Code of Maine Rules › 12 - DEPARTMENT OF LABOR › 597 - BUREAU OF EMPLOYMENT SERVICES › Chapter 1 - RULES GOVERNING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM › Section 597-1-1 - DEFINITIONS

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
1. For the purposes of the Trade Adjustment
				Assistance program, the following definitions apply:
A.
Adequate Financial Resources
means the financial capacity of an individual to support himself or herself
				while in training and if the approved training will continue beyond the
				exhaustion of all monetary allowances payable under the Trade Act
				Program.
B.
Adversely
				affected incumbent
worker means a worker who is a member of a group of
				workers who have been certified as eligible to apply for TAA based upon a TAA
				petition filed on or after May 18, 2009, who has not been totally or partially
				separated from adversely affected employment, and who is threatened with total
				or partial separation as documented by a notice of termination or layoff or
				other reliable documentation of the threat of total or partial
				separation.
C.
Average Weekly
				Wage
means one-thirteenth of the total wages paid to an individual in
				the individual's high quarter. The high quarter for an individual is the
				quarter in which the total wages paid to the individual were highest among the
				first four of the last five completed calendar quarters preceding the
				individual's appropriate week.
D.
Certification
means a certification of eligibility to apply for
				TAA issued under the Trade Act with respect to a specified group of workers of
				a firm or appropriate subdivision of a firm.
E.
Commuting Area
means the area
				in which an individual would be expected to travel to and from work on a daily
				basis as determined under the applicable state law. Commuting area is defined
				as a 50-mile radius from the trade affected individual's place of residence.
				This definition does not apply to transportation payments.
F.
Customized Training
means
				training that is
(1) designed to meet the
				special requirements of an employer or group of employers;
(2) conducted with a commitment by the
				employer or group of employers to employ an individual upon successful
				completion of the training; and
(3) for which the employer pays for a
				significant portion (but in no case less than 50 percent) of the cost of such
				training.
G.
Individual Services Strategy
means an ongoing strategy jointly
				developed by the individual and the CareerCenter Case Manager that identifies
				the individual's employment goals, the appropriate achievement objectives, and
				the appropriate combination of services for the individual to achieve the
				employment goals.
H.
Reasonable Expectation of Employment
means that, given the job
				market conditions expected to exist at the time of the completion of the
				training program, there is, fairly and objectively considered, a reasonable
				expectation that the individual will find a job, using the skills and education
				acquired while in training, after completion of the training.
I.
Suitable Employment
means
				work of substantially equal or higher skill level than the individual's past
				adversely affected employment, and wages for such work at not less that 80
				percent of the individual's average weekly wage. Suitable work does not in any
				case include self-employment .
J.
Supportive Services
include school supplies, mileage assistance,
				subsistence payments, and training costs which are necessary to complete
				training and required of all students enrolled in a training program such as
				tools, medical insurance, immunizations, physicals and uniforms.
Services such as childcare, car repairs, car insurance, car
				  registration, eyeglasses and eye exams, housing maintenance, food, clothing,
				  dental assistance and state licensing are not funded under the Trade Adjustment
				  Assistance program. These may be supported through other community resources or
				  federal grants.
K.
Training-Related Costs
includes tuition, books, tools, academic
				fees, travel or transportation expenses and subsistence expenses. All other
				expenses to be included in this must meet the following criteria:
(1) The item must be necessary for the
				trainee to undertake and complete the program under consideration;
				and
(2) The item must be required
				for all students to participate in the proposed program.
L.
Unforeseen Need
means a
				circumstance that is beyond the individual's or training provider's control
				that prevents the completion of the Individual Service Strategy. Such
				circumstances include, but are not limited to, the closing of a training
				facility or the individual's inability to complete training due to physical or
				mental capabilities unknown at the time of plan development.
M.
Wages
means all compensation
				for employment for an employer, including commissions, bonuses, and the cash
				value of all compensation in a medium other than cash (including health
				benefits and retirement benefits).