2007 Minnesota Statutes

116L.17 STATE DISLOCATED WORKER PROGRAM.
    Subdivision 1. Definitions. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have
the meanings given them in this subdivision.
    (b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of employment and economic development.
    (c) "Dislocated worker" means an individual who is a resident of Minnesota at the time
employment ceased or was working in the state at the time employment ceased and:
    (1) has been permanently separated or has received a notice of permanent separation
from public or private sector employment and is eligible for or has exhausted entitlement to
unemployment benefits, and is unlikely to return to the previous industry or occupation;
    (2) has been long-term unemployed and has limited opportunities for employment or
reemployment in the same or a similar occupation in the area in which the individual resides,
including older individuals who may have substantial barriers to employment by reason of age;
    (3) has been terminated or has received a notice of termination of employment as a result of
a plant closing or a substantial layoff at a plant, facility, or enterprise;
    (4) has been self-employed, including farmers and ranchers, and is unemployed as a result
of general economic conditions in the community in which the individual resides or because
of natural disasters;
    (5) has been permanently separated from employment in a restaurant, bar, or lawful gambling
organization from October 1, 2007, to October 1, 2009, due to the implementation of any state
law prohibiting smoking; or
    (6) is a displaced homemaker. A "displaced homemaker" is an individual who has spent a
substantial number of years in the home providing homemaking service and (i) has been dependent
upon the financial support of another; and now due to divorce, separation, death, or disability of
that person, must find employment to self support; or (ii) derived the substantial share of support
from public assistance on account of dependents in the home and no longer receives such support.
    To be eligible under this clause, the support must have ceased while the worker resided in
Minnesota.
    (d) "Eligible organization" means a state or local government unit, nonprofit organization,
community action agency, business organization or association, or labor organization.
    (e) "Plant closing" means the announced or actual permanent shutdown of a single site of
employment, or one or more facilities or operating units within a single site of employment.
    (f) "Substantial layoff" means a permanent reduction in the workforce, which is not a result
of a plant closing, and which results in an employment loss at a single site of employment during
any 30-day period for at least 50 employees excluding those employees that work less than
20 hours per week.
    Subd. 2. Grants. The board shall make grants to workforce service areas or other eligible
organizations to provide services to dislocated workers as follows:
(a) The board shall allocate funds available for the purposes of this section in its discretion to
respond to substantial layoffs and plant closings.
(b) The board shall regularly allocate funds to provide services to individual dislocated
workers or small groups. The initial allocation for this purpose must be 50 percent of the deposits
and transfers into the workforce development fund, less any collection costs paid out of the
fund and any amounts appropriated by the legislature from the workforce development fund for
programs other than the state dislocated worker program.
(c) Following the initial allocation, the board may consider additional allocations to provide
services to individual dislocated workers. The board's decision to allocate additional funds
shall be based on relevant economic indicators including: the number of substantial layoffs to
date, notices of substantial layoffs for the remainder of the fiscal year, evidence of declining
industries, the number of permanently separated individuals applying for unemployment benefits
by workforce service area, and the number of individuals exhausting unemployment benefits by
workforce service area. The board must also consider expenditures of allocations to workforce
service areas under paragraph (b) made during the first two quarters of the fiscal year and federal
resources that have been or are likely to be allocated to Minnesota for the purposes of serving
dislocated workers affected by substantial layoffs or plant closings.
(d) The board may, in its discretion, allocate funds carried forward from previous years under
subdivision 9 for large, small, or individual layoffs.
    Subd. 3. Allocation of funds. The board, in consultation with local workforce investment
boards and local elected officials, shall develop a method of distributing funds to provide services
for dislocated workers who are dislocated as a result of small or individual layoffs. The method
shall reflect recent trends in the number of permanently separated individuals applying for
unemployment benefits in a given workforce service area. The board shall evaluate and adjust
obligations quarterly, based on a similar method.
    Subd. 4. Use of funds. Funds granted by the board under this section may be used for any
combination of the following, except as otherwise provided in this section:
(1) employment transition services such as developing readjustment plans for individuals;
outreach and intake; early readjustment; job or career counseling; testing; orientation; assessment
of skills and aptitudes; provision of occupational and labor market information; job placement
assistance; job search; job development; prelayoff assistance; relocation assistance; and programs
provided in cooperation with employers or labor organizations to provide early intervention in the
event of plant closings or substantial layoffs;
(2) support services, including assistance to help the participant relocate to employ
existing skills; out-of-area job search assistance; family care assistance, including child care;
commuting assistance; emergency housing and rental assistance; counseling assistance, including
personal and financial; health care; emergency health assistance; emergency financial assistance;
work-related tools and clothing; and other appropriate support services that enable a person to
participate in an employment and training program with the goal of reemployment;
(3) specific, short-term training to help the participant enhance current skills in a similar
occupation or industry; entrepreneurial training, customized training, or on-the-job training;
basic and remedial education to enhance current skills; and literacy and work-related English
training for non-English speakers; and
(4) long-term training in a new occupation or industry, including occupational skills training
or customized training in an accredited program recognized by one or more relevant industries.
Long-term training shall only be provided to dislocated workers whose skills are obsolete and
who have no other transferable skills likely to result in employment at a comparable wage rate.
Training shall only be provided for occupations or industries with reasonable expectations of job
availability based on the service provider's thorough assessment of local labor market information
where the individual currently resides or is willing to relocate.
    Subd. 5. Cost limitations. (a) Funds allocated to a grantee are subject to the following
cost limitations:
(1) no more than ten percent may be allocated for administration;
(2) at least 50 percent must be allocated for training assistance as provided in subdivision 4,
clause (4); and
(3) no more than 15 percent may be allocated for support services as provided in subdivision
4, clause (2).
(b) A waiver of the training assistance minimum in clause (4) may be sought, but no waiver
shall allow less than 30 percent of the grant to be spent on training assistance. A waiver of the
support services maximum in clause (2) may be sought, but no waiver shall allow more than 20
percent of the grant to be spent on support services. A waiver may be granted below the minimum
and above the maximum otherwise allowed by this paragraph if funds other than state funds
appropriated for the dislocated worker program are used to fund training assistance.
    Subd. 6. Performance standards. (a) The commissioner, in consultation with the board,
shall enter into contracts with local workforce investment boards, including the allocations
determined by the board in subdivision 3. Contracts shall also require local workforce investment
boards to report participant data to the commissioner regularly, in order to meet the requirements
of this subdivision. The commissioner shall also enter into contracts with eligible organizations
involved with substantial layoffs or plant closings. These contracts shall require the eligible
organizations to report participant data to the commissioner regularly, in order to meet the
requirements of this subdivision.
(b) The commissioner and the board shall jointly establish performance outcome measures
for all local workforce investment boards and eligible organizations involved with substantial
layoffs or plant closings. The commissioner may request additional information to calculate
these performance measures.
(c) The commissioner and the board, in consultation with local workforce investment boards
and eligible organizations involved with substantial layoffs or plant closings, shall establish
minimum standards for the performance measures described in paragraph (b).
(d) Local workforce investment boards may establish and report on additional performance
outcomes based on unique features of local labor markets and other geographic differences.
(e) The commissioner shall provide a report to the legislature by March 1 of each year on the
previous fiscal year's program performance using the data in paragraphs (b) and (d) and analysis
of whether local workforce investment boards and eligible organizations involved with substantial
layoffs or plant closings are meeting the minimum standards described in paragraph (c). The
commissioner shall inform any local workforce investment board or eligible organization that
does not meet minimum performance standards in a given year of their status.
    Subd. 7.[Repealed, 2004 c 257 s 12]
    Subd. 8. Administrative costs. No more than five percent of the funds appropriated to the
board for the purposes of this section may be spent by the board for its administrative costs.
    Subd. 9. Carryforward. Any funds not allocated, obligated, or expended in a fiscal year
shall be available for allocation, obligation, and expenditure in the following fiscal year.
    Subd. 10. Rapid response activities. The commissioner, in cooperation with local workforce
councils, shall be responsible for implementing the following rapid response activities:
(1) establishing on-site contact with employer and employee representatives within a short
period of time after becoming aware of a current or projected plant closing or substantial layoff
in order to:
(i) provide information on and facilitate access to available public programs and services; and
(ii) provide emergency assistance adapted to the particular closure or layoff;
(2) promoting the formation of a employee-management committee by providing:
(i) immediate assistance in the establishment of the employee-management committee;
(ii) technical advice and information on sources of assistance and liaison with other public
and private services and programs; and
(iii) assistance in the selection of worker representatives in the event no union is present;
(3) collecting and disseminating information related to economic dislocation, including
potential closings or layoffs, and all available resources with the state for dislocated workers;
(4) providing or obtaining appropriate financial and technical advice and liaison with
economic development agencies and other organizations to assist in efforts to avert dislocation;
(5) disseminating information throughout the state on the availability of services and
activities carried out by the dislocated worker unit; and
(6) assisting the local workforce council in developing its own coordinated response to a
plant closing or substantial layoff and access to state economic development assistance.
History: 1Sp2001 c 4 art 2 s 7; 2002 c 380 art 2 s 6; 2003 c 128 art 13 s 32-35; 2004 c 257
s 3-8; 2007 c 82 s 1; 2007 c 135 art 2 s 14