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MRGDC | Workforce Programs | Rapid Response for Dislocated Workers

Program Description

The Dislocated Worker Unit (DWU) receives notices of plant closures and mass layoffs, including those covered under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). When the DWU obtains information about a major layoff, it can respond with on-site services to assist workers facing job losses. Rapid Response provides early intervention assistance designed to transition workers to their next employment as soon as possible.

Program Eligibility

Rapid Response services are available in layoffs which involve fifty (50) or more workers and plant closings or mass layoffs which affect fewer than fifty (50) employees, but occur in a business or industry which forms the economic base of a small community (population 50,000 or less). Workers affected by layoffs of under 50 individuals which do not receive Rapid Response services through the State, may access WIA services directly through their local Workforce Development Board.

Core Services Available

Rapid Response provides the following services in an abbreviated format:

Job Search Assistance may include accessing community resources, job application and resume preparation, assessing accomplishments and skills, resume development lab, interviewing skills, effective interviewing techniques, practice interviewing lab and coping with job loss.
Labor Market Information will be furnished to all registrants, including Emerging and Demand Occupations. Job Postings will also be made available through multi-media and technology.
Group Stress Management Seminars shall be made available on a regular and/or as needed basis. The focus of these seminars will be to develop strategies for managing the stress associated with job loss, its impact on the family unit and on maintaining community relationships.
Group Financial Management Seminars primarily focus on assisting affected workers in developing financial planning skills in order to maintain household and consumer finances. A specific focus will be on negotiating manageable payment schedules with mortgage, finance and various lending institutions.

Service Delivery Structure

Texas is divided into 28 Workforce Development Areas. Rapid Response is administered at the State level, but operated at the local level. Persons seeking services should contact their local Workforce Center. Rapid Response services offered to any company and its employees are tailored, based on the needs of the affected employees.

WIA offers unique programs for persons who have lost their jobs in mass layoffs or plant closings, or who have been laid off and are unlikely to return to their jobs.

The regular Dislocated Worker program under WIA offers employment and training programs for eligible workers who are unemployed due to no fault of their own or have received official notice of a layoff. This program allows for individualized re-employment services.

Rapid Response is a program which provides short-term, early intervention and immediate assistance with layoffs and/or plant closures affecting 50 or more workers.

For more information visit the US DOL Employment and Training Administration (www.doleta.gov), the Economic Dislocation and Worker Adjustment Assistance Act (EDWAA) site and for assistance with long-term in depth services contact your local Workforce Development Boards.

Other programs and forms available to dislocated workers:

Assistance for Workers Affected by Base Closures and Realignments
NAFTA-Trade Adjustment Assistance and Trade Adjustment Assistance
U.S. Department of Labor Petition Forms for Assistance
Unemployment Insurance Claims Information

Dislocated Worker Unit:

1-888-JOBS-4-TX or 1-888-562-7489

101 East 15th Street, Room 202T

Austin, Texas 78778-0001