WARN Fact Sheet and Sample Letters

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WORKER ADJUSTMENT AND RETRAINING NOTIFICATION (WARN)

In recent days, franchised new car dealers and other employers have been reducing hours/pay or closing employment sites in response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. For many employers, these layoffs are expected to be temporary while the virus runs its course, a period estimated by the current administration (at a press conference held on March 16, 2020) to end in July or August 2020. But a lot can happen during that time, including the possibility, as the president acknowledged on March 16, a recession. That might turn a short-term layoff into an event that triggers notice obligations under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

Federal Requirements

  • Applies to employers of 100 or more employees (not counting those who have worked less than 6 months in the last 12 months or worked an average of less than 20 hours a week). It covers:

    • Plant closing

      • Results in employment loss (including layoff exceeding 6 months) of 50 or more employees during a 30-day period

      • Results in reduction of hours for 50 or more employees. The employee’s hours of work must be more than 50% in each month of any 6-month period.

    • Mass layoffs

      • Layoffs of 500 or more employees during a 30-day period; or

      • Layoffs of more than 50 or more employees at a single site if they make up at least 33% of the active workforce.

  • 60 days notice must be given to the following:

    • All affected employees

    • The representative of the affected employees, such as union bargaining agent

    • The State dislocated worker unit

    • The chief elected official of the unit of local government in which the employment site is located.

  • Exceptions to notice:

    • Closing of temporary facilities;

    • Closing or mass layoffs resulting from completion of a particular project of limited duration

    • Employment loss as a result of a strike

    • Layoffs due to unforeseen business circumstances

    • Faltering companies

    • Natural disasters

  • Exceptions to the 60 day advance notice rule (notice must still be provided as soon as practicable):

    • faltering company

    • unforeseen business circumstances

    • natural disater

State Requirements

  • Applies to private businesses with 50 or more full-time workers in New York State. It covers:

    • Closings affecting 25 or more workers

    • Mass layoffs involving 25 or more full-time workers (if the 25 or more workers make up at least 33% of all the workers at the site)

    • Mass layoffs involving 250 or more full-time workers

    • Certain other relocations and

    • Reductions in work hours (more than 50% during each month of a 6-month period) involving 25 of more full-time workers constituting 33% of the employees at the site, or 250 workers.

  • 90 days prior notice must be given to:

    • All affected employees

    • Any employee representative(s)

    • The New York State Department of Labor (DOL)

    • The Local Workforce Investment Board (LWIB)

LINKS TO SAMPLE LETTERS