A long delayed significant reform to state regulation of mass layoffs looks sure to be part of 2023, probably taking effect by spring.
A bill extending when companies must provide advanced notice of layoffs and requiring that they pay severance to affected employees was passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in January 2020 — right before the start of the Covid pandemic. It was put on hold with its delay tied to Murphy’s never-ending pandemic emergency orders, and kept from taking effect.
Then right before Christmas during its last session of 2022, the Legislature passed a renewed version of the bill. It and 15 others are on Murphy’s desk, and if (when) he signs it the changes will become effective in 90 days.
This will reform and broaden the familiar WARN Act, which has required advanced notices of major layoffs. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act started as and is also known as the Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act — named after the company that greatly reduced its operations there in 2004 and ended them in 2010.
The WARN Act had simply required that a business with 100 or more full-time workers laying off at least 50 people at one site provide notice at least 60 days before the layoff.
For example, Teligent Inc. of Buena, a topical and injectable pharmaceuticals company, warned in October 2021 that it would lay off 133 workers the following December.
The expanded WARN Act is more easily triggered — by a...
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