48-3004. Job training reimbursements; application; contents; confidentiality; director; duties; written agreement; contents.

(1) To earn the job training reimbursements set forth in the Teleworker Job Creation Act, an employer shall file an application for an agreement with the director. An application may be filed at any time on or after April 8, 2010.

(2) The application shall contain:

(a) A written statement describing the expected employment of qualifying employees in this state;

(b) Sufficient documents, plans, and specifications as required by the director to support the plan and to define a project; and

(c) A copy of the letter submitted to the director seeking approval of the employer's qualified training program.

(3) The application and all supporting information shall be confidential except, for each project:

(a) The name of the employer;

(b) The amount of the job training reimbursement;

(c) The number of persons trained, with such number divided into three categories: The number who reside in rural areas; the number who reside in poverty areas; and the number who reside in all other parts of Nebraska, based on the rural areas and poverty areas described in section 48-3006; and

(d) The amount of total wages and other payments subject to withholding, as defined in section 77-2753, paid by the employer to all teleworkers who reside in Nebraska, with such residence as determined by the statement of the qualifying employee on his or her employment application, within three hundred sixty-five days prior to the date of application, for the year of the project, and for the following twelve months.

The employer shall be required to provide this information to the director upon written request by the director.

(4)(a) The director shall approve the application and authorize the total amount of job training reimbursements expected to be earned as a result of the project if he or she is satisfied that (i) the plan in the application defines a project that meets the eligibility requirements established within the Teleworker Job Creation Act and (ii) such requirements will be reached within three hundred sixty-five calendar days after the application filing date. The director shall use the subaccount created under subsection (3) of section 81-1201.21 to provide reimbursements allowed by the act for the training of teleworkers.

(b) The director shall not approve further applications once the director has approved seven project applications filed before the end of fiscal year 2010-11 and the expected job training reimbursements from the approved projects total one million fifty thousand dollars in fiscal year 2010-11. Applications for an agreement shall for purposes of this limit be approved in the order in which they are received by the director.

(c) An employer and the director may enter into agreements for more than one project, up to a total of five approved project applications filed before the end of fiscal year 2010-11. The projects may be either sequential or concurrent. No new qualifying employees shall be included in more than one project for meeting the project requirements or the creation of job training reimbursements. When projects overlap and the plans do not clearly specify, the employer shall specify to which project the employment belongs. The employer has until it submits its request for reimbursement to the director to designate to which project a qualifying employee belongs. The employer may not receive job training reimbursements for a qualifying employee until the employer designates to which project that qualifying employee belongs. Such designation shall be made on such form to be filed with the director as the director shall direct.

(5) After approval, the employer and the director shall enter into a written agreement. The employer shall agree to complete the project, and the director, on behalf of the State of Nebraska, shall designate the approved plans of the employer as a project and, in consideration of the employer's agreement, agree to allow the employer to receive the job training reimbursements contained in the Teleworker Job Creation Act up to the total amount of job training reimbursements that were authorized by the director. The application and all supporting documentation, to the extent approved, shall be considered a part of the agreement. The agreement shall state:

(a) The number of qualifying employees required by the act for the project;

(b) The time period under the act in which the required level must be met;

(c) The documentation the employer will need to supply when requesting the job training reimbursements under the act;

(d) The date the application was filed; and

(e) The maximum amount of job training reimbursements authorized.

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