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Rapid Response

Outplacement Services

In a rapidly changing economy, fluctuations in the labor market are inevitable. Any business can be faced with the need to restructure or downsize. When layoffs are necessary, the Workforce Solutions for South Texas can ease the transition for both the employer and the employee.

We can provide you with professional outplacement services that typically can cost thousands of dollars - at no cost. We will help your business with shared work plans, layoff aversion strategies, information on unemployment taxes, unemployment benefits and more.

We understand that restructuring, downsizing and/or closings are never easy for anyone. But with our help, the process can go a lot smoother for employers and employees alike.

Rapid Response

Rapid Response is a program which provides short-term, early intervention and immediate assistance with layoffs and/or plant closures affecting a significant number of workers. It was originally designed to offer services when layoffs involved 50 or more workers, or when plant closings or mass layoffs affected fewer than 50 employees but occurred in a business or industry which forms the economic base of a small community (population 50,000 or less).

The Dislocated Worker Services Department (DWSD) receives notices of plant closures and mass layoffs, including those covered under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). When the DWSD or the Local Workforce Development Board obtains information about a major layoff, immediate on-site services are provided to assist workers facing job losses. Rapid Response provides early intervention assistance designed to transition workers to their next employment as soon as possible.

Rapid Response Overview

Unemployment Claims & Taxes

Unemployment benefits provide partial income replacement temporarily for anyone who qualifies and is either partially or fully unemployed through no fault of their own. These benefits help workers while they are seeking employment and meet the requirements based on job separation and past wages.

Employers pay unemployment insurance taxes and benefits based on notices received from the Texas Workforce Commission. To make sure your business is following the law for unemployment taxes and benefits claims, visit Texas Workforce Commission.

Register a new tax account, file wage reports, and pay unemployment taxes online. Learn how to respond online to a notice that an employee has filed for unemployment benefits, protest potential charges to your account and appeal an unemployment claim decision.

Unemployment Tax Overview

Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)

The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for Workers is a federally funded program, at no cost to employers, that provides reemployment services to individuals who lose their manufacturing jobs due to foreign imports or shift in production to foreign countries. This program seeks to provide adversely affected workers with opportunities to obtain the skills, credentials, resources, and support necessary to become reemployed.

TAA Overview
Visit Trade Adjustment Assistance website

TAA Eligibility

To qualify for TAA, applicants must be laid off from a job covered under a trade petition certified by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

To receive TAA benefits and services, applicants must file a petition online or by mail with DOL. Petitions may be filed by:

  • Two or more workers in the same firm or subdivision;
  • The workers' employer;
  • A union official or other duly authorized representative of such workers; or
  • Texas Workforce Solutions

TAA Benefits & Services

  • Employment and Case Management Services
    Skill assessments, career counseling, job search assistance, information on training and more.
  • Training
    Beginning vocational and remedial training. The maximum duration of TAA-supported training will vary between 104 and 156 weeks, dependent on petition number.
  • Trade Readjustment Allowances (TRA)
    Provides wage subsidies for workers enrolled in full-time training who are enrolled no later than their waiver/in training deadline date. The maximum duration of TRA support will vary between 104 and 156 weeks, dependent on petition number and course of training.
  • Alternative/Reemployment Trade Adjustment Assistance (A/RTAA)
    Provides a wage subsidy for up to two years available to workers age 50 or over who are reemployed at annual wages of $50,000 or less.
  • Job Search Allowance
    Reimbursement for job search costs outside the worker's local area.
  • Relocation Allowance
    Reimbursement for relocation costs for a job outside the worker's local area.
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