Understanding the WARN Act: What It Means When Layoffs Happen
A WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notice is a legal requirement for certain employers to give at least 60 days' advance written notice to workers, their representatives, and local officials before a mass layoff or plant closing. This notice is designed to protect workers, families, and communities by giving them time to prepare for potential job loss and seek new opportunities or retraining. It is triggered by events such as a plant shutdown or a layoff that affects a significant number of employees.
This lawfirm expands on this further: Covered employers must provide notice if there will be a mass layoff which does not result from a plant closing, but will result in an employment loss at an employment site for 500 or more employees, or for 50-499 employees if they make up at least 33% of the employer’s total active workforce, during any 30 day period. Covered employers must also give notice if the number of employment losses for 2 or more groups of workers, each of which is less than the minimum number needed to trigger the notice requirement under the Act, reaches the threshold level during any 90 day period of either a plant closing or mass layoff. Such job losses within a 90 day period will count together toward the Act threshold requirements unless the employer demonstrates that the losses during the 90 day period were the result of separate and distinct actions and causes.
How does this typically play out in the US tech industry?
Employees are told they are being let go due to “organizational restructuring” and that they have 60 days to find another job within the company or elsewhere. During this time they have extremely limited access to the company network and are essentially just collecting a paycheck for 2 months. During this time, they do not have the network access needed to continue functioning in their role.
The company pays you more than 60 days of severance pay and this gets around giving any advance notice. On average, this amount is 90 days of severance. In these cases, employees are let go immediately. They have not been fired, but are no longer employees and access to network resources has been turned off.
Do companies try to get around WARN? Yes, by laying off just enough people not to trigger it or paying more than 60 days of severance. This is why employees are often blindsided.
It is important to note that this pertains to the United. Employees outside the US have different processes and even within the US, certain states have additional criteria. California is one such state with “mini WARN” known as Cal-WARN which will expand even further on January 1, 2026.
Other states with "mini-WARN" acts include Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Additional Resources:
WARN Tracker: Layoff insights from public records
US Deptartment of Labor: WARN Act Compliance Assistance including a downloadable Worker’s Guide.