The purpose of this Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) is to provide guidance for the use of WIA Youth-funded activities in PY 2012.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announces the release and availability of a report titled An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States.

To announce the release and availability of a new Employment and Training Administration (ETA) research report entitled:  Evaluation of the Re-Integration of Ex-Offenders (RExO) Program:  Interim Report.

To transmit revised WOTC forms and instructions, which were updated to reflect the amendments and new provisions in the VOW Act and other legislative changes to the WOTC program.

To provide guidance to grantees, and particularly State Dislocated Worker Units, on the applicability of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, 29 U.S.C., 2101-2109, to layoffs that may occur among Federal contractors, including in the defense industry, as a result of the sequestration mandated by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (BBEDCA), as amended by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), 2 U.S.C. 901a(7)(A) and (8).

a. To provide preliminary FY 2013 dollar and staff year base resource planning targets for UI operations to be used in planning and developing State Quality Service Plans (SQSP); b. To provide general guidelines for FY 2013 resource planning; and c. To explain how base resources were allocated among states.

To transmit instructions for implementing the revised TAPR in accordance with reporting guidelines required by the enactment of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act of 2011 (TAAEA) (P.L. 112-40) and the Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) to Hire Heroes Act of 2011(P.L. 112-56).  This guidance also updates Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 6-09, Change 1, issued February 7, 2012, by:   

• describing the non-substantive changes that have been approved since its issuance;
• replacing TEGL No. 6-09, Change 1, Attachment A:  2012 Data Preparation and Reporting Handbook, including Appendix:  Trade Activity Participant Report, with TEGL No.6-09, Change 2, Attachment A:  2013 Data Preparation and Reporting Handbook and Attachment B:  Data Preparation and Reporting Handbook Appendix:  Trade Activity Participant Report; and
• making available an updated table of data validation edit checks to correspond with modifications and data element additions to the TAPR, as Attachment C to this TEGL.

To provide additional guidance to states on the requirements for approval of demonstration projects under Section 2102 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Act; Pub. L. 112-96).

To transmit the subject computation for State Workforce Agency usage in computing minimum weekly DUA amounts for all major disasters declared during the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2012.

To provide State Workforce Agencies or agencies designated by Governors as “Cooperating State Agencies” (CSAs) (also jointly referred to as “states”) with the formula methodology used in developing the FY 2012 Second Distribution of TAA program funds to states, which follows the FY 2012 Initial Allocation of funds, and to describe the process for states to use to request TAA program reserve funds for Training, Employment and Case Management Services, Job Search Allowances, and Relocation Allowances, including the State Administration of these benefits.

To transmit procedures to be used by all ETA grant recipients for reporting allegations of fraud, program abuse or criminal conduct involving grantees or other entities and subrecipients receiving Federal funds either directly or indirectly from ETA.

To initiate the process, provide supplemental instructions, and define additional requirements for the FY 2013 SQSP.

To provide guidance to grantees on compliance with the requirements of handling and protecting PII in their grants.

To advise state workforce agencies of the Department of Labor’s (Department) interpretation of Section 303(a)(6) of the Social Security Act (SSA) and 20 CFR 603.5(i) as requiring states to disclose unemployment compensation (UC) information, including confidential wage and claim information, needed for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved evaluations of UC programs conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor.

To provide an updated directory of Federal civilian and military agencies that requested detailed UCFE or UCX benefit payment data, which support the U.S. Department of Labor’s (Department) quarterly unemployment compensation billings.

To provide resources from ETA investments related to green jobs. ETA strongly encourages workforce practitioners to review the grant products and research cited in this notice, which provide valuable information that can help inform the design and implementation of green training and employment programs.

To transmit corrections for the Services to Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Report, ETA Form 5148, and the One-Stop Career Center Complaint/Referral Record, ETA Form 8429.

To provide an overview of all of the provisions in Subtitle D of Title II of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 that concern short-time compensation or “worksharing” programs, and to provide guidance to the state agencies about the new definition of short-time compensation in Federal unemployment compensation law, the transition period for states currently administering a short-time compensation program, and 100% Federal reimbursement of certain state short-time compensation benefits.

To inform states of the guidelines for negotiating WIA Title 1B program performance and customer satisfaction goals and performance levels for Wagner-Peyser Act funded activities for PY 2012. These performance goals, once agreed upon between the State and the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), will be incorporated into the State’s Strategic Plan.

To announce availability of funds, in the amount of $60,000, to each state, the District of Columbia, U. S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico through the Wagner-Peyser Act state grants. Funds will be for the purposes of making the necessary adjustments to their management information systems to implement Sections 211, 238, 239 and 261 of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 (Title II of Pub. L. 112-56), as well as for collecting performance data related to the Veterans’ Gold Card Initiative. A Notice of Obligation (NOO) indicating the amount obligated to the state and the purpose of funding will be issued to expedite implementation.