Located in:
- Program-specific Requirements for Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth Activities under Title I-B
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include the following with respect to activities carried out under subtitle B—
a. 2. C. Describe how the State will utilize Rapid Response funds to respond to layoffs and plant closings and coordinate services to quickly aid companies and their affected workers. States also should describe any layoff aversion strategies they have implemented to address at risk companies and workers.
Current Narrative:
LWC contracts with Louisiana Human Resources Development Institute (LHRDI) to execute its Rapid Response strategies and to provide the activities necessary to plan for, respond to, and deliver services necessary to enable dislocated workers to transition to new employment, as quickly as possible, following a layoff event and/or plant closure. The team provides customized transition services and assistance. These services are provided at the job site, prior to the layoff and are offered at times convenient for the employer and the dislocated workers. The State RR Coordinator ensures the following components are included for an organized multi-faceted response:
• Posting of WARN Act notifications on our website and distribution to local workforce development areas, economic development organizations and local officials;
• Contact with company and labor officials from the affected business;
• Contact with local Workforce Development Boards and other local leadership and partners;
• Contact with service providing agencies in the local area (e.g. local American Job Centers, community action agencies and other support agencies);
• Arrangement and facilitation of Rapid Response meetings;
• Arrangement and facilitation of Rapid Response Orientations.
Our Rapid Response team works closely with our industry sector and business services staff to continuously conduct outreach to targeted employers in order to build and maintain relationships with the business community to better facilitate quick coordination for job fairs and hiring events for dislocated workers. We also showcase our dislocated workers to prospective employers via our HALOW (Hire A Laid-Off Worker) initiative, by listing the affected job title, length of employment, parish of residence, education level and veterans status.
Layoff Aversion - LWC continues to better develop and refine its layoff aversion strategies with plans to develop an early detection network. The plan to develop and implement an early detection network began to solidify in 2022 when we invited Steel Valley Authority to Louisiana to provide a training session for our Rapid Response team members. We included representatives from Louisiana Economic Development, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and local unions to participate, as we envisioned them to be active external partners in the network. We are now actively pursuing the next steps in this initiative. Our plan currently includes a proposal to purchase a subscription to Dun and Bradstreet EconoVue to use as a predictive analytics tool to help identify businesses potentially at risk, as well as partnering with a turnaround management consultant to offer targeted services to these at risk businesses.