Did your employer give proper notice of the layoff? WARN rules for employees

Did my employer have to give notice before the layoff?

If your employer has 100 or more full-time employees and laid off at least 50 full-time people at your site within 30 days, federal law probably required 60 days' written notice. The exact test: the site closed with 50 or more job losses, or the layoff hit 500 or more people, or 50 to 499 who were at least a third of the site's full-time staff. Several states set lower thresholds or longer notice; New York, New Jersey and Nebraska require 90 days. Smaller layoffs usually don't require notice under federal law.

Check your layoff

Enter what you know about your site. You may not know exact headcounts; the WARN notice, a news report, or your state's public WARN list (most states post the notices they receive) usually has them.

WARN notice check

Full-time employees, all US sites

Part-time employees

Under 20 hours a week, or under 6 of the last 12 monthsWeekly hours, all employees

Only needed if under 100 full-time: the 4,000-hour testFull-time employees at the affected site

Full-time job losses at the site

Within 30 days; 90 if separate cuts add upIs the site or a unit closing?No, a layoffYes, a shutdownDays of notice given

Average daily pay

$

StateFederal only / other stateCaliforniaDelawareHawaiiIllinoisIowaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaNebraskaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkOhioOregonTennesseeVermontWashingtonWisconsin

Federal WARN

Employer covered (100+ full-time, or 100+ working 4,000 hours a week)

Yes

Triggering event at this site

Mass layoff

60 days' notice required

Yes

Days short

30 (about 21 working days)

Back-pay exposure, before benefits

$756,000

Back pay = working days short × daily pay × people affected, plus the cost of benefits. The Third Circuit (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware) counts calendar days instead, which is higher. Back pay is also capped at half the days the employee was employed (29 U.S.C. 2104(a)(1)), which only matters for recent hires.

State law

Pick the state where the affected site is. Every other state relies on federal WARN alone, as of October 2026. Connecticut adds an AI-cause disclosure to federal WARN filings from October 1, 2026; Pennsylvania has a bill in committee.

Educational estimate, not legal advice. Nothing you enter leaves this page.

What you're owed if notice was short

Each affected employee can recover back pay and the value of benefits for each day the notice fell short, up to 60 days. If your employer gave 30 days' notice and owed 60, that's roughly 30 days of pay and benefits; most courts count working days, which is about 21. Wages your employer paid you for those days, and some voluntary payments, are subtracted. You enforce it through a lawsuit, often brought as a class action by an employment lawyer, so talk to one before signing a release that might waive the claim.

Common reasons notice isn't owed

• Your employer has fewer than 100 full-time employees.
• The layoff was spread out: under 50 people at your site within 30 days, and no separate cuts that add up within 90 days.
• The cuts were a smaller share of a big site: 50 to 499 people, but under a third of the site's full-time staff.
• You were part-time (under 20 hours a week, or employed under 6 of the last 12 months). You don't count toward the thresholds, though you're owed notice if the law applies.
• An exception applied: business circumstances that weren't reasonably foreseeable, a natural disaster, or (for closings) a struggling company trying to raise money. Notice is still due as soon as practicable.

State rules

New York covers employers with 50 or more employees in the state and requires 90 days. New Jersey covers employers with 100 or more employees, counts part-time staff, requires 90 days, and requires severance of one week's pay per full year of service in a covered layoff, plus four more weeks if notice was short. California covers any facility with 75 or more people, with no percentage test. Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Washington, Wisconsin and others have their own versions. The calculator above summarizes each state's rule.

WARN pay and unemployment benefits

If your employer keeps you on payroll for the notice period, you're still employed and usually can't collect unemployment until it ends. Back pay won later in a lawsuit is a different matter. File for unemployment as soon as you stop working and let the state decide. See unemployment and severance by state.

What to do now

• Keep the notice, the date you received it, and your last day.
• Look up your state's WARN list to see what your employer filed.
• Read your release before signing; if you're 40 or older you have at least 21 or 45 days, see how long you have to sign.
• Start the first 30 days' steps: what to do first after a layoff.

Sources

1. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 29 U.S.C. 2101-2109, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, accessed Oct 30, 2026.
2. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (eCFR text), 20 CFR 639.3, Definitions, accessed Oct 30, 2026.
3. US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, WARN Advisor and Employer's Guide to Advance Notice of Closings and Layoffs, accessed Oct 30, 2026.
4. New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, File a WARN notice (N.J.S.A. 34:21-1 et seq.), accessed Oct 30, 2026.