Dislocated Worker & Federal Adult Programs

Program Performance

WIOA Adult:

Dislocated Worker:

Program Waiver Updates:

On June 15^th, 2020 the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Board (MJSP) approved the following waiver requests for State DW:

1. Waive DEED's requirement to obligate/expend 80% of their funds in the first year (PY19/SFY20).

MJSP:  Approved the request to waive 80% expenditure or obligation requirement temporarily (for PY19/SFY20).

• Beginning PY20/SFY21 - Local areas may carry-forward up to 100 percent of the funds awarded from Program Year (PY) 2020 into PY 2021.  However, at least 85 percent of the funds must be expended by December 31, 2020, or the excess unspent funds may be subject to recapture.
• Deed will closely monitor grant expenditure to ensure that funds are actively being expended each year.

Given this precedence and the unprecedented impact of COVID-19, we will be waiving this requirement for PY19 WIOA DW and WIOA Adult as well. If your PY19 funds for any of the 3 programs were not 80% expended or obligated by 6/30/2020, you do not have to submit a waiver request to carry forward the funds, as you may have had to do in the past. We ask that you continue to spend as much as possible in year 2 of PY19.

1. Waive the “Unlikely to return to previous occupation” eligibility criteria to allow more flexibility in those who would be eligible to apply. It’s unknown if previous occupations will be available post COVID-19

MJSP: Approved the waiver for PY19 and PY20.

• Given the uncertainty of the impact of COVID-19 on some occupations, waiving this requirement for State DW program provides flexibility and allows more customers to be served by the program.

MJSP Board Approve Additional Funding

At its June 15, 2020, Meeting, the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership (MJSP) Board approved a transfer of $5M from the Workforce Development Fund (reserve) to supplement the initial provider allocations. Recommendation included an increase of $3M for WDAs and $2M for SLIGs to ensure adequate resources are available to serve the anticipated increase in dislocated workers as a result of the unprecedented impact of COVID-19.

Performance Updates

Cases accessing Program Year (PY) 2018 Dislocated Worker (DW) and WIOA Adult (AD) Allocations

Reminder: PY2018 allocations will be expiring on June 30, 2020. All cases showing the following funding streams within an open activity will need your attention.

If the participant will continue receiving a service currently supported by PY2018 allocations after June 30, 2020, a new activity will need to be opened for each service the participant will continue.

Reminder: All Dislocated Worker and WIOA Adult program year formula allocations (small layoff grants/WIOA Adult allotments) remain active for two years.

• PY2018 = July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2020
• PY2019 = July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2021
• PY2020 = July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2022

This means, the new activity will need a PY2019 or PY2020 formula grant selected within them depending on your agencies budget.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO KNOW

• All activities with a PY2018 allocation selected within them cannot have a start date after June 30, 2020 and must have an end date no later than June 30, 2020.
• If any participant will continue participating in an activity that is currently showing a PY2018 allocation supporting that service, that activity needs to be copied within their activity detail screen.
• The new activity will need a start date of July 1, 2020
• An active funding source (PY2019 or PY2020) will need to be selected within them.
• To help in this funding source transition
• Amy Carlson will mass close all currently open PY2018 funded activities with an end date of June 30, 2020, which means you will only need to open/copy the old activities. If you want to close the old activities yourself, that is fine. If you choose not to close them yourself, it will be taken care of for you.
• This mass activity closure will begin August 1, 2020.
• If there are cases without other open activities on record showing a different funding source, this mass closure will not work for those cases. Any cases that show they cannot be included in the PY2018 funded activity closure will be emailed to the management team for the COFFR funding the case.
• Shortly after July 1, 2020, additional funding streams will be added to your dropdown lists for PY2020 allocations. The date these new funding streams will be available is dependent on when PY2020 contracts are in place. Your management teams will be alerted as soon as your agency’s PY2020 funding streams are available in WF1.

Guidance on specific scenarios after local area staff read June’s Partner Express article on the PY18 Closeout

Question: What if training was fully funded by the PY18 grant but the participant will continue attending that training after 06/30/2020?

                Answer: Make note of all cases that fall into this scenario.

• Copy all other activities that will be funded by a different grant after 06/30/2020. Do not copy the training activity since a different grant will not be supporting it after 06/30/2020
• Once the mass closure of PY18 activities is completed (by 08/15/2020), the assigned staff will need to go back into each of the cases with this scenario and remove the end date from the training activity by clicking “edit” next to that activity within the WF1 record
• The training activity will then be closed with the last date the participant attends that training

Question: Are we supposed to copy Employed, Pending Exit and Pending Exit, Other activities for the PY18 closure?

Answer: No, do not copy these activities because after the 90 days of no service exhausts (holding period these activities represent), the activity end date and exit date will be retroactive to the start date of this activity, which will be during the PY18 grant period.

Reminder, whenever these activities are open, no other activities should be open at the same time since these activities represent no services being provided. (Any open activities would contradict this since all other activities represent services being provided.) As long as there are no other open activities on the case, Amy Carlson will not be able to close out these activities. It is likely that after the mass closure, cases with these activities will be the spreadsheets emailed to local area management teams as cases where the mass closure could not close activities. (Hopefully, the only cases on those spreadsheets are ones with these activities)

Special situation if the participant returns for a service other than a follow-up service you will then need to update data entry like normal in order to capture the new last date of service…

• Close the Employed, Pending Exit activity with the date of 06/30/2020
• Open an activity that best represents the service provided to the participant when they returned with the date of 07/01/2020 and the funding source used to support that service
• Open a new Employed Pending Exit activity with whatever the new last date of service is and the funding stream that supported that last service
• Close the activity that represents the last service provided with the same date as the new Employed, Pending Exit activity
• Follow the normal exiting procedure after 90 days exhausts from the new last date of service

IMPORTANT DATE: Program Year 2019 Data Freeze Date is scheduled for July 10, 2020. Please have all your data entry up-to-date including all Measurable Skill Gains achieved by your participants during the timeframe of 07/01/2019 – 06/30/2020 entered into Workforce One no later than close of business 07/10/2020.

Should you have any performance or data entry questions, please contact the Dislocated Worker and WIOA Adult Performance Coordinator, Amy Carlson, at amy.carlson@state.mn.us.

Trade Adjustment Assistance

TAA 2020 Fall Roundtables

The TAA team will offer virtual Fall Roundtables this year instead of in-person training. Watch for a pre-event survey coming soon.

Response to TAA’s Outreach to Employers with Active TAA Petitions

TAA received a response from nearly 50% of the 60 employers we contacted with active TAA petitions (expiration dates of 3/1/20 or later) in early May to ask if they have recently laid off, furloughed, or reduced hours for any worker groups covered by the company’s TAA petition. As of June 22, we’ve mailed eligibility letters to 318 people in Minnesota to notify them of their TAA benefits.

Training Applications with Fall Start Dates

July and August are two of the busiest months for TAA staff because of the State fiscal year change on July 1, and because of so many students starting training Fall term. Please remember to submit applications as soon as possible, and at least two weeks before the training start date. We will do our best to review applications that come in with less time than that, but cannot guarantee approval. Please send applications (with waivers, if applicable) as soon as they’re completed.

Computer and Tool Requests

TAA staff will order computers up to two weeks ahead of the customer’s training start date, and we’ll order tools up to four weeks ahead of the training start date. In order for TAA to fulfill accurate and timely requests for computers, please use the updated high technology request form https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/dislocated-worker/counselors/forms/

For tools, please ensure the student submits detailed specifications on the list of required tools. TAA’s preferences are: 1) order tools directly through school (this is uncommon), or 2) obtain quotes on the school’s “tool day” and submit to TAA, or 3) order tools through a State of Minnesota contracted tool vendor. TAA will rely on the student and school to be the tool experts. If using preference #3, a best practice is for the student to go online and pick out the exact tools (from any vendor) and have the instructor or school representative sign off on the list. The student should submit that list to TAA for DEED procurement staff to process the request per state purchasing rules and contracts.

Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Petitions

Here’s the link to check the status of petitions with U.S. Department of Labor

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/tradeact

• Pending DOL’s investigation (27)
• 95285 – DEE Inc., Crookston
• 95331 – Tenneco (Federal Mogul), Lake City
• 95375 – Henkel Corp., Chanhassen; now under Boyd Corporation, Pleasanton, CA
• 95412 – Bluestem Brands Inc., St. Cloud
• 95423 – MNStar Technologies Inc., Grand Rapids
• 95467 – Wisconsin Central LTD /Canadian National, Proctor
• 95536 – Johnson Controls, Plymouth
• 95581 – Blue Cross Blue Shield, Virginia and Eagan (Additional worker groups)
• 95703 – HED Cycling Products, Roseville
• 95764 – Landis Gyr, Pequot Lakes
• 95783 – United Health Group, Minnetonka
• 95813 – US Steel, Mountain Iron
• 95830 – Wayzata Home Products, Edina
• 95898 -- Toppan Merrill, St Paul
• 95917 – US Steel Corporation, MN Ore Operations, Keewatin
• 95929 – GGI Solutions, e2ip Technologies, Big Fork
• 95928 – Electrolux Home Products, Inc., St. Cloud (to cover those laid off after 5/29/2020)
• 95921 – U.S. Bank, St. Paul
• 95944 - Crystal Cabinet Works, Inc., Princeton
• 95957 - Woodcraft Industries, Foreston & St Cloud
• 95955 - Gerdau Ameristeel US Inc., St Paul
• 95957 – Woodcraft Industries, Foreston & St. Cloud
• 95998 – Masterbrand Cabinets, Cottonwood
• 95994 – Seagate Technology, Bloomington
• 95974 – Dura Supreme LLC, Howard Lake
• 95973 – Dell Corporation, Eden Prairie
• 95964 – Medallion (ACPI Wood Product, LLC) Waconia
• 95998 – Sonova USA formerly Unitron US Inc., Plymouth
• 96019 – Verso Corporation – Duluth Mill, Duluth

Labor Market Information Updates

Drastic Drop

May’s employment report for Minnesota showed a dramatic drop of 300,000 fewer jobs compared to March, and more than 390,000 jobs less than in May of 2019. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate spiked to 9.9% in May, the highest number on record, surpassing the 1980’s and even higher than it got during the Great Recession, when it peaked at 8.0% in 2009.

According to the Current Employment Statistics program, Minnesota lost 393,101 payroll jobs over the year in May, a decline of 13.1%. The private sector lost 346,662 jobs over the year, down 13.5%. U.S. employment fell 12.0% with private employment down 13.1% over the year in May. These job losses, largely the result of pandemic containment measures, are unprecedented in the history of the data series going back nearly a century both at the state and national level.

Last month’s job loss is unparalleled in both size and speed. During the Great Recession, which took 29 months for year-over-year employment growth to return, it took 18 months to reach the lowest point. The 1980 recession lasted 39 months, with the bottom reached about 2.5 years in. The job losses in 2020 took just two months, and with the threat of more coronavirus outbreaks always looming, there is uncertainty on the timeframe for when all of the jobs will be recovered. 

Success Stories

Tell people about the good work you do

You do great work!  Share your success stories online so we can help share the good news! Success stories could be featured on CareerForceMN.com, in electronic newsletters, in annual reports, with news media and potentially in other ways, too! The need to share our success was one of the key findings coming out of culture workshops held with staff and partners around Minnesota and it’s a top recommendation from the communications task force.

Success stories can feature a career seeker who found success thanks to your work, an employer who found needed talent thanks to CareerForce, or a staff person or partner who went above and beyond and deserves a special shout out. Make sure you complete and submit the release form you’ll be prompted to download when you go to the success story submission link above.

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