News Notes: WARN Act Violation Requires Employers To Pay only For Workdays

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) requires employers with 100 or more employees to give workers at least 60 days’ written notice of a pending mass layoff or plant shutdown. Instead of giving notice, you can pay workers for the 60-day period. Now, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, which covers California, has clarified that employees who lose their jobs without 60 days’ notice are entitled to wages only for each workday during the notice period, not for all 60 calendar days, as another federal court had previously ruled. For information about WARN, call the U.S. Department of Labor at (415) 975-4655 or (202) 219-5577.