WARN Act

Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act

Long title	An Act To require advance notification of plant closings and mass layoffs, and for other purposes
Acronyms (colloquial)	WARN Act
Enacted by	the 100th United States Congress
Citations
Public law	Pub.L. 100–379
Statutes at Large	102 Stat. 890
Codification
U.S.C. sections created	29 U.S.C. §§ 2101–2109
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 2527 by Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) on June 16, 1988 Passed the Senate on July 6, 1988 (72–23) Passed the House on July 13, 1988 (286–136) Left unsigned by President Ronald Reagan and became law on August 4, 1988

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) is a United States labor law which protects employees, their families, and communities by requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60 calendar-day advance notification of plant closings and mass layoffs of employees, as defined in the Act. In 2001, there were about 2,000 mass layoffs and plant closures which were subject to WARN advance notice requirements and which affected about 660,000 employees.

Employees entitled to notice under the WARN Act include managers and supervisors, hourly wage, and salaried workers. The WARN Act requires that notice also be given to employees' representatives (i.e., a labor union), the local chief elected official (i.e. the mayor), and the state dislocated worker unit.

The advance notice is intended to give workers and their families transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and to obtain other employment, and, if necessary, to enter skill training or retraining programs that will allow these workers to successfully compete in the job market.

Generally, the WARN Act covers employers with 100 or more employees, not counting those who have worked fewer than six months in the last twelve-month work period, and those who work an average of less than twenty hours a week. Employees entitled to advance notice under the WARN Act include managers, supervisors, hourly-wage, and salaried workers. Often, WARN Act problems arise when employers are acquired by other companies.

Employees unprotected by the WARN Act include:

The WARN Act is not activated when a covered employer:

The WARN Act also is not activated when the following coverage thresholds are unmet:

There are three exceptions to the full 60-day notice requirement; however, the notice must be provided as soon as practicable, even when these exceptions apply, and the employer must provide a statement of the reason for shortening the notice requirement in addition to fulfilling other notice information requirements. These three exceptions are:

Exceptions are often claimed by employers in bankruptcy cases, and bankruptcy courts must often determine how the WARN Act applies. Generally, the WARN Act's requirements and penalties apply when an employer continues to run the business in bankruptcy, rather than close the business, and also when an employer plans a closing or mass layoff before filing bankruptcy. The WARN Act does not apply to a trustee in bankruptcy whose sole function is to close the business.

...
Wikipedia