State Rapid Response Program

The State Rapid Response Program serves as Florida’s Rapid Response dislocated worker coordination unit responsible for carrying out statewide Rapid Response activities and overseeing Rapid Response activities carried out by the local workforce development boards. One of the central tenets of Rapid Response is preventing or minimizing the impacts of layoffs on workers, businesses and communities.  Rapid Response ensures immediate access to affected workers to help them quickly re-enter the workforce and plays an important role in providing customer-focused services to both dislocated workers and employers.

Typically, Rapid Response services are provided when employers submit layoff and business closing notices under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act or when there is an announcement or notification of a permanent closure (regardless of the number of affected employees), a mass layoff (affecting 50 or more workers), a mass job dislocation resulting from a natural or other disaster, or when a Trade Adjustment Assistance petition is filed. In addition, the Rapid Response program includes layoff aversion activities and services provided by local Rapid Response coordinators.

Rapid Response services provided by the local workforce development boards (LWDBs) and their local career center service providers include:

• Information and support for affected workers for applying for Reemployment Assistance benefits;
• Information and support for affected companies;
• Information provided on the impacts of layoffs on health coverage and other benefits;
• Information on and referral to career services, reemployment-focused workshops, as well as job referrals and training opportunities;
• Referral to community agencies and workforce programs for supportive services;
• Coordination of job fairs and other special employment events;
• Information provided on registered apprenticeships and incumbent worker training programs; and
• Individualized layoff aversion strategies and activities designed to prevent or minimize the duration of unemployment resulting from layoffs.

Local Contacts

• CareerSource Florida Directory 
• Local Rapid Response Coordinators

State Resources

• Administrative Policies
• Memoranda
• Guide to Transition for Career Service Employees (Revised June 29, 2017)
• Employer Research & Initial Contact and Trade Screening Forms
• Short Time Compensation
• Find Regional Economic Data
  • Labor Market Information

Federal Resources

• U.S. Department of Labor – Employment and Training Administration
• Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) (7/22/2014)
• Department of Labor, WIOA Final Rule  (8/19/2016)