DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

TA-W-62,176

FIRST AMERICAN TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY
EAGLE PRODUCTION CENTER
FLINT, MICHIGAN


Notice of Negative Determination
Regarding Application for Reconsideration

By application dated October 16, 2007, a worker requested
administrative reconsideration of the Department's negative
determination regarding eligibility for workers and former
workers of First American Title Insurance Company, Eagle
Production Center, Flint, Michigan (subject firm) to apply for
Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and Alternative Trade
Adjustment Assistance (ATAA). The negative determination was
issued on October 9, 2007, and the Department’s Notice of
negative determination was published in the Federal Register on
October 26, 2007 (72 FR 60910).
The worker-filed TAA/ATAA petition was denied because the
subject firm does not produce an article within the meaning of
Section 222(a)(2) of the Act. Workers at the subject firm are
engaged in title insurance operations which entail the examining
of chain of title for residential and commercial properties,
writing title commitments and policies, interacting with
customers and providing customer service, and abstracting.
Pursuant to 29 CFR 90.18(c), administrative reconsideration
may be granted if:
(1) it appears on the basis of facts not previously
considered that the determination complained of was
erroneous;
(2) it appears that the determination complained of was
based on a mistake in the determination of facts not
previously considered; or
(3) in the opinion of the Certifying Officer, a mis-
interpretation of facts or of the law justified
reconsideration of the decision.
The request for reconsideration alleges that the subject
workers produce an “end product.” These products include search
packages (abstracts of land title and copies of documents
identifying a chain of title and encumbrances to the property);
property reports (copies of documents covering the customers’
interests such as easements and mortgages); title commitments (a
document that indicates a commitment to issue title insurance and
provides a complete history of the property); and title policies
(a compilation of documents that is delivered to and paid for by
the customer). The request for reconsideration also states that
the “assemblage and distribution of the product(s)” is being
shifted to India and the Philippines.
It is the Department’s policy that the subject firm must
produce an article domestically. The Department’s policy is
supported by current regulation. 29 CFR section 90.11(c)(7)
requires that the petition includes a “description of the
articles produced by the workers’ firm or appropriate
subdivision, the production or sales of which are adversely
affected by increased imports, and a description of the imported
articles concerned. If available, the petition should also
include information concerning the method of manufacture, end
uses, and wholesale or retail value of the domestic articles
produced and the United States tariff provision under which the
imported articles are classified.”
In order to determine whether the subject firm is a
manufacturing firm, the Department consulted the North American
Industry Classification System (NAICS) website. The NAICS
identifies the primary activity of the company, which is useful
in understanding what a firm does for its customers, which, in
turn, aids in determining whether a firm produces an article or
provides services for its customers. According to the NAICS, the
subject firm is a “Direct Title Insurance Carrier.” This
industry includes “establishments primarily engaged in initially
underwriting . . . insurance policies to protect the owners of
real estate or real estate creditors against loss sustained by
reason of any title defect to real property.”
After careful review of the request for reconsideration and
previously-submitted information, the Department determines that
the subject firm is a service firm and not a manufacturing firm.
As a corollary, the Department determines that there was no shift
of production abroad.
While the Department has discretion to issue regulations and
guidance on the operation of the TAA program, the Department
cannot expand the program to include workers that Congress did
not intend to cover, such as service workers. In 2002, while
amending the Trade Act, the Senate explained the purpose and
history of TAA:
Since it began, TAA for workers has covered mostly
manufacturing workers, with a substantial portion of
program participants being steel and automobile workers
in the mid- to late-1970s to early 1980s, and light
industry and apparel workers in the mid- to late-1990s.
In fiscal years 1995 through 1999, the estimated number
of workers covered by certifications under the two TAA
for workers programs averaged 167,000 annually,
reaching a high of about 228,000 in 1999, despite a
falling overall unemployment rate. During the same
period, approximately 784 firms were certified under
the TAA for firms program. Participating firms
represent a broad array of industries producing
manufactured products, including auto parts,
agricultural equipment, electronics, jewelry, circuit
boards, and textiles, as well as some producers of
agricultural and forestry products.

S. Rep. 107-134, S.Rep. No. 134, 107th Cong., 2nd Sess. 2002,
2002 WL 221903 (February 4, 2002)(emphasis added). Clearly, the
language suggests that the focus of TAA is the manufacture of
marketable goods.
Congress has recognized the difference between manufacturers
and service firms and that an amendment to the Trade Act is
needed to cover workers in service firms. It has recently
rejected at least two attempts to amend the Trade Act to expand
TAA coverage to service firms. It did not pass the "Trade
Adjustment Assistance Equity for Service Workers Act of 2005" or
the "Fair Wage, Competition, and Investment Act of 2005." Most
recently, Senator Baucus introduced the “Trade and Globalization
Adjustment Assistance Act of 2007” which provides for an
expansion of coverage to workers in a “service sector firm” when
there are increased imports of services like or directly
competitive with articles produced or services provided in the
United States, or a shift in provision of like or directly
competitive articles or services to a foreign country, and
Congressman Rangel introduced a similar bill in the House of
Representatives that was discussed in late October 2007.
Until Congress amends the Trade Act to cover service
workers, the worker group seeking TAA certification (or on whose
behalf certification is being sought) must work for a firm or
appropriate subdivision that produces an article and there must
be a relationship between the workers' work and the article
produced by the workers' firm or appropriate subdivision that
produces an article domestically.
After careful review of the request for reconsideration and
previously submitted materials, the Department determines that
there is no new information that supports a finding that Section
222(a)(2) of the Trade Act of 1974 was satisfied and that there
was no mistake or misinterpretation of the facts or the law.
Conclusion
After review of the application and investigative findings,
I conclude that there has been no error or misinterpretation of
the law or of the facts which would justify reconsideration of
the Department of Labor's prior decision. Accordingly, the
application is denied.

Signed at Washington, D.C. this 6th day of November 2007


/s/ Elliott S. Kushner
___________________________________
ELLIOTT S. KUSHNER
Certifying Officer, Division of
Trade Adjustment Assistance

4510-FN-P


DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

TA-W-62,176

FIRST AMERICAN TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY
EAGLE PRODUCTION CENTER
FLINT, MICHIGAN

Negative Determinations Regarding Eligibility
To Apply for Worker Adjustment Assistance
And Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance

In accordance with Section 223 of the Trade Act of 1974, as
amended (19 USC 2273), the Department of Labor herein presents the
results of an investigation regarding certification of eligibility
to apply for worker adjustment assistance.
The investigation was initiated on September 20, 2007, in
response to a petition filed on behalf of workers of First American
Title Insurance Company – Eagle Production, Flint, Michigan.
Workers are engaged in title insurance operations which entail the
examining of chain of title for residential and commercial
properties, writing title commitments and policies, interacting
with customers and providing customer service as well as
abstracting.
The investigation revealed that First American Title Insurance
Company – Eagle Production, Flint, Michigan, does not produce an
article within the meaning of Section 222(a)(2) of the Act. In
order to be considered eligible to apply for adjustment assistance
under Section 223 of the Trade Act of 1974, the worker group
seeking certification (or on whose behalf certification is being
sought) must work for a "firm" or appropriate subdivision that
produces an article and there must be a relationship between the
workers' work and the article produced by the workers' firm or
appropriate subdivision. The workers at the subject firm that are
engaged title insurance operations do not produce a product nor
support a firm or appropriate subdivision that produces an article
domestically and thus the worker group can not be considered import
impacted or affected by a shift in production of an article.
In addition, in accordance with Section 246 the Trade Act of
1974 (26 USC 2813), as amended, the Department of Labor herein
presents the results of its investigation regarding certification
of eligibility to apply for alternative trade adjustment assistance
(ATAA) for older workers.
In order for the Department to issue a certification of
eligibility to apply for ATAA, the worker group must be certified
eligible to apply for trade adjustment assistance (TAA). Since the
workers are denied eligibility to apply for TAA, the workers cannot
be certified eligible for ATAA.







Conclusion
After careful review of the facts obtained in this
investigation, I determine that all workers of First American Title
Insurance Company – Eagle Production, Flint, Michigan, are denied
eligibility to apply for adjustment assistance under Section 223 of
the Trade Act of 1974, and are also denied eligibility to apply for
alternative trade adjustment assistance under Section 246 of the
Trade Act of 1974.
Signed at Washington, D.C. this 9th day of October 2007
/s/ Linda G. Poole

________________________
LINDA G. POOLE
Certifying Officer, Division of
Trade Adjustment Assistance





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