The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN)  requires employers to give workers, their families and communities by requiring employers 60 days advance notice of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs. The WARN Act notice must be given to either affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union); to the State dislocated worker unit; and to the appropriate unit of local government.  The WARN law generally applies to employers who have 100 or more employees.

LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR PLANT CLOSINGS AND LAYOFFS

Plant closings and mass layoffs trigger the requirement of advance notice.  A plant closing is defined as shutdown of an employment site that results in 50 or more employees experiencing employment loss.  A mass layoff involves an employment loss at the employment site during any 30-day period of 500 or more employees, or 50-499 employees if they make up at least 33% of the employer's active workforce. 

If a plant is being closed as part of the sale or merger of a company, the seller is responsible for notice up to and including the date or time of the sale and the buyer is responsible for notice after the sale.  The employees of the seller become the employees of the buyer for WARN purposes at the time of sale.

CONTACT US

To speak to an employment attorney about plant closings and mass layoffs, please contact us here, or call 713.650.9700.