FORMER MDF MOULDING AND MILLWORK EMPLOYEES RECEIVE TRADE READJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE
Expired Benefits Returned to Former Company Employees Under Trade A ct of 1974  

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission announced today that displaced workers from the Idabel facility of MDF Moulding and Millwork are eligible to receive assistance. The U.S. Department of Labor has ruled that former employees of the Idabel, Okla. business meet requirements to receive Trade Readjustment Assistance (TRA) according to the Trade Act of 1974. TRA is available to individuals who become unemployed due to increased imports or a shift in production out of the country. The goal is to return laid-off workers to suitable employment as quickly as possible.

To qualify for TRA, workers must meet three criteria: 1) they must be laid off or threatened with layoff; 2) company sales or production must have decreased; and 3) increases in imports of products like or directly competitive with products made by the firm must contribute to layoffs or the threat of layoffs. An added condition is that workers must be enrolled in TRA-sponsored training either eight (8) weeks after the date of certification or 16 weeks after their last qualifying separation from employment. The state may also grant a waiver of training enrollment to qualified individuals.

The report concludes “all workers of MDF Moulding and Millwork, Idabel, Oklahoma, who became totally or partially separated from employment on or after January 12, 2003, through two years from the date of certification, are eligible to apply for adjustment assistance under Section 223 of the Trade Act of 1974 and are also eligible for Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance (ATAA) under Section 246 of the Trade Act of 1974.” The first day of eligibility (date of certification) for TRA is February 20, 2004. Separated employees who would like to take advantage of this assistance should contact their nearest Workforce Oklahoma Center at 1-888-980-WORK (9675).

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