Overview
As an employer, you can support your workers during tough times caused by business setbacks. These include downturns, closures, or shifts abroad. Simply file for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) with the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL).
You should file the petition within a year of the layoff. This ensures your workers are covered. However, you can also apply before a layoff, if one is threatened. Remember, the certification won't include any worker who left the job more than a year before the petition was filed.
Once your request is received, the USDOL will check if the situation meets the TAA's requirements.
Eligibility
The worker group must be negatively impacted by foreign trade in order to be eligible for TAA. Reasons may include:
Shift in the workers' firm to a foreign country in the production of items or the supply of services that are competitive with items produced by the United States firm.
Imports of items produced outside of the US that are competitive with items produced by the US firm. International Trade Commission (ITC) rulings on impacted industries.
The firm is a supplier or producer to a firm who has received a positive TAA certification.
USDOL may contact customers, suppliers, and others to check if certification criteria are met. After USDOL reviews a petition, it either certifies or denies the workers' group for TAA. If certified, workers can then apply for benefits and services through their local PA CareerLink®.
TAA petitions require the following petitioners:
-
A group of three or more workers
-
A company official
-
A union or authorized representative
-
An L&I representative
Pennsylvania's L&I Federal Programs Unit assists and manages all trade petitions. However, USDOL makes the final call on Trade eligibility.
Filing a petition
Trade Act petitions must be filed simultaneously with the U.S. Department of Labor and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.