Some 315 workers who lost their jobs at Chrysler’s Kenosha Engine Plant now are eligible for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits.

The benefits are for workers affected by foreign competition.

The workers built V-6 engines for the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger. The employees are eligible to apply for benefits if they lost their jobs on or after May 27, 2008. The last job-loss date for an employee to be eligible is Sept. 2, 2011.

Assistance could include retraining and skill improvements; job search and relocation payments; health coverage tax credit, and some income.

Workers age 50 and older can receive supplementary income through Re-employment Trade Adjustment Assistance, which helps make up some of the difference between the salary of a former job and a lower-paying new job. Workers also might be eligible for retraining and the health coverage tax credit.

The Kenosha employees are among some 3,500 from companies in nine states certified this week by the U.S. Department of Labor as being eligible because they were displaced by imports. Employees will be contacted by their states about applying.

Other states affected are Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.

John Milisauskas, Kenosha County Job Center manager, said there are reviews pending for TAA eligibility for some other businesses here too. He said eligibility requirements were lowered in May, leading to a backlog of applications. The Labor Department also expanded TAA funding nationwide from $220 million to $575 million as part of the federal stimulus package.

Milisauskas said the Job Center has two Wisconsin Job Service staff members handling TAA cases. He said they help applicants complete registration materials and can give approval for retraining course work tuition, books and supplies as well as other costs.

The retraining benefits are good for the worker’s lifetime. Milisauskas said a retrained worker who finds a new job and then is let go a few years later would qualify for more retraining.

Milisauskas expected, based on previous experience, that about 90 percent of the 315 probably will seek the benefits. He said the last time Chrysler here qualified for TAA, the supplemental income and health care offerings were not available.

“It’s an excellent resource for employees,” he said. “It offers a lot of extra help in obtaining employment.”