Software Testers Eligible for Trade Adjustment Help

The federal Employment and Training Administration (ETA) says workers at two insurance software testing centers in Pennsylvania are eligible for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits.

The workers were employed by a variety of companies to test software for MetLife Inc., New York (NYSE:MET), and conduct software quality assurance checks for MetLife at facilities in Moosic, Pa., and Clarks Summit, Pa.

The number of workers affected by the Trade Adjustment Assistance ruling was not immediately available, but the ruling affects Moosic and Clarks Summit software workers “who became totally or partially separated from employment on or after January 4, 2009, through two years from the date of this revised certification, and all workers in the group threatened with total or partial separation from employment on date of certification through two years from the date of certification,” Del Min Amy Chen, a certifying officer at the federal Office of Trade Adjustment, says in a notice published today in the Federal Register.

Officials at the ETA, an agency of the U.S. Labor Department, earlier decided that the workers were not eligible for trade assistance help.