Trade Readjustment Allowance
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This section includes information about income received from a Trade Readjustment Allowance.
Policy
Trade Readjustment Allowance (TRA) is income support payments to persons who have exhausted Unemployment Insurance (UI) and whose jobs were affected by foreign imports as determined by a certification of group coverage issued by the Department of Labor.
NOTE The amount received is usually equal to the amount of the previous UI income and may be received for a maximum of 52 weeks.
TRA income is countable and considered unearned income.
Countable income is used to determine an income budget. (See Income Budgeting to see how FAA determines the income budget.) FAA needs to know about income that is both countable and not countable to determine whether a budgetary unit’s income is exceeding their expenses. (See Income Eligibility for more information about how FAA uses countable and not countable income.)
Verification
The participant has the primary responsibility for providing verification. (See Participant Responsibilities – Providing Verification for additional policy.)
For NA, all of the following income is required to be verified before eligibility is determined:
●Reported on a new application, during the interview of a new application, or changes reported before the eligibility determination of a new application.
●Changes after an eligibility determination of a new application (e.g., a renewal application, mid approval contact, etc.) and any of the following apply:
The source of the income has changed.
The income is questionable(g) or unclear(g).
The reported income amount has changed by $51 or more.
The previous verification in the case file is more than 59 calendar days old.
For CA, all income is required to be verified before determining eligibility.
Examples of verification that can be used for TRA income include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
●Assistance payments records
●Current check reflecting gross income (Do not copy federal government checks)
●Signed statement from the agency or payer providing the income
●Participant statement verification when any of the following occur:
Other attempts to obtain verification have failed
Obtaining documented or collateral contact verification may cause harm or undue hardship(g) for the participant.
NOTE A participant’s statement is not allowed to verify income when it is considered questionable.
Legal Authorities
7 CFR 273.9(b)(2)
last revised 10/02/2023