Trade Act Programs: Employers
As an employer facing a layoff or plant closing, you can assist your workers with this process through a variety of reemployment services designed to ease the transition to a new job. If you qualify, you can petition for services for your workers through:
- Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)
- North American Free Trade Agreement--Transitional Adjustment Assistance (NAFTA-TAA)
- Secondary Workers
Submission of a petition is at no cost to an employer. To learn about the assistance that is available to help with the filing of petitions as well as loan information, visit the following web sites:
If you are an employer seeking qualified workers, you can utilize a local One-Stop or Employment Security office.
| Sixty days prior to a mass layoff or plant closure, most employers must provide notice of a layoff to workers or their representatives, the state dislocated worker unit, and the appropriate local entity. |
Your employees can qualify for assistance if you are forced to close your plant or layoff workers as a result of:
- International Trade
- Trade with, or shifts in production to, NAFTA countries (Mexico and/or Canada)
- Your company's suppliers/finishers were affected by trade with NAFTA countries
To learn more about the sixty day notification of a mass layoff, read the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which explains this policy. You may also access further information available to dislocated workers.