WIOA Title I-A & I-B Policy & Procedure Manual Ch. 8) Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs
8.2 Eligibility
8.2.1 Adult Program
Effective date: October 1, 2017
Revised date: October 15, 2018
Revised date: September 23, 2019
Anyone interested in being considered for the WIOA Title I Adult Program must be allowed to apply.1 All applicants must receive an eligibility determination.2 While WIOA is not an entitlement program,3 this only means that funding for WIOA programs is not unlimited. Local WDBs must offer services to all eligible applicants when funding is available.
Individuals are eligible for the WIOA Title I Adult Program if they are:
Note: Participants who lose their authorization to work in the United States become ineligible for the WIOA Title I Adult Program as of the date the authorization was lost.7
229 CFR §§ 38.4, 38.5, 38.6(b) and (d), & 38.41 combine to require that applicants must not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation or belief, citizenship, or participation in any WIOA Title I-financially assisted program or activity. An "applicant" is an individual who is interested in being considered for WIOA Title I assistance. To ensure that discrimination does not occur, recipients of WIOA funding must maintain records on the race/ethnicity, sex, age, and disability status of every applicant. See also WIOA Sec. 188(a); 20 CFR § 683.285; and 81 FR 56113.
7WIOA Sec. 188(a)(5); 20 CFR § 683.285(a)(5); TEGL 02-14, p. 2. Career planners must keep expiration dates of work authorization documents in mind when scheduling services. If a participant's authorization to work in the U.S. will expire before the planned close date for a service, the participant should renew his or her work authorization before beginning the service. If that is not possible, services must be scheduled so that they can be completed before the work authorization expires.
881 FR 56220; Email from DOL to DWD-DET, 4/25/2017
DWD-DET defines eligibility determination as applying the information collected during program registration to the eligibility criteria to see if the individual is eligible for the program.
Entitlement
Effective date: September 23, 2019
The right of a person, group of people, business, unit of government, or similar entity to receive payments from the federal government if they meet the eligibility criteria set in law. Spending levels for entitlement programs are determined by those programs' eligibility criteria and benefit or payment rules rather than through the annual appropriations process. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the federal government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled.
Individuals eligible to work in the U.S. include (WIOA Sec. 188(a)(5); 20 CR §683.285(5)):
citizens and nationals of the United States;
lawfully admitted permanent resident aliens, refugees and asylees (who are authorized to work in the U.S.
because of their refugee or asylee status); and
other immigrants authorized by the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Secretary's designee to work in the U.S. This includes immigrants covered by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) who have applied for and received work authorization (TEGL 02-14, p. 2).