

Other Tools

• Wisconsin Job Center Publications. This resource has online versions of Job Seeking pamphlets. See specifically Adjusting to Unemployment.

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Helping Employers Manage Layoff

WIA

• Information on the Workforce Investment Act from DWD.

Legal

• Wisconsin's Business Closing (Plant Closing) and Mass Layoff Law  
• Federal Business Closing Notification Law: Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act Guide to Advance Notice of Closings and Layoffs
• E-Laws Advisor
• The U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. provides information on Pension and Health Care Coverage for Dislocated Workers

Tools

• Career One Stop Coach will walk you step-by-step through the tools and features available from the Career OneStop website.
• The Business Center from Career OneStop has links to many important topics.

Other 

• Workforce Adjustment Committees have proven to be an effective tool in managing a layoff event. The Dislocated Worker Unit may be able to provide financial or technical assistance to employers to establish a Workforce Adjustment Committee.

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TAA Petition

Trade Act Programs: Petitions  A  petition must be completed at the time of the layoff or business closing. Petitions can be filed by the affected business, a group of affected workers, or an organization representing the affected workers. In order for any of the workers in the petitioning worker group to be eligible for ATAA, a request for ATAA consideration must be filed at the same time as the TAA petition is filed.

 

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Trade Act Determinations

The DOL Trade Act Programs: Petition Determinations can be searched by petition number, state, company name, or SIC number for the decision regarding the petition. This covers both TAA and NAFTA TAA determinations.

TRA Certified Employers for Wisconsin are listed on a DWD UI web page for their staff.  This page also provides contact information on UI staff involved with TRA.

Helping farmers and other self-employed workers

Self-employed individuals (including farmers or other small business owners) who are unemployed as a result of economic conditions in their area may qualify as a dislocated worker.  Wisconsin Job Centers also provide services to assist with finding employment. See the Employer and Job Seeker pages for more details.

Farmers affected by foreign competition may qualify for Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture's Wisconsin Farm Center provides services to Wisconsin farmers and agribusinesses to promote the vitality of the state's agricultural economy and rural communities. These include Financial Counseling and Advising and Farm Mediation  They have a Farm Center Helpline at 1-800-942-2474. Services are confidential and free.

For more information on rural assistance, see Rural Development Online from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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Contacts

Wisconsin

Ron Danowski
Division of Workforce Solutions
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development
201 E. Washington Avenue
Madison, WI 53707-1784
608-266-7406
Fax: 608-267-2392
Email: ron.danowski@dwd.state.wi.us 

National 

A list of State Dislocated Worker Unit Coordinators

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Other Web Resources

• DWS Employer Services web pages (for staff on the ExtraNet use http://workweb.dwd.state.wi.us/dws/employer_services)
• Workforce Programs Guide
• www.wisconsinjobcenter.org
• Career OneStop
• Guides and Tools for Workforce Professionals  
• Layoff: Workforce Development Professionals is a U.S. Department of Labor page on Dislocated Worker Programs.
• Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor
• Working for America. AFL-CIO site promoting "high road" solutions to workforce and business development.
• Upper Midwest Pension Rights Project. UMPRP offers free legal assistance in the form of pension counseling, pension claims assistance, and advocacy for pension participants.

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Updated February 14, 2008
Content Contact: Dislocated Worker Unit

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