Notice Prior to Termination
WARN has been widely ignored by employers…”
–Ashlea Ebeling, “Layoffs and Lawsuits”, Forbes (2008).
In certain circumstances, workers are entitled to receive notice prior to the termination of their employment, especially if their employment terminates as a result of a mass layoff or plant shutdown. Both federal and state laws provide standards that employers must follow in such instances. For example, under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, employers must provide 60 days advance warning of mass layoffs and plant closings to every affected employee. An employer is covered by the WARN Act if, among other things, it has (1) 100 or more employees (excluding certain part-time employees) or (2) 100 or more employees who in the aggregate work at least 4,000 hours per week (excluding overtime hours). If such an employer fails to provide 60 days of notice as provided by the WARN Act, the employer can be liable for back pay to each affected employee for each day of the violation.
For more on the obligations placed on employers by the WARN Act, see Jim’s article on the subject: “Sale of Part or All of an Employer’s Business: Potential Pitfalls for Buyers and Sellers Under the Federal WARN Act“.