PORTLAND, Maine — About 72 employees laid off from Lincoln Paper and Tissue last year are expected to receive some portion of about $300,000 in federal aid that can help pay for expenses not covered by another program to help displaced workers.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced that it has given $297,838 to the Maine Department of Labor to help a portion of the 180 employees laid off from the mill last year.
The federal department previously gave $256,696 to help about half of the 200 employees the mill laid off in 2013, also through a National Dislocated Worker Grant.
The grants can cover expenses, such as child care, that are not covered through the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, designed to help people who lose their jobs primarily because of foreign competition.
The Trade Adjustment Assistance program helps fund job retraining and can provide wage subsidies to people in new jobs for a period of time, bridging the gap between what a person was earning and what they make in the new job.
The dislocated worker program has provided funds for other Maine paper mill layoffs in the past year, including at Great Northern Paper Co. and the Bucksport mill Verso Corp. shuttered at the end of 2014.
The Department of Labor said 72 of the 180 workers who lost their jobs immediately or sometime after the mill filed for bankruptcy have qualified for the Trade Adjustment Assistance program as well.