Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN)
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is a federal law that requires employer with 100 or more full-time workers to give 60-days advance notice of a plant closing or mass layoff.
Employers are affected if, during a 30-day period, they:
- close a facility or discontinue an operating unit and 50 or more full-time workers suffer an employment loss; or
- have a reduction in force that results in an employment loss for 50-499 full-time workers (and these workers comprise at least 33% of the total workforce at a single site of employment); or
- have a reduction in force that results in an “employment loss” for 500 or more full-time workers at a single site of employment.
Employers may also be required to give 60-days advance notice if, over a 90-day period, they have a series of small layoffs, none of which individually meet the threshold requirements of a plant closing or mass layoff but which collectively add up to numbers that require WARN notice. Employers are not required to give notice if it can show that the individual events occurred as a result of separate and distinct actions and causes and not an attempt to evade WARN Act requirements.
The law requires that WARN notification be given to the appropriate local chief elected official, the Dislocated Worker Unit of the State Department of Labor, and the collective bargaining representative of affected employees or each employee if the employees do not have such representation.
This notification should include:
- the name and address of the impacted employment site;
- the date(s) of proposed closing or mass layoff;
- the number of affected workers and address of their collective bargaining representative and chief elected officer if applicable; and,
- the name, address, and telephone number of the employer representative to contact regarding the closing or mass layoff.
Written notification should be on company letterhead, signed and dated by the authorized employer representative, and either emailed or mailed to:
Rapid Response Unit
Connecticut Department of Labor
200 Folly Brook Boulevard
Wethersfield, CT 06109-1114
dol.rapidresponse@ct.gov
CTDOL recommends that employers review the WARN Notice Act and seek counsel related to its provisions, penalties, exceptions, and enforcement. The CTDOL Rapid Response Unit is able to assist employers who are facing layoffs or who have questions about WARN. Visit the Rapid Response webpage, call 860-263-6580, or email dol.rapidresponse@ct.gov
Additional Information
- The US Department of Labor (US DOL) provides additional information about the WARN Act through their publications:
- Employer's Guide (USDOL Web Site)
- Worker's Guide (USDOL Web Site)
- Guía para el Trabajadores (USDOL Web Site)
- The US DOL published WARN Act regulations presented in a step-by-step Q&A
format, Title 20 Code of Federal Regulations Part 639. - Specific requirements of the WARN Act may be found in the Act itself, Public Law 100-379 29 U.S.C. 2101, et seq.