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In today’s economy, layoffs seem inevitable; however, federal law requires some employers to provide advance notice of mass layoffs. This enables workers to either find new employment or to enter training courses. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“WARN”) requires covered employers to provide sixty days written advance notice of plant closings or mass layoffs to employees or their representatives (such as a labor union), the state rapid response dislocated worker unit, and local government. WARN applies to employers who employ one hundred or more workers, not including workers who have worked less than six months in the preceding year or employees who work less than twenty hours a week.
A covered employer must give notice when the closing of an employment site will result in an employment loss for fifty or more employees during a thirty day period or when a mass layoff will cause an employment loss for (1) 500 or more employees or (2) 50-499 employees if those employees comprise at least 33% of the employer’s workforce. An employer who violates WARN is liable to each aggrieved employee for back pay and benefits for the period of the violation, up to sixty days. Some exceptions exist, such as where unforeseeable business circumstances force an employer to conduct a mass layoff.
To speak with an employment law attorney about WARN or a potential layoff, contact the employment law attorneys at Clouse Dunn LLP at info@cdklawyers.com.
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