The United States Department of Labor (USDOL) recently ruled in favor of Area 7 Workforce Development Board’s appeal to the department challenging the State of Ohio’s denial of initial area designation under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

WIOA was signed into law in July, 2014 and supersedes the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). WIOA requires the Governor to designate local workforce development areas in the State in accordance with § 106(b) of the Act. There are two paths for designation as a local workforce development area under WIOA: initial “automatic” designation and discretionary designation. Area 7 applied for initial “automatic” designation.

The State must approve a request for initial designation as a local workforce development area from an existing workforce development area if, for the two program years preceding the enactment of WIOA, the following criteria are met:

(1) The local area was designated as a local area for purposes of WIA;

(2) The local area performed successfully; and

(3) The local area sustained fiscal integrity.

Area 7 met these criteria and qualified for initial designation. However, the State denied Area 7’s application using outside criteria such as size, composition and other selective factors. Area 7 appealed to the USDOL which reversed the State’s decision to reject Area 7’s request for initial designation finding that the State used criteria not found in WIOA. While the USDOL stopped short of requiring Area 7 be designated as a local area, it has required the State to review Area 7’s request for initial designation based exclusively on the criteria in WIOA.

The Area 7 Workforce Development Board represents the following 43 counties: Allen, Ashland, Champaign, Clark, Clinton, Coshocton, Darke, Defiance, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Fulton, Gallia, Greene, Guernsey, Hancock, Henry, Highland, Holmes, Huron, Knox, Jackson, Lawrence, Licking, Logan, Madison, Marion, Miami, Montgomery, Morrow, Muskingum, Ottawa, Paulding, Preble, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Shelby, Union, Wayne, Williams, Wood, and Wyandot Counties.

Fishel Hass Kim Albrecht attorneys Marc Fishel and Paul Bernhart assisted Area 7 with its appeal and will continue to monitor the State’s local workforce development area designation process. Please contact Paul Bernhart at pbernhart@fishelhass.com if you have any questions regarding WIOA or local area designation.