On the CCA site it says
"The Continental Chess Association has awarded ratings to the following players. The award usually, but not always, results from an outstanding performance in a class tournament. "
Is there standard criteria for this? For instance would the player have to win clear first? etc.?
That would appear to be a question best addressed to the CCA, not the USCF.
That would be an appropriate question, since CCA is USCF rated. The answer is no standard criteria. There are guidelines, but no formula. It’s an anti-cheating rule invoking the director’s right to seed a player into a particular section if the TD feels there is justification.
Examples: if a 1405 has a monster tournament and wins $5,000 but only boosts to 1580, the CCA would probably move the player into the Class B section (i.e. not cheating, just underrated). If it is perceived that a Class A player tends to drop down to 1790s before large tournaments, then CCA would move that player into the Class A section (i.e. could be sandbagging).
If a player wins $2000 or more in a class section, the USCF will give that player a floor so that he can’t play in that section again. In the unlikely event that his post tournament rating doesn’t exceed that floor, his rating will be increased shortly. Mike Nolan would have the details better than I, if you care. Frank Berry got his 1800 floor by doing that at the U.S. Open a few years ago.
As far as CCA announcing that their directors will exercise their right to assign a higher rating than the official rating to certain players, I’m with Mike and don’t see why it’s any of the USCF’s business. You can do the same thing if you want for your tournaments.
Alex Relyea
I haven’t run a study on it, but in looking at class prize floors from time to time it appears to me that the player’s new rating doesn’t rise above his new floor about 25% of the time. If it doesn’t, the office procedures should update that player’s rating to match his floor effective with the tournament in which it was earned.
The new bonus factors should make it more likely that the player’s new rating is above his floor.
What new bonus factors? Was I asleep during the delegates meeting when that was mentioned? 
Maybe that’s why I’ve managed to have my rating published off my floor for three straight months. :mrgreen:
Read the rating committee’s report and/or the minutes of the May EB meeting, Polly.
The bonus factor was reduced from 10 to 6 (making it easier to earn bonus points) after a study of the impact of reducing it to either 6 or 8. This took effect for events that ended on or after June 7, 2008.
There was a fairly active topic on this in May and June in USCF Issues, I’ve posted to it to bring it to the top of the list.