Workers Adjustment Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act)

The Workers Adjustment Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) requires employers to provide 60 days notice to all employees being laid off in a WARN event.  A WARN event is defined as a mass-layoff at a facility in which 50 or more fulltime, six-month tenured employees are laid off within 30 days of each other.  Further, the 50 or more affected employees must comprise at least one third of the total employees working at the affected facility before the WARN event took place.  If 500 or more employees from one facility are laid off, the WARN Act also grants protection.  Not all employers are covered by the WARN Act; employers must have at least 100 employees, counted in accordance with the act, for the law to apply.

If you were involved in a layoff that did not comply with the WARN Act you may be eligible for one day of severance plus benefits for every day that passed in which you did not receive your entitled notice.  Hence, if you were given zero notice you may be entitled to sixty days severance plus benefits. 

Due to the nature of mass-layoffs it is very common for the company involved to file for bankruptcy protection.  If this happens it does not necessarily mean the company is immune to any action one might choose to bring.  Many WARN cases are brought in bankruptcy court.

Nichols Kaster & Anderson, PLLP has litigation experience in many types of cases, including cases involving Workers Adjustment Retraining Notification Act violations.  If you think your WARN Act rights were violated, feel free to contact us.