| (a) The Commission may set aside an amount of funds for job placement incentive awards during the annual budget process or at other times during the year as deemed appropriate by the Commission based on the funds available to meet the objectives of the Commission. For the purposes of this section, the term "Choices eligible" shall have the same meaning as set forth in §811.2 of this title. (b) Administration through Boards shall be as follows. (1) The Commission shall administer the job placement incentive awards through the Boards by distributing funds to Boards that demonstrate the highest percentage of increase in employment of Choices eligibles in higher wage jobs. Awards may be given in each classification and the Commission may give more than one award in each classification. (2) Boards receiving a distribution of funds shall establish policies and procedures to create incentives for their workforce service providers. The Boards shall determine how the local awards of funds are expended to provide incentives to workforce service providers within the workforce area for effective employment of Choices eligibles in higher wage jobs. The Boards shall ensure that workforce service providers receiving the job placement incentive awards use the funds for expenses relating to education, training, and support services as necessary to prepare, place, and maintain Choices eligibles in employment leading to self-sufficiency. (c) The criteria for distributing award funds to Boards shall be the same as the measure of higher wage jobs. The measure of higher wage jobs shall use the most recent available in unemployment insurance (UI) wages reported quarterly by employers for Choices eligibles in employment and be determined by: (1) each workforce area's baseline average quarterly reported UI wages for all Choices eligibles in employment during a 12-month period designated by the Commission; (2) each workforce area's average quarterly UI wages for all Choices eligibles in employment during the 12-month period subsequent to the baseline measurement period; and (3) comparing the average quarterly UI wages for all Choices eligibles in employment for the two measurement periods to determine Boards that have achieved the highest percent increase in overall wages to Choices eligibles. (d) The Commission may modify the assignment of awards based on factors that the Commission identifies as extraordinary circumstances. |
