The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (the “WARN Act”) requires businesses that employ over 100 workers to either give their employees 60 days’ notice in writing of a “mass layoff” or plant closing. A mass layoff occurs under the WARN Act when either:
at least 50 employees are laid off during a 30-day period, if the laid-off employees made up at least one third of the workforce; or
500 employees are laid off during a 30-day period, no matter how large the workforce; or an entire work site is closed down and at least 50 employees are laid off during a 30-day period.
If your employer fails to provide sufficient WARN Act notice, you may be owed the back pay and benefits that you would have earned during that 60 days as if the layoff had not occurred.