WARN Act

Definition

The federal notice a large employer owes before a mass layoff.

Why It Matters

It reaches employers at a headcount threshold and requires written notice a fixed number of days ahead of a qualifying closing or layoff, to the workers, the state and the local government. A buyer who plans to consolidate a site, cut a shift or close a location is the party who triggers it, so the duty arrives with the plan and not with the purchase. The penalty is money: back pay and benefits for every day of the shortfall, per affected worker, which turns a scheduling mistake into a per-head bill. Several states set lower thresholds and longer notice periods than the federal floor, so the state where the people work decides the real answer. Settle the timing before the announcement, since notice cannot be given backwards.

In numbers: Thirty days of notice where sixty were owed is thirty days of back pay per worker, so fifty people at $200 a day is $300,000.