California has enacted legislation that significantly expands the information that employers must include in their WARN notices and actions they must take under the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“CalWARN”). Starting January 1, 2026, employers can no longer simply include the federal WARN Act notice content in their CalWARN notices.
CalWARN’s Notice Obligations
CalWARN applies to all employers in California that operate a California “covered establishment,” which is defined as “any industrial or commercial facility or part thereof that employs, or has employed within the preceding 12 months, 75 or more persons.”1
The CalWARN 60-day notice obligations are triggered if an employer suffers a “mass layoff,”2 a “termination,”3 or a “relocation”4 at a covered establishment. Currently, if one of these events is going to occur, the employer must provide at least 60 days’ notice before the effective date to the affected employees, the California Employment Development Department, the local workforce investment board, the chief elected county official and the chief elected city official for the worksite where the mass layoff, termination or relocation is scheduled to occur.5 CalWARN prior to amendment adopted federal WARN Act elements for the content of the CalWARN notice.6
Expansion of CalWARN’s Notice Obligations
On October 1, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 617 into law, amending California Labor Code section 1401. While events that...
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