Mass lay­offs and plant clo­sures are tough for every­one involved. Employ­ees lose their jobs, and busi­ness­es face finan­cial and legal con­se­quences. The Work­er Adjust­ment and Retrain­ing Noti­fi­ca­tion (WARN) Act is a fed­er­al law that pro­tects work­ers by requir­ing advance notice of large-scale lay­offs. If you’re an employ­er plan­ning work­force reduc­tions or an employ­ee won­der­ing about your rights, here’s what you need to know.

What Is the WARN Act?

The WARN Act, passed in 1988, requires cer­tain employ­ers to pro­vide 60 days’ notice before a mass lay­off or plant clos­ing. The goal is to give employ­ees time to pre­pare for job loss, seek new employ­ment, and access retrain­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties (29 U.S.C. § 2101 et seq.).

This law applies to pri­vate employ­ers with 100 or more full-time employ­ees. It cov­ers two main scenarios:

1. Plant Clo­sures – A full shut­down of a work­site that affects at least 50 full-time employees.
2. Mass Lay­offs – A work­force reduc­tion affect­ing at least 50 employ­ees and one-third of the work­force at a sin­gle loca­tion, or any lay­off of 500 or more employ­ees regard­less of per­cent­age (29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(2)-(3)).

Con­tin­ue read­ing The WARN Act: What Employ­ers and Employ­ees Need to Know About Mass Lay­offs →