Does the WARN Act apply? Federal and state notice rules, with a calculator

Does the WARN Act apply to my company?

Federal WARN applies if you have 100 or more full-time employees, or 100 or more employees who together work at least 4,000 hours a week. It requires 60 days' written notice before a plant closing that ends 50 or more full-time jobs at one site within 30 days, or a mass layoff at a site of 500 or more people, or 50 to 499 if they're at least 33% of the site's full-time workforce. Then check the state: sixteen states have their own laws, several with lower thresholds or 90 days' notice.

The federal rules

Test	Rule
Employer	100+ full-time employees, or 100+ employees working 4,000+ hours a week combined
Part-time	Under 20 hours a week on average, or employed under 6 of the last 12 months; left out of the counts below
Plant closing	A site or unit shut down, with 50+ full-time job losses at the site in 30 days
Mass layoff	500+ full-time job losses at a site in 30 days, or 50 to 499 if they're at least 33% of the site's full-time workforce
Aggregation	Separate cuts within 90 days add up, unless each had its own separate cause
Notice	60 days, in writing, to each affected employee (or their union), the state dislocated-worker unit and the chief elected local official
If notice is missed	Back pay and benefits for each day of violation, up to 60 days; up to $500 a day for not notifying local government
Exceptions	Faltering company seeking capital (plant closings only), unforeseeable business circumstances, natural disaster; notice still as early as practicable

Exhibit 1. Source: 29 U.S.C. 2101-2104; 20 CFR 639.3

Three counting rules catch employers out:

• Part-time employees don't count toward the thresholds, but they do get notice if WARN applies. Part-time means under 20 hours a week on average, or employed fewer than 6 of the last 12 months, so recent and seasonal hires are part-time too.
• Separate cuts add up. Two or more groups of job losses at one site within 90 days, each below the threshold, count together unless the employer shows each had its own separate cause.
• Remote employees count at their home site, the one that assigns their work or that they report to (20 CFR 639.3(i)(6)).

Check your layoff

The defaults are the worked example below: 400 full-time employees, 120 job losses at a 300-person site, and 30 days' notice given. Change them to yours, and pick the state.

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.

Step	Result
Employer covered?	Yes: 400 full-time employees
Mass layoff?	Yes: 120 is 50 or more, and 40% of the site's 300
Notice required	60 days
Days short	30, about 21 working days
Back pay before benefits	21 days × $300 × 120 people = $756,000

Exhibit 2. Source: FST calculation under 29 U.S.C. 2101-2104. Most federal circuits count working days; the Third Circuit counts calendar days.

What missing notice costs

Each affected employee can recover back pay and the value of benefits for each day of violation, up to 60 days, less any wages paid for that period. Most federal appeals courts count working days; the Third Circuit, covering Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, counts calendar days. Separately, an employer that doesn't notify local government faces a civil penalty of up to $500 a day, which it can avoid by paying employees what they're owed within 3 weeks of the layoff.

Paying 60 days' wages instead of giving notice isn't one of the law's exceptions, but it settles the back-pay liability, which is why many employers give notice and keep people on payroll for the 60 days instead.

State WARN laws

State	Status	Who's covered	What triggers it	Notice
California	Required	Any facility that employs, or employed in the last 12 months, 75 or more people, full- or part-time.	A layoff of 50 or more within 30 days at the facility, with no percentage test; or a closing or a relocation of 100+ miles, at any size.	60 days
Delaware	Required	Employers with 100 or more full-time employees, or 100 or more working 2,000+ hours a week combined.	Plant closing of 50+ at a site in 30 days; mass layoff of 50+ who are 33% of the site, or 500+.	60 days
Hawaii	Required	Businesses that employed 50 or more people at any time in the last 12 months.	Closings, partial closings, divestitures and out-of-state relocations tied to a sale, merger, takeover or bankruptcy. Ordinary layoffs don't trigger it.	60 days
Illinois	Required	Employers with 75 or more full-time employees, or 75 or more working 4,000+ hours a week combined.	Plant closing of 50+ at a site; mass layoff of 25+ who are 33% of the site, or 250+.	60 days
Iowa	Required	Employers with 25 or more full-time employees.	Closing or layoff with 25 or more job losses at a single site.	30 days
Maine	Required	Facilities that employ, or employed in the last 12 months, 100 or more people.	Closing, or relocation of 100+ miles. A mass layoff (33% and 50+, or 500+) needs notice to the state no later than 7 days after.	90 days for a closing or relocation
Maryland	Required	Employers with 50 or more employees in business in Maryland at least a year.	A shutdown or relocation that cuts the greater of 25% or 15 employees at a workplace. Under proposed rules, Maryland remote workers would count together as one workplace.	60 days
Nebraska	Required	Employers with 100 or more full-time employees. In effect from 2026 (approved April 14, 2026).	Closing or layoff with 100 or more job losses at a single site.	90 days
New Hampshire	Required	Employers with 100 or more full-time employees in New Hampshire, or 100 or more working 3,000+ hours a week combined.	Plant closing of 50+ at a site in 30 days; mass layoff of 25+ who are 33% of full-time staff, or 250+.	60 days
New Jersey	Required	Employers with 100 or more employees, part-time included, commonly read as counting employees outside New Jersey too.	50 or more terminations within 30 days at or reporting to an establishment, with no percentage test.	90 days
New York	Required	Employers with 50 or more full-time employees in New York, or 50 or more working 2,000+ hours a week combined.	Plant closing of 25+ at a site; mass layoff of 25+ who are 33% of the site, or 250+; also relocations and hour reductions.	90 days
Ohio	Required	Employers covered by federal WARN; the law adopts the federal definitions.	Federal plant closings and mass layoffs. Separately, 50+ unemployment claims expected need notice to the state 3 working days before.	60 days, adding state and local officials as recipients
Tennessee	Required	Workplaces with 50 to 99 full-time employees (larger ones fall under federal WARN).	A reduction of 50 or more employees: a closure, modernization, relocation of 50+ miles or policy change.	No advance period; notify the state after telling employees.
Vermont	Required	Employers with 50 or more full-time employees, or 50 or more part-time employees working 1,040+ hours a year each.	A closing or layoff affecting 50 or more employees at one or more Vermont worksites.	45 days to the state; 30 days to employees and the municipality
Washington	Required	Employers with 50 or more full-time employees in Washington.	Closing of 50+ at a site; mass layoff of 50+. The mass-layoff definition isn't expressly limited to one site, and counsel disagree whether cuts across Washington sites add up; check before relying on a per-site count.	60 days
Wisconsin	Required	Employers with 50 or more people in Wisconsin.	Closing affecting 25+; mass layoff of the greater of 25% or 25 employees, or 500+.	60 days
Massachusetts	Voluntary	Facilities with 50 or more employees.	Advance notice is voluntary. Closing employers must report to the state, and health coverage continuation rules apply.	Voluntary
Michigan	Voluntary	Establishments with 25 or more people.	The state encourages notice of closings and relocations.	Voluntary
Minnesota	Voluntary	Any employer that gives notice, including federal WARN notice.	Notice is encouraged, not required. Any employer that gives notice must report affected employees' names, addresses and occupations to the state.	Voluntary
Oregon	Voluntary	Federal WARN definitions only.	No separate state trigger; federal notices go to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission.	Federal 60 days

Note: Summaries. Counting rules differ: some states count company-wide, some in-state only, some per facility.

Exhibit 3. Source: State statutes as linked in the calculator, checked 2026-10-30. Every other state relies on federal WARN alone.

What differs most, state by state:

• Notice: 90 days in New York, New Jersey and Nebraska, and in Maine for closings. 30 days in Iowa.
• Who counts: New York, Washington, New Hampshire and Wisconsin count employees in the state. California, Maine and Hawaii look at each facility. New Jersey is commonly read to count employees everywhere.
• Thresholds: California has no percentage test and counts part-time staff; a layoff of 50 within 30 days at a 75-person facility is enough. Washington's mass-layoff definition isn't expressly limited to one site, and counsel disagree whether cuts across its Washington sites add up.
• Required severance: New Jersey, one week's pay per full year of service in a covered layoff, plus four weeks if notice is short. Maine, one week per year for employees with three or more years on a closing or relocation. Hawaii, up to four weeks of the gap between wages and unemployment benefits.
• New laws: Ohio's took effect September 30, 2025, Washington's in July 2025 (amended March 2026), and Nebraska's in 2026 (approved April 14). California's SB 617 changed what a notice must contain from January 1, 2026, and SB 951 adds a disclosure when AI caused the layoff from January 1, 2027. Connecticut's Public Act 26-15 requires the same disclosure on federal WARN filings from October 1, 2026.

Exceptions, and why to read them narrowly

Federal WARN shortens the notice period in three cases: a faltering company seeking capital that notice would have scared off (plant closings only), business circumstances that weren't reasonably foreseeable, and natural disasters. Even then, notice is due as soon as practicable, with a statement of why it's short. Courts read these exceptions narrowly, and several states don't have them.

Where this fits

WARN notice sets the calendar for the rest of a reduction in force. See planning a reduction in force for the order of the steps, OWBPA release timelines for the release periods that run alongside, and the total cost, where pay in lieu of notice is one of the lines.

For how notice plays out in particular industries, such as part-time and single-store counting in retail or remote staff in tech, see outplacement by industry. The employee's side of the same rules: did my employer give proper notice?

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. California Legislative Information, California Labor Code 1400-1408 (Cal-WARN), as amended by SB 617, accessed Oct 30, 2026.
5. New York State Senate, New York Labor Law article 25-A, accessed Oct 30, 2026.
6. 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.
7. Littler Mendelson, California amends its WARN Act again (SB 951), accessed Oct 30, 2026.
8. Connecticut General Assembly, Connecticut Public Act 26-15, section 26, accessed Oct 30, 2026.
9. Nebraska Legislature, Nebraska Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, LB 921 (slip law), accessed Oct 30, 2026.
10. Washington State Legislature, RCW chapter 49.45, Securing Timely Notification and Benefits for Laid-Off Employees Act, accessed Oct 30, 2026.
11. Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules, Ohio Revised Code 4113.31, accessed Oct 30, 2026.