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TEA Policy - 6000 Section
TEA Manual 7/1/97

6000 Marketing

Marketing activities for TEA are intended to make the community and the employment sector aware of program services, activities, and goals. Marketing has two elements:

  • Marketing TEA: its purpose, service, strengths and record.
  • Marketing the product (customer): his talents, skills and ability to meet identified employer needs.

Marketing can be done directly or indirectly. Marketing includes, but is not limited to : face-to-face contacts with employers, mailouts (introductory letters, notes of appreciation, newsletters), involvement with the Chamber of Commerce, press releases, networking with other employment agencies, and speaking to civic organizations.

The County Office should coordinate its marketing efforts with the local Employment Security Department (ESD). Coordination with ESD will help avoid duplication of effort as well as provide a broader base for job development and job placements for TEA participants.

Although marketing may be primarily the responsibility of the Marketing Specialist or other county office staff member, all staff involved with TEA market the program. When a worker explains the program to a customer, he is marketing TEA. When a worker tells a relative or community member about TEA, he is giving that person an image of the program.

All county office staff can assist in job development by sharing potential job leads with the TEA Supervisor and/or the Marketing Specialist.
TEA Manual 7/1/97 6010 Marketing/Sales Approaches

Many approaches can be taken to persuade someone to accept an idea or product. Marketing involves a degree of trial and error to find which approach will work with a certain employer. County staff responsible for marketing should familiarize themselves with various marketing/sales techniques by researching the volume of current information available in magazines, books, newspapers, and libraries. Information about the local labor market and the economy to understand the needs of employers in a particular area should also be researched.

This research should then be used to select or prioritize employers to contact. Small businesses should not necessarily be overlooked for larger companies. It is important that contact with all or as many employers as possible in the area eventually be made. Staff should not be disappointed if every marketing contact does not yield a job order. County office staff should develop name recognition for TEA and should develop a long-term relationship with the employer.
TEA Manual 7/1/97

6020 Job Orders and Referrals

A job order is an agreement with an employer to interview/hire a TEA customer. The job order may be for unsubsidized or subsidized employment or unsalaried Community Service and Work Experience. Form DCO-1416 (Job Order) will be used to obtain information about the job opening(s) from the employer. The results of the referrals made will be tracked by using the Job Order form.

When an individual is referred to an employer for unsubsidized employment, the client will be given a Job Referral Card (DCO - 1431) and a postage-paid, self-address envelope. The customer will give these to the employer. The employer will complete his part of the form, providing the results of the interview, and will mail the form back to the TEA program. If the card is not returned, the county office should contact the employer for the information.
TEA Manual 7/1/97

6020.1 Job Bank

The County Office will also maintain a job bank which can be used for referrals. To develop a job, the county office can interview participants and/or collect data from their case records or employment plans. The job bank can consist of a card file or a computer data base. It should be organized and divided by job titles. The names of interested or experienced customers and pertinent information about them should be contained under each job title. This will assist staff in matching the needs of employers and customers.
TEA Manual 7/10/98

6030 Training and Worksite Development

The DHS County Office will be responsible for developing training and worksites for: Work Experience Training, On-The-Job Training (OJT) and Subsidized Employment.

NOTE: The DHS County Office will not be responsible for developing worksites for Community Services.
TEA Manual 7/10/98

6031 Work Experience Training Site Development

The purpose of such training sites is to provide participants with meaningful employment/job skills training in an actual work environment. This purpose should be stressed to potential site trainers to insure they are aware of the agency’s expectations relative to training and supervision of the TEA participant. It is also expected that the site trainer will derive no direct benefit as a result of the client’s participation in work experience training.

Work experience training sites may be developed with public government entities (city, county, state, and federal agencies), private not-for-profit agencies, community and charitable organizations, or private for-profit employers.

The Job Order form will be used to take the job training opening information. The DCO-1408, TEA Work Experience Training Site Agreement, will be used in developing training sites.

Prior to assignment of a customer to a Work Experience Training site, the trainer will be made aware of the following assurances that must be provided to regular employees:
  1. No currently employed worker or position will be displaced/partially displaced, or have normal work shift hours, wages, or employment benefits reduced as a result of activities by TEA program participants.
  2. The placement of TEA customers will not impair existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements.
  3. Trainers will not fill any established, unfilled position or vacancy with a trainee when regular workers are laid-off from the same or similar positions at the site. Currently employed workers will not be terminated in order to fill vacancies with TEA individuals.
  4. The placement of TEA recipients will not infringe upon the promotional opportunities of any currently employed individual at the training worksite.

County Office staff will be responsible for discussing these assurances with the site trainer prior to finalizing the training site agreement. It will be the responsibility of the site trainer to make employees aware of these assurances.

The trainer must agree to provide to the trainee the same benefits (breaks, lunches, days off, etc.) and the same working conditions provided to employees performing comparable tasks.

The DCO-1406, TEA Training Site Customer Agreement, must be signed by the customer before participation in Work Experience Training.
TEA Manual 7/10/98

6031.1 Monitoring Work Experience Training Sites

The County Office may monitor participation via the DCO-1407, TEA Participant Time Card/Progress Report, and through monitoring (on-site visit) worksites developed by the DHS County Office. The site supervisor will submit the DCO-1407 bi-weekly to the TEA program to report progress. For other agency sites, the worker should contact that agency for a progress report on the participant.
TEA Manual 7/10/98

6032 On-The-Job Training (OJT) Worksite Development

The County Office will have responsibility for marketing and developing OJT worksites for the TEA program.

County Office staff will negotiate OJT/Employment agreements with employers in their area (i.e. city, county, multi-county). Private and public employers may be utilized when developing OJT agreements. Form DCO-1437, On-the-Job Training/Employment Agreement will be used to outline the proposal.

In negotiating agreements, the county office will ensure that the employer understands that the purpose of the agreement is to:

  1. provide an opportunity for TEA parents to obtain training and job supervision,
  2. encourage their participation by providing a mechanism by which TEA customers become self-sufficient employees, and
  3. provide employment to clients upon satisfactory completion of the OJT training.

The County Office representative and employer will complete and sign the On-The-Job Training/Employment Agreement.
TEA Manual 3/15/00

 

6032.1 Approval Process/Procedures for OJT/Employment Agreements

Once the DCO-1437 OJT/Employment agreement has been negotiated, it will be submitted to the County Administrator for approval. The County Administrator will review and make a decision within three (3) working days.

The county office will monitor the TEA client’s participation through contact with the Training Supervisor. This contact will be conducted at least once each month either by telephone or in person.
TEA Manual 3/15/00

 

6032.2 Monitoring and Employer Billing/Reimbursement for OJT

The county office will monitor participation through contact with the employer. This contact may be by phone or on-site visits to the worksites. At a minimum, the customer participation should be checked at least once every four (4) weeks while engaged in this activity.

Employers will submit monthly billing to the county office, by the fifth working day of the month following the month of service.

The rate of reimbursement by TEA to employers will be limited to no more than fifty percent of the wages paid by the employer to the customer during the period of the OJT.

Billing for reimbursement will be submitted on letterhead stationery. The customer’s name, number of hours/day worked, rate of pay, and total owed will be included on the bill. The letterhead billing will be completed with an original and two copies. Employers will submit the bill to the local county office. The County Administrator will review and approve (by signature and date) billing(s) submitted by the employer. Review and approval will be completed within three (3) working days of receipt by the County Administrator. Upon approval by the County Administrator the reimbursement will be keyed to the WISE system.
TEA Manual 3/15/00

 

6033 Injuries at the Work Experience Training Site

If a participant is injured at a Work Experience Training work site, the agency provides medical insurance coverage.

If an injury occurs, the following steps should be taken to access medical benefits:

  1. The customer will notify the local DHS County office.
  2. The local office will notify OPPD, TEA Policy Unit, and provide the name and address of the participant.
  3. The TEA Policy Unit will send a claim form to the participant for completion.
  4. The participant will be requested to return the claim form to the TEA Policy Unit.
  5. Upon receipt, the TEA Policy Unit will submit the claim form to the insurance company for processing.
    6.
TEA Manual 7/1/97

6034 (Deleted)
TEA Manual 3/15/00

 

6035 Work Opportunity Tax Credit/Welfare to Work Tax Credit

On August 19, 1996, the President signed into law the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program. WOTC was re-authorized and expanded to include the Welfare to work Tax Credit (WtWTC) by the Tax and Trade Relief Extension Act of 1998.  On March 9, 2002, the WOTC and WtWTC were re-authorized by the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002, PL 107-147.  

The Welfare to Work Tax Credit is a federal tax credit that encourages employers to hire long-term family assistance recipients.  The WtWTC is 35% of the first year qualified wages (up to $10,000) paid to eligible workers and 50% for the second year (up to $10,000).

The current Work Opportunity Tax Credit and Welfare to Work Tax Credit program will run from December 31, 2001 through December 31, 2003.

Individuals who qualify for Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) benefits are:

  1. A member of a family that is receiving or has received TEA for any 9 month period during the 18 months before the date of hire.
  2. A member of a family that received AFDC for at least 18 consecutive months before the date of the hire or whose family's eligibility expired under federal or state law after August 5, 1997; or whose family received TANF benefits for at least 18 months after August 5, 1997.
  3. An individual who received supplemental security benefits (SSI) for any month during the 60-day period before the date of hire.
  4. A Veteran who is a member of a food stamp family for a 3 month period ending anytime in the 12 months prior to hire.
  5. An Ex-felon who is a member of an economically disadvantaged family based on 70% of Department of Labor lower living standards whose hiring date is within one year after the conviction or release date.
  6. Any 18-24 year old residing in a federal Empowerment Zone (EZs) or Enterprise Community (ECs). Only those wages paid while the youths reside in the EZ or EC are covered.
  7. Any Vocational Rehabilitation referrals.
  8.  A Summer Youth who works during the period May 1 September 15. The youth must be 16 or 17 years old and reside in an EZ or EC. They are eligible for a credit of 35% of the first $3,000 of wages.
  9. An individual age 18 through 24 who is a member of a family who received food stamp benefits for a 6-month period before the date of hire, or who is no longer eligible for food stamps but received food stamps for at least 3 months of the 5 month period before the date of hire.

Individuals who qualify for the Welfare to Work Tax Credits are:

  1. Members of a family that received TEA for at least 18 consecutive months before the date of hire, or whose family's eligibility expired under federal or state law after August 5, 1997.
  2. Members whose family received TANF benefits for any 18 month period and who are hired within 2 years after the end of the earliest 18 month period.

Other Requirements:

  • To qualify, an individual must either have been certified by the designated local agency as being WOTC or WtWTC eligible prior to the hire date, or on or before the day of the job offer. A pre-screening notice is completed by the employer for such an individual.
  • In the case of the latter, employers have 21 days after the individual begins work to submit, to the designated local agency, the pre-screening form. Such request must indicate why the employer believes the individual is eligible for the program and must be signed, under penalty of perjury, by the employer and the employee.

NOTE: If the individual was previously hired by the employer, the individual is considered a non-qualifying rehire, therefore, the employer is not eligible for the WOTC for this rehired employee.

  • The employer then has six months to gather supporting documents from either the employee or government agency and submit the same to the state job service office.
  • The minimum work requirement is 180 days (20 days for qualified summer youth) or 400 hours (120 hours for summer youth) of work.

An agreement with Arkansas Employment Security Division gives DCO the authority to provide WOTC certification to TEA participants.

Participants may be certified by the Case Manager. Certification should be done when the participant:

1. Enters an activity that may lead to employment.
2. Notifies the worker he/she has a job interview or has been hired, but has not started the job, yet or,
3. Is referred to a job.

When discussing WOTC/WtWTC with employers, emphasis should be placed on the time frames for submitting the vouchers to insure the employer gets the tax credit and that the voucher is returned to the following address: WOTC/WtWTC Unit, Employment Security Department, Post Office Box 2981, Little Rock, AR listed on the form, not to the TEA program.