New WOTC Form and Guidance from U.S. Department of Labor

The long wait is over!
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a new WOTC-related Training and Employment Guidance Letter (or TEGL) dated September 1, 2009.  TEGL No. 3-09 provides guidance about documentation standards for the two new WOTC eligibility categories created by the February stimulus bill.  It also includes the new Department of Labor Form ETA 9061 – Individual Characteristics Form that we must begin using immediately in order to obtain WOTC employee certifications.
We’ve been awaiting this news for months.  The lack of formal guidance from the Department of Labor had left state WOTC centers in a holding pattern — unable to issue certifications under the new Disconnected Youth and Unemployed Veteran categories.   It’s true that employers have been submitting applications for months now.  What’s been happening is that WOTC centers have been placing these applications into a backlog pile — unable to process them without the further guidance.
Now that the documentation standards and other procedural steps have been formally spelled out to the WOTC centers, we should begin receiving WOTC certifications for employees qualifying under the new categories.  I know that for our restaurant clients, the Disconnected Youth category has become particularly important.