CONNECTICUT LABOR DEPARTMENT

IMPORTANTE
EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DIVISION
TENGA ESTO TRADUCIDO INMEDIATAMENTE
TRA-229 (Rev. 7/2006)

TRA WORK SEARCH REQUIREMENTS

Federal Trade Act legislation requires payment of Trade Readjustment Allowances (TRA) only to eligible
individuals who are participating in Trade Act-approved training, have completed approved training, or
have been issued a waiver of the training requirement. If you are enrolled in Trade Act-approved
training, you will not have to seek or accept employment. You may collect TRA entitlement and
additional TRA (if otherwise eligible) without being attached to the labor market, provided you are
participating in Trade Act-approved training.

IF YOU HAVE COMPLETED TRAINING, OR RECEIVED A WAIVER OF THE TRAINING

REQUIREMENT, YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING WORK SEARCH REQUIREMENTS, WHICH
ARE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT FROM STATE UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION
REQUIREMENTS, IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR EACH WEEK OF TRA CLAIMED.

1. JOB PROSPECTS CLASSIFICATION. Prior to filing your first TRA claim, your job prospects will be
classified as “good” or “not good.” If you provide satisfactory evidence that you have prospects for
obtaining work during your first four weeks of TRA eligibility, your job prospects will be classified as
“good.” Such evidence may include a recall date to your former employer, a scheduled starting date
with a prospective employer, or a bona fide offer of employment as noted on your Job Prospects
Classification form (UC-570). Individuals with “good prospects” must meet normal eligibility
conditions under state law.
If your prospects are classified as “not good,” you are required to accept any offer of work which is
within your capabilities. Such work must pay at least the state minimum wage, more than your TRA
gross weekly benefit amount, and the job must have been offered in writing or listed with the Job
Center. However, you are not required to accept work at a rate of pay that is substantially less than
the average wage for that type of work in your labor market area.

2. YOU MUST MAKE A SYSTEMATIC AND SUSTAINED EFFORT TO OBTAIN WORK DURING
EACH WEEK CLAIMED. This means that your work search should be thorough and conducted with
a reasonable method or plan. You are expected to make every effort to obtain employment by
seeking work during the week claimed and by using all appropriate resources available in your labor
market area. If there are no or few openings in your customary occupation, you must consider other
types of work, including work below your highest skill level and work which pays lower wages.

GENERALLY, YOU MUST ACTIVELY SEEK WORK DURING AT LEAST TWO (2) DAYS EACH WEEK
AND MUST MAKE A MINIMUM OF THREE (3) NEW EMPLOYER CONTACTS EACH WEEK.

3. YOU MUST PROVIDE TANGIBLE EVIDENCE OF YOUR WORK SEARCH EFFORTS FOR EACH
WEEK OF TRA CLAIMED. Along with each TRA claim filed, you must submit a Report of Work-
Seeking Activities form (UC-230) listing all employer contacts made during the week. For each
employer contacted during the period in question, you must report the employer’s name and address,
the date and method of contact, the type of work sought, and the results of your contact. Although
employers do NOT have to sign the Work-Seeking Activities form, Job Center staff may verify the
contacts listed.
The law provides for denial of TRA benefits if you do not comply with the above requirements.
The disqualification will be effective the week in question and will continue until you have
performed work in an employer-employee relationship for at least four subsequent weeks and
earned not less than four times your TRA benefit amount. The weeks need not be consecutive.

NOTE: IF YOU CHOOSE TO FILE A TRA CLAIM FOR A WEEK IN WHICH YOU DID NOT MAKE A
SYSTEMATIC AND SUSTAINED EFFORT TO OBTAIN WORK BECAUSE YOU WERE NOT ABLE
AND AVAILABLE FOR WORK DURING THAT WEEK (FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU WERE SICK), THE
ABOVE DISQUALIFICATION MUST BE IMPOSED.
(Please direct any questions you may have regarding these eligibility requirements to your local Job Center.)