The Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification Act (WARN) is a federal law that, in certain circumstances, requires employers to provide advanced notification to workers when faced with a plant closing or mass layoff. With this early notice, workers and their families are provided transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and obtain other employment, to access assistance through a Local Workforce Development Board, and enter skills training that will allow them to successfully compete in the job market.
What does WARN Require?
Generally speaking, WARN requires that employers with 100 or more full-time workers give employees 60 days’ notice in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs if they:
- Close a facility of 50 or more workers
- Discontinue an operating unit of 50 or more workers
- Lay off 50 to 499 workers, and these layoffs constitute 33% of the total work force at a single employment site
- Lay off 500 or more workers at a single employment site
Although some businesses are exempt from WARN, the law encourages all employers to give workers sufficient notice, to the extent possible.
Who must receive notice?
Notice must be given to:
- Each employee to be laid off, or the employee’s union representative, if represented by a union or unions,
- the chief elected official of the unit of local government where the closing is occurring (mayor),
- the state’s rapid response coordinator.
Send WARN notice or make inquiries to:
Bill Hancock
Employer Workforce Services and
State Rapid Response Coordinator
bill.hancock@okcommerce.gov
405-215-1967 (Cell)
405-815-5356 (Office)