Conditions and Benefits of Trade Readjustment Allowance Weekly Benefits:

TRA is a cash benefit paid weekly once unemployment insurance benefits have been exhausted and the following conditions are met:

Waived from the training requirement by State Merit Staff Management/State Trade Unit (signed waiver must be on file),
or
Enrolled in or participating in a full-time TAA approved training program,
or
Completed training and still have Basic TRA eligibility
and
Apply for each type of TRA program when you receive the message at weekly certification.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for the Trade Program you must be a worker who lost their job at a company certified by the Department of Labor as a Trade affected employer. For more information, go to https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/tradeact

TRA Eligibility

• Be an adversely affected worker under a certified Trade petition
• Be laid off due to lack of work in the adversely affected employment
• Be eligible to receive and have exhausted Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits
• Have worked for at least 26 weeks at wages of $30.00 or more in the 52-week period and prior to the first separation date and after the impact date from the same trade-affected employer. Special conditions apply to workers who have been on personal leaves of absence, sick leave, military leave, or workers’ compensation during the 52-week period
• Be enrolled in a TAA approved training program or waived from the training requirement within the specified program (signed waiver must be on file)
• Complete all Benchmark requirements
• You must be in TAA full-time approved training to receive Additional TRA (for TAARA 2015)

You will be waived from the work search requirements while you are attending a full-time, approved TAA training program.

The Federal Trade Act of 1974 was amended in 2002, 2009, 2011, 2015, and Reversion 2021. The mix of services and benefits is based on your petition number.

Petition Number

If you don’t know your company's petition number, you may identify it by conducting a search on the US DOL website using your company name. The petition number corresponds with the law governing the TAA Program at the time the TA-W number was assigned. The petition number also indicates whether the benefits that may be available to you are those under the 2002, 2009, 2011, 2015, and Reversion 2021 Law will be different based on when petitions were filed.

If your 5-digit petition # is between 50,000 to 69,999, you're potentially eligible under 2002 Law

If your 5-digit petition # is between 70,000 to 79,999, you're potentially eligible under 2009 Law.

If your 5-digit petition # is between 81,000 to 84,999, you're potentially eligible under 2011 Law.

If your 5 digit petition # is between 85,000 to 97,999, you’re potentially eligible under 2015 Law.

If your 5 digit petition # is 98,000 and above you’re potentially eligible under Reversion 2021 Law.

Waivers

A waiver is in effect until the Basic TRA exhausts OR the waiver is revoked. Once expired or revoked, a new waiver cannot be issued and the applicant is no longer eligible to receive TRA regardless of the balance remaining. The only way to resume TRA is to be participating in an approved training program immediately following the expiration of the waiver.