State Offers Employers 50%+ Wage Reimbursement for New Workers

By Sonia Isotov

A new on-the-job training reimbursement program is a win-win for employers and laid-off workers. Photo courtesy of WDD.

The Hawai‘i State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) is seeking employers who are hiring and training new employees who were laid-off from their previous employers.

These employers can take advantage of a rare opportunity to receive 50-90% reimbursement of the wages paid to these new workers for up to six months of “extraordinary training costs.”

Funds in the amount of $601,873 are available for the program and were obtained through a competitive grant from the US Department of Labor for the period June 30, 2010 to June 30, 2012.

“On-the-Job Training programs [OJT] are proven public-private strategies designed to encourage job growth through small businesses while also giving an opportunity for unemployed workers to gain new skills,” said Workforce Development Division (WDD) Administrator Elaine Young, in a written statement today. “We urge employers to contact their local One-Stop Centers to see if this program might be a good fit for them.”

The grant will provide training for up to 70 individuals for a period of up to six months. The goal of the program is to provide an incentive to employers to hire individuals who need hands-on experience and who are likely to remain with the employer.

Employers must meet the following conditions:

1. Be registered with Hawaii Compliance Express (https://vendors.ehawaii.gov/hce/);
2. Provide adequate supervision and training to OJT employee;
3. Be likely to retain the OJT employee after completion of the OJT ;
4. Complete all necessary documentation for OJT contract, invoices, and reports;
5. Be willing to have their records and training regarding the OJT contract subject to monitoring or audit;
6. Not have laid off workers in jobs similar to the OJT position over the last 120 days except where the employer made a good faith effort to recall laid-off employees and was unsuccessful; and
7. Not have relocated part or all of the business, which resulted in the loss of employment at the original site.

For more information, Maui employers can call the One-Stop Center at (808) 984-2091, email to [email protected], or go online to http://hawaii.gov/labor/wdd/wdd-programs/on-the-job-training-ojt.