California’s WARN Act requires employers to give 60 days’ notice before mass layoffs, relocations, or plant closures affecting 50 or more workers. Non-compliance results in penalties, including compensation for lost wages and benefits owed to affected employees.
By Brad Nakase, Attorney
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If a company plans to lay off a large number of workers, close a plant, or move offices, they must give their employees 60 days’ notice under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) or Labor Code 1400-1408 LC. To safeguard workers, their families, and the communities they serve, the law grants affected persons and community leaders additional time to get ready for significant changes brought about by a single large employer in the area.
The overarching goal of this rule is to provide workers with the time they need to make necessary preparations, such as looking for a new job, getting re-educated, or moving. Both public and private sector employers are subject to this law. The onus is on employers to compensate workers for lost time and pay them back in full if they fail to give this advance notice. Therefore, a company owes its workers fifty days’ worth of wages and benefits if it gave them ten days’ notice.
Employees have the right to receive written notice from their employers sixty days before any:
Employees may receive this information either directly or via a representative of the relevant state dislocated worker unit. This is the Workforce Services Division of the Employment Development Department in California. Notifying the local chief elected officials, as well as the Local Workforce Development Areas, is a requirement for employers in California.
If a company plans to lay off fifty or more workers, move their workplace, or close their plant, the WARN Act will protect those workers. The plan is to provide those workers enough time to get ready for the changeover and make any necessary adjustments. For businesses with 75 or more employees, whether full- or part-time, in the previous twelve months, California law mandates that they give 60 days’ written notice before closing, relocating, or implementing mass layoffs. This encompasses workers who have been on staff for a minimum of six months out of the twelve months preceding the notice period.
The WARN Act helps people who have been fired get ready for the future and gives them the help and resources they need to undergo a change while they look for new work. The 2020 COVID pandemic brought the significance of the WARN Act into sharp focus. At the height of the COVID pandemic, an estimated 1.8 million people lost their jobs. Mass layoffs and WARN notices have been steadily rising since 2021, although the number of layoffs has decreased since then. An estimated 13,259 workers have lost their jobs in California as of 2024, with 236 WARN notices serving as precursors to these layoffs.
As the number of workers affected by recent mass layoffs rises, the WARN Act assumes greater significance. The number of affected employees in 2023 was twice as high as it had been during the economic downturns of 2001 and 2008. Factors such as rising interest rates on loans, which make it harder to finance company operations, downsizing by large corporations to prevent increases in labor costs, and automation of jobs driven by AI are all contributing to the current wave of layoffs.
The WARN Act is essential for the sake of the affected Californians because these new problems are lowering the demand for workers, which is having a negative effect on the job market.
Notice must be delivered to the employees at least sixty days before the event, as it is not sufficient for the notice to be merely sent sixty days ahead of the event. Companies should allow themselves plenty of time to notify their employees correctly and in a timely manner. The employer may still be liable for fines or lost wages compensation if the notice is not received in a timely manner, regardless of whether the notice is given sixty days prior to the relocation, mass layoff, or plant closing. It might be prudent to obtain signed confirmation of receipt when informing employees directly.
To assist businesses and employees in the days leading up to and following a plant closure or mass layoff, the state of California dispatches a rapid response team in response to WARN notifications. The Workforce Development Division (EDD) and the America’s Job Center of California (AJCC) collaborate on these teams. They support workers in a number of ways, one of which is by giving them access to tools and information that will help them get ready for their impending unemployment.
Among these resources are those from the AJCC, the WIOA’s Title I, and the programs that deal with unemployment insurance. If a worker loses their job due to foreign competition, they may be eligible for the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. Included in this program are:
Although there are a few different ways employers can notify their employees about mass layoffs, plant closures, or relocations, it must always be written down and provided at least 60 days ahead of time. You can send notice:
Any company intending to implement a mass layoff must first notify the relevant local regulatory bodies by sending emails to the addresses listed below. In addition to the WARN notice and the employer’s name, the emails must also contain the contact information. You need to attach the WARN notice to your email and make sure to include the employer’s name in the subject line.
Employers are required to include the following WARN Act requirements when drafting a WARN Act notice:
Each premises should have its own summary of impacted employees, unions, and timeframe if layoffs, relocation, or closure are impacting more than one worksite or location.
Governor Gavin Newsome vetoed the proposed assembly bill (AB) 1356 in October 2023. If a WARN Act-triggering event, such as a plant closure or mass layoff, were to occur, the proposed bill would have mandated that employers give employees an extra fifteen days’ notice.
Additional language in this bill would have broadened the definition of “employer” to encompass “a client employer of a labor contractor” and “employee” to include any individual who was hired by a labor contractor and doing labor with the client employer for a minimum of 6 of the 12 months and for a minimum of sixty hours preceding the date of which notice was required. Despite the veto, the legal climate may become considerably more employee friendly due to the rising number of layoffs in the past few years. When planning for future layoffs, employers may need to take new regulations into account.
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