Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, more complicated. In addition, the rise of the remote workforce also is making compliance more difficult. Court ruling and changes in state laws are contributing to these ongoing issues concerning the WARN Act.

The WARN Act is a federal law that requires employers who employ one hundred or more full-time workers to provide written notice at least 60 days before closing a plant or operating unit that affects at least fifty employees at one worksite. The law also requires employers conducting a mass layoff to give the same notice to employees unless it is the direct result of a natural disaster or unforeseeable business circumstances. A mass layoff occurs when a company lays off five hundred or more workers at one worksite within 30 days, or fewer workers if that number makes up one-third of the employer’s total workforce at one work site.

The WARN Act does not cover mass layoffs that last for less than six months. The law also does not apply to part-time workers, workers who retire, resign, or are terminated for just cause, or workers whom the employer offers a transfer to another work site.

Fifth Circuit Rules that Pandemic Does Not Excuse WARN ACT Violations

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently ruled in Easom v. US Well Services that the COVID-19 pandemic is not a natural disaster that would justify employers failing to give employees adequate warning of mass layoffs. This class action suit...

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