Narrative: III. b. 7.

Maryland’s WIOA system can be a pathway to the middle class and a means to maintain and build the skills necessary to remain in the middle class. Maryland is committed to ensuring its target populations are able to access the WIOA system on a priority basis.

For the WIOA Title I Adult Program, this means that local workforce areas must provide priority for training activities to individuals in the target populations. Under WIA, priority was required to be given to public assistance recipients and low-income individuals only when it was determined that allocated funds were limited. Now, under WIOA, priority must be provided regardless of the level of available funds. Priority must be provided in the following order:

Priority of Service for the WIOA Title I Adult Program

First Priority: Veterans and eligible spouses who are also low-income, recipients of public assistance and/or basic skills deficient

Second Priority: Individuals who are not veterans or eligible spouses, but meet criteria to be considered a target population

Third Priority: Veterans and eligible spouses who did not meet "first priority" conditions

Fourth Priority:Individuals who are not veterans and do not meet criteria to be considered a target population

Local Areas must adhere to these priority provisions and, within their local plans, provide details on how priority shall be given in the Local Area within these parameters.

In accordance with the Jobs for Veterans Act of 2002 and the Veterans’ Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006, DLLR offers covered Veterans and eligible spouses “Priority of Service.” The purpose of Priority of Service is to give first consideration for program participation to covered Veterans and eligible spouses who also meet the eligibility criteria of a USDOL training, employment, or placement service in any workforce preparation program.

To receive Veterans Priority of Service for a specific program, a Veteran or eligible spouse must meet the statutory definition of a “covered person” and also must meet any other statutory eligibility requirement applicable to the program. Depending on the type of service or resource being provided, Priority of Service may mean:

• Covered person gains access to services or resources earlier than the non-covered persons;
• Covered person receives service or resources instead of a non-covered person when resources are limited.

Veterans Priority of Service should take precedence before applying WIOA Priority of Service for recipients of public assistance, other low-income individuals, and individuals who are basic skills deficient.

For universal access programs, such as Wagner-Peyser, covered persons must receive Priority of Service over all other program participants. However, for programs with specific eligibility criteria, such as the WIOA Title I Adult program, covered persons must first meet all statutory eligibility requirements for the program in order to receive Priority of Service. For programs that target specific populations without statutory mandate, covered persons must receive the highest priority for enrollment, similarly to the Priority of Service applied to universal access programs.

State and local program operators understand that Priority of Service must be followed. As established by statute, State and local operators do not have the discretion to establish further priorities within the overall Priority of Service; this right is reserved for the United States Secretary of Labor only.

Local workforce area directors must ensure that local plans incorporate a Veterans Priority of Service policy that is consistent with the requirements of State policy and the law.

IDENTIFYING VETERAN STATUS
Each American Job Center, or other relevant point of entry, should inform covered persons, that by identifying as a Veteran or covered spouse, they are entitled to Priority of Service. One of the responsibilities of the Local Veterans’ Employment Representatives (LVERs) is to ensure that signage and detailed sign-in sheets exist at both the physical service delivery point and through the Internet service delivery point.

The workforce system and affiliate program operators must enable Veterans and eligible spouses to identify themselves as Veterans at the point of entry to the system or program, so that covered persons can take full advantage of Priority of Service. American Job Center and affiliate program operators must ensure that covered Veterans and eligible spouses are made aware of:
• Priority of Service entitlement
• The full array of employment training and placement services available
• Applicable eligibility requirements for programs and services

VERIFYING VETERAN STATUS
Any individual self-identifying as a covered person should be provided immediate priority in the delivery of employment and training services. No covered person should be denied access on a priority basis to any services provided by program staff in order to verify covered person status.

The only services that require eligibility verification are those that involve the use of outside resources, such as classroom training. For example, to receive training services under WIOA Title I programs, veteran status must be verified. In cases such as these, verification is only necessary where a decision is made to commit outside resources to a covered person over another individual. For all other purposes, covered persons should be enrolled and provided immediate priority before providing verification as a covered person.

It is neither necessary nor appropriate for any staff to require verification of the status of a Veteran or eligible spouse at the point of entry, unless the individual who self-identifies as a covered Veteran or eligible spouse:

1. Is to immediately undergo eligibility determination and must be registered or enrolled in a program; or,
2. The applicable federal program rules require verification of covered Veteran or eligible spouse status at that time.

To receive Priority of Service for career services, covered persons may self-attest their Veteran or eligible spouse status. To receive training services under WIOA, however, Veteran status must be verified.

IMPLEMENTING PRIORITY OF SERVICE
The regulations provide that priority of service means the right of eligible covered persons to take precedence over eligible non-covered persons in obtaining services. They further specify that taking precedence may mean:
• The covered person receives access to the service or resource earlier in time than the non-covered person; or
• If the service or resource is limited, the covered person receives access to the service or resource instead of or before the non-covered person.
The regulations specify how priority of service is to be applied across three different types of qualified job training programs:
• Universal access programs that do not target specific groups;
• Discretionary targeting programs that focus on certain groups but are not mandated to serve target group members before other eligible individuals; and,
• Statutory targeting programs that are mandated by federal law to provide priority or preference to certain groups.

MONITORING COMPLIANCE WITH PRIORITY OF SERVICE
DOL will monitor recipients of funds for qualified job training programs to ensure that covered persons are made aware of and provided priority of service. Monitoring will be performed jointly by the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS), the DOL agency responsible for administering the program, and the Regional Local Veterans Employment Representative (RLVER). The following will be used to measure compliance:
• The ratio of veterans referred to employment and WIOA services versus non-veteran clients
• The ratio of veterans referred and accepted to WIOA training versus non-veterans
• Are veterans priority of service signage easily seen near entrance
• Are front desk personnel fully versed on veteran priority of service

If monitoring identifies non-compliance with priority of service, the results of the monitoring:
1. Will be handled in accord with each program’s compliance review procedures; and,
2. May lead to imposition of a corrective action plan.

REFERRAL PROCESS FOR VETERANS DETERMINED TO HAVE SIGNIFICANT BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT
This guidance is meant to limit the number of eligible veterans and eligible spouses who DVOP specialists serve. Limiting DVOP specialists to serving only the veterans and eligible spouses who meet the criteria below will ensure that the DVOP specialists are serving the specific population of eligible veterans and eligible spouses prioritized by 38 U.S.C. 4103A.
It will also ensure that DVOP specialists are better able to fulfill their primary responsibility of providing intensive services to all the people they serve. While the DVOP specialists’ provision of intensive services to these veterans and eligible spouses may include some core services, serving a more limited population will allow DVOP specialists enough time to devote a majority of their time to providing intensive services.

The veterans who do not fall into one of the categories that are served by DVOP specialists are eligible to be served by other AJC Staff, including WIOA, WP, and other AJC program staff, and are eligible for priority of service as is discussed in section 8 below. The SBE categories were developed to implement the priority and maximum emphasis requirements of 38 U.S.C. 4103A(a).

As required by that subsection, “special disabled veterans” and “disabled veterans” (as those terms are defined in 38 U.S.C. 4211(1) and (3)) are included in the group of veterans who are given priority because they have a SBE. In addition, the SBE categories give priority to the other categories of veterans and eligible spouses identified by the Secretary and gives maximum emphasis to serving veterans and eligible spouses who are educationally or economically disadvantaged, such as certain groups of veterans and spouses who have been removed from the workforce for significant periods of time.

Additionally, under 38 U.S.C. 4103A(a)(1)(C), the Secretary may choose to prioritize additional categories of veterans and eligible spouses who may receive intensive services from DVOP specialists. Any additional priorities will be set forth in separate guidance. The Secretary will regularly reassess the definition to ensure it reflects the best available data and trends associated with veteran employment and continues to identify those veterans who are to be given priority and maximum emphasis for DVOP services under 38 U.S.C. 4103A(a).

An eligible veteran or eligible spouse who is identified as having a SBE must be immediately referred to a DVOP specialist or, in instances where a DVOP specialist is not available, another AJC provider of intensive services. For planning purposes, ETA and VETS anticipate that approximately 30 percent of veterans seeking AJC services nationwide will be identified as having a SBE.

In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 4103A(a), DVOP specialists must provide intensive services to eligible veterans and eligible spouses to meet their employment needs, prioritizing service to special disabled and other disabled veterans, as defined by 38 U.S.C. 4211, and to other eligible veterans in accordance with priorities determined by the Secretary.

The statute also requires that DVOP specialists place maximum emphasis on assisting veterans who are economically or educationally disadvantaged. To ensure that DVOP specialists are able to fulfill their statutory responsibilities to provide intensive services to these categories of veterans, DOL has developed the following guidance to identify the veterans prioritized and emphasized by the DVOP statute.

In order to realign DVOP specialists’ roles, DOL is directing that DVOP specialists must limit their activities to providing services to eligible veterans and eligible spouses who: a. meet the definition of an individual with a Significant Barrier to Employment (SBE), specifically defined in bold, below paragraph (b), or b. are members of a veteran population identified by the Secretary under 38 U.S.C. 4103A(a)(1)(C) as eligible for DVOP services, as explained in separate guidance from DOL.

An eligible veteran or eligible spouse is determined to have a SBE if he or she attests to belonging to at least one of the six criteria below:
1. A special disabled or disabled veteran, as those terms are defined in 38 U.S.C § 4211(1) and (3); Special disabled and disabled veterans are those: o who are entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs; or, o were discharged or released from active duty because of a service connected disability;
2. Homeless, as defined in Section 103(a) of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302(a));
3. A recently-separated service member, as defined in 38 U.S.C § 4211(6), who at any point in the previous 12 months has been unemployed for 27 or more consecutive weeks;
4. An offender, as defined by WIA Section 101(27), who has been released from incarceration within the last 12 months;
5. Lacking a high school diploma or equivalent certificate; or
6. Low-income (as defined by WIA at Sec. 101(25)(B)).