The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) requires employers with at least 100 employees to give 60 days notice before layoffs or closures. Notification must be given to employees, state units for displaced workers, and local elected officials. The law applies to private, semi-private, and public companies, but not to government entities. Exceptions include temporary jobs, finished projects, lockouts due to employment negotiations, and emergencies or natural disasters.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) is a piece of labor legislation in the United States designed to offer protection not only to workers but also to workers’ families and their communities. Under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, employers are required to give at least 60 days notice before layoffs and closures. Notice must be given to both employees or their worker representatives, the state unit for displaced workers, and the head of the local elected office, usually the mayor. WARN was signed into law by President George HW Bush on August 4, 1988, and its provisions went into effect on February 4, 1989.
An employer falls under the scope of the Workers’ Adjustment and Retraining Act if it has at least 100 employees. This count includes salaried employees, managers and supervisors, as well as hourly-paid staff members. Employees who work fewer than 20 hours per week or who worked fewer than six of the previous 12 months, however, don’t count towards this total, nor do contractors or business partners. Most organizations are affected: private, semi-private and public companies are affected, whether they are profit or non-profit, but local, state and federal government entities are not included.
Under the Workers’ Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, notification must be given when a plant is closed. WARN defines a facility closure as a site that has been completely shut down and the closure of which causes at least 50 workers to lose employment in any 30 day period. Voluntary and mandatory retirement or termination, layoffs that last more than a six-month period, and hours reduced by at least 50 percent during a six-month period qualify as job loss under this law.
Mass layoffs also require notification under the Workers’ Adjustment and Retraining Act. A layoff that results in the loss of employment as defined above for at least 500 workers in any 30 day period is a mass layoff under WARN. Layoffs affecting at least 50 employees in a workplace where this group makes up one third of the total workforce are also considered mass layoffs under this legislation.
WARN allows for some exceptions. Temporary jobs are excluded from this legislation and workers who complete a finished project are not considered made redundant, provided the workers understood that the job was temporary. In the event of a lockout due to employment negotiations, the Workers’ Adjustment and Retraining Act does not require an employer to give notice. Employers are also exempt from the need to give notice in the event of an emergency or natural disaster.
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