Policy Chapters and Sections

Adult Eligibility

Chapter: 5 Section: 2
Effective Date: 7/1/2015
Expiration Date: Continuing
Published Date: 12/8/2021 12:01:23 PM
Status: Current
Version: 2

Tags: Eligibility, Eligibility

  1. An “adult” customer of WIOA must:
    1. Meet general eligibility requirements; and
    2. Must be age eighteen (18) or older.
  2. WIOA establishes a priority requirement for the use of funds allocated to a local area for certain adult employment and training activities.
    1. After eligibility determination, priority for individualized career services and training service shall be given to:
      1. Recipients of public assistance;
      2. Other low-income individuals; and
      3. Individuals who are basic skills deficient (including English language learners).
  3. As described in TEGL 10-09 and 19-16, when programs are statutorily required to provide priority for a particular group of individuals, priority must be provided in the following order:
    1. First, to veterans and eligible spouses who are also included in the groups given statutory priority for WIOA Adult formula funds.
      1. This means that veterans and eligible spouses who are also recipients of public assistance, other low-income individuals, or individuals who are basic skills deficient would receive first priority for services provided with WIOA Adult formula funds.
    2. Second, to non-covered persons (that is, individuals who are not veterans or eligible spouses) who are included in the groups given priority for WIOA adult formula funds.
    3. Third, to veterans and eligible spouses who are not included in WIOA’s priority groups.
    4. Last, to non-covered persons outside the groups given priority under WIOA.
  4. Local staff must always prioritize services to these populations, regardless of the amount of funds available to provide services in the local area.
  5. These priorities are in addition to the requirements in WIOA that veterans and their eligible spouses receive priority of service as defined in the Veterans Priority of Service section of this policy manual for all Department of Labor (DOL) funded job training programs, including the WIOA Adult program.
  6. Local Workforce Innovation Boards (LWIBs) must establish local criteria, policies, and procedures to apply these priority provisions to ensure planning across multiple partner programs will enhance alignment in service delivery strategies.
  7. The State envisions that giving priority of service to these individuals means ensuring that at least seventy-five (75) percent of a local area’s participants receiving individualized career and training services in the Adult program are from at least one (1) of the priority groups.
    1. LWIBs must ensure timely, accurate, and reliable data entry into the appropriate case management system is occurring to document the local area’s success in serving priority populations.
    2. If any local area does not meet the minimum seventy-five (75) percent benchmark, the state may initiate a review of the local area’s compliance with the statutory requirement to provide priority of services to the priority populations.

USDOL Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL)No. 10-09, Implementing Priority of Service for Veterans and Eligible Spouses in all Qualified Job Training Programs Funded in whole or in part by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) (November 10, 2009)

USDOL Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 19-16, Guidance on Services provided through the Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service (ES), as amended by title III of WIOA, and for Implementation of the WIOA Final Rules (March 01, 2017)

USDOL Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 07-20, Effective Implementation of Priority of Service Provisions for Most in Need Individuals in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Adult Program (November 24, 2020)

USDOL ETA Advisories (TEGLs and TENs)

USDOL Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Regulations and Information

U.S. Government Publishing Office (Federal Registers)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars

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