U.S. Department of Labor Announces Grant Funding to the District of Columbia to Enhance Short-Time Compensation Program

The U.S. Department of Labor today awarded grant funding of $431,513 to the D.C. Department of Employment Services to improve and promote its Short-Time Compensation (STC) program. The STC program gives employers the opportunity to avoid layoffs by reducing work hours for an entire group of workers rather than laying off some of them. Those workers then become eligible to supplement their reduced wages with a partial unemployment benefit payment.

“The flexibilities offered by the Short-Time Compensation program help to maintain the employee-employer relationship and mitigate the economic hardships of workers and employers in tough times like these,” stated Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training John P. Pallasch. “These grants will help provide D.C. businesses and workers with better access to this program as they navigate the coronavirus crisis and the economy recovers.”

The District of Columbia will use the grant funds to automate essential STC processes and conduct outreach to educate employers about STC’s advantages during the coming year.

Visit the Office of Unemployment Insurance’s Short-Time Compensation page for more information.

Learn more about ETA.

ETA administers federal government job training and worker dislocation programs, federal grants to states for public employment service programs, and unemployment insurance benefits. ETA provides these services primarily through state and local workforce development systems. Learn more about ETA.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.