How to Tell If You’re About to Get Laid Off Before Your Boss

What Is the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN)

If your company meets certain requirements, you’ll be provided advance notice of layoffs due to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). This federal law requires employers with 100 or more employees to give them 60 days’ notice before laying them off. The law aims to give employees time to apply for new jobs and receive retraining.

Most states have a page for WARN notices under their Department of Labor or Workforce Development websites. To check if your company has upcoming mass layoffs coming, try searching for your state plus the words WARN Notices. There are also organizations such as WARNTracker that aggregate notices.

The WARN Act Details You Need to Know

According to the law, which was enacted in 1988, employers with 100 or more employees must give a 60-day notice to employees if they plan to lay off 50 or more employees from a plant closing.

The law also applies to companies that plan to lay off 500 or more employees at any location. In addition, if a company lays off 50 to 499 employees (equaling 33% or more of the company’s workforce), the employer would need to give 60 days prior notice to employees losing their jobs. The notifications are not just sent to employees but to state and local representatives as well.

To be covered under the WARN Act, employees must work at least 20 hours per week and have been employed with the company for at least six months.

If an employer doesn’t give notice to employees as required by the WARN Act, the employer may have to pay employees for each day the notice was not given. If you believe you were not given proper notice under the WARN Act, you should reach out to an attorney.

What Is in a WARN Notice?

The notice must explain whether the plant closing or layoff is temporary, six months or less, or permanent. The notice must give the layoff date and provide contact information for the person in the company that employees can contact for more information.

When WARN Doesn’t Apply

There are a few exceptions to the 60 days of notice required in the WARN Act:

• If the company is seeking capital or new business that would postpone or delay layoffs, and it believes advance notice of layoffs would hinder these efforts, the company does not have to give a WARN notice.
• If the company could not foresee the circumstances that led to the layoffs, they are not required to give a WARN notice to employees.
• If the layoffs were the result of a natural disaster such as a flood, earthquake, or tornado, the employer is not required to give a WARN notice prior to laying off employees.

Additional State Protections

Thirteen states offer their own protections for workers who are being laid off. These states include California, Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

States are allowed to alter the restrictions, such as giving workers more notice or reducing the required number of employees. For example, New York and Maine require employers to provide 90 days’ notice when laying off a large number of employees, while Iowa requires employers with more than 25 employees to provide only 30 days’ notice.

The Bottom Line

Being laid off is a stressful time, but you do have rights under the WARN Act, a federal law requiring some employers to give 60 days’ notice ahead of company layoffs. This federal law applies to employers with 100 or more workers planning to lay off 50 or more workers at a plant closing.

It also applies to employers planning to lay off 500 or more workers at any location, and to employers that lay off 50 to 499 workers when this is 33% or higher of the workforce. If you believe a company has violated the WARN Act, contact an attorney. You may be owed pay for each day the WARN notice was not given.