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Offices of Phillip J. Griego & Associates Law
Offices of Phillip J. Griego & Associates The WARN Act requires employers, in some circumstances, to provide a 60 day notice in writing prior to any scheduled mass lay off or plant closing. The Act applies to employers who have 100 or more employees, including part-time employees, who in the aggregate work at least 4,000 hours per week (100 employees working 40 hours per week).
The term "plant closing" means the permanent or temporary shut down of a single site of employment, if the shutdown results in an employment loss at that single site of employment during any 30-day period for 50 or more employees.
A "mass layoff" is a reduction in force that does not result from a plant closing and results in an employment loss at a single site of employment during any 30-day period for either (1) 500 employees or (2)at least 33% of the employees and at least 50 employees.
The "employment loss" must result in one of the following:
(1) termination without cause;
(2) voluntary termination;
(3) retirement;
(4) layoff exceeding 6 months;
(5) reduction in hours of work of more than 50% during each month of any 6 month period.
In order to be entitled to the WARN Act warning,
(1) the employer must have the minimum number of employees working the minimum number of hours (100 employees working 400 hours)
(2) there must be either:(a) a plant closing for at least 30-days where 50 or more employees at a single site will lose their jobs; or
(b) a mass layoff at a single site for at least 30-days where either:(i) 500 or employees will lose their jobs; or
(ii) 33% and 50 employees will lose their jobs.(3) The grieving employee must be one of the people being laid off.
If all of the above factors apply, the employer cannot close the plant or implement a mass layoff until the end of a 60-day period after the employer serves written notice to each of the affected employees or their representatives as well as the State Dislocated Worker Unit or Office.
The employer does not have to provide the requisite notice if the employer was actively seeking capital during the applicable 60-day period which, if obtained, would have avoided the plant closing or mass layoff and if disclosure of the potential plant closing or mass layoff would have precluded the employer from obtaining the necessary capital.
The employer may also order the plant closing or mass layoff if the closing or mass layoff is caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable, including as a result of natural disasters.
Temporary facilities and facilities that are open for a particular project are exempted from the WARN Act’s notification requirements so long as the employees were hired with the knowledge that the work would be limited in duration. Also exempted are closings or layoffs which constitute a strike or lockout.
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