The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (“WARN”) Act requires employers to give employees at least 60 days’ notice when a “mass layoff” is about to occur at a “single site of employment,” which is typically a single location or a group of contiguous work locations. Courts are beginning to confront the question of what constitutes a “single site of employment” under the WARN Act for employees working remotely, and how remote work policies impact class certification considerations. Given the prevalence of remote work during the pandemic and the likely continuation of such work arrangements, these decisions are of particular importance to employers considering mass layoffs or facing class actions based on the application of remote work policies or practices.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Piron v. General Dynamics Information Technology Inc. recently addressed this issue in the context of a motion to certify a class under Rule 23(b)(3). There, the proposed class consisted of employees who had worked remotely under the defendant employer’s Flexible Work Location policy. Under this policy, the employees were given the option of working from a company provided setting such as an office or from an alternative setting like their home. Evidence gathered during litigation showed that the employees frequently moved from location to location to conduct their work duties.
When the employees were laid off, they filed a class action...
An Indian national faces multiple charges in the US for falsely claiming citizenship to vote in the 2024 elections, risking a decade in prison. Mukeshkumar Somabhai Chaudhari, an Indian national, ...