The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act (“the Act”) requires all private profit and non-profit employers in the U.S. with 100 or more full-time employees to provide a 60-day advance notice of mass layoffs or plant closings. WARN applies to full-time workers who are not on a temporary assignment. It was enacted in 1988 to provide workers with sufficient time to prepare for the transition between the jobs they currently hold and new jobs.

If an employer fails to provide the mandatory 60-day notice, it must pay back pay and benefits to the affected employees for each day that the employer failed to give notice, up to the mandatory 60 days. 

If you have been laid off as part of a mass layoff or plant closure and did not receive the required 60-day notice, contact Deborah for a legal consultation today. She can evaluate your case and assist in obtaining back pay and benefits owed under the Act.  

What Triggers the WARN Act? 

The requirement for a 60-day notice is triggered in the following situations:  

• Layoffs of 500 or more workers at a single site or location. “Site” and “location” are broad terms and may include all buildings in a corporate complex or multiple addresses in a row or nearby to each other. 

• Layoffs of 50 or more workers when those layoffs comprise 33% of the total full-time workers at the work location. 

• Layoffs of 50 or more workers when closing a building or facility, or the layoffs include the discontinuation of an entire operating unit (not all 50 workers need to be part of the operating unit being closed). 

• Temporary layoffs meeting the above criteria that become permanent or will now exceed 6 months (except for cases where the extension was not reasonably foreseeable), and, 

• Reduction of hours by 50% or more, for each month in a 6-month period, for an employee group that meets the size and percentage of 1-3 above. 

Each layoff or closure is tracked for up to 90 days. For example, if an employer with 200 employees lays off 40 workers on Day 1, then lays off an additional 30 employees 20 days later, all 70 employees are entitled to the 60-day notice before termination of employment. The 40 workers laid off without notice on Day 1 would be subject to 60 days of back pay even though their individual mass layoff did not trigger WARN and was not triggered until the occurrence of subsequent layoffs.   

There are limited exceptions to the WARN notice requirements: (1) when a company is seeking funding and giving a warning would jeopardize the ability of the company to gain capital and continue to function; (2) when the closure was unforeseeable such as a sudden pandemic, or (3) when the closure or layoff is a result of a natural disaster. 

Penalties for Employers Who Violate WARN 

Employers who fail to provide the mandatory 60-day notice will be required to provide back pay for the length of the violation, up to 60 days. The back pay also includes benefits, such as health care coverage. Employers in violation of the Act may be subject to penalties up to $500.00 for each day of violation.  The employer may also be required to pay reasonable attorney’s fees and costs if the case is resolved in court.  

Contact Deborah, an experienced WARN Act Attorney, for an appointment to discuss what in happening at your work site or location.