WARN requirements

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires companies planning a mass layoff to notify workers 60 days in advance. Employers: Learn the steps to follow. Workers: Learn your rights.

When Washington's version of the WARN Act applies

Washington's WARN law is called Mass Layoffs and Business Closings. It varies slightly from the federal WARN Act. It applies in some situations when an employer closes a worksite, does a mass layoff, or even reduces hours. But not every closure, layoff or reduction in hours meets the criteria.

Closures

It applies if an employer closes a facility or operating unit. The closure needs to affect 50 or more full-time employees at a single worksite. Permanent or temporary closures apply.

Mass layoffs

It applies when an employer performs a mass layoff. It applies even when the layoffs are temporary or if it is for longer than 6 months.

A mass layoff is when, during a 30-day period at a single site of employment, you lay off either:

  • 500 or more full-time employees.
  • 50 or more full-time workers when the layoff affects 33% of your active workforce.

Reduced hours

It applies when an employer reduces the hours of 50 or more workers by 50% or more for each month in a 6-month period.

How to report a layoff

Sixty days before a layoff, companies must provide written notice to us and to the chief elected official of the community where the layoff or closure will occur.

 

  1. Write a letter on company letterhead that includes:

  2. Contact information:

    • Company name.
    • Physical and mailing addresses of the layoff or closure.
    • Company representative name and phone number for rapid response services (local preferred).

    Layoff information:

    • Whether there is either a layoff or a closure.
    • Whether it will be temporary or permanent.
    • Expected layoff date and a schedule of any further employment reductions.
    • If the layoff is due to a relocation.
    • If the layoff is due to contracting our employer operations or employee positions.

    Information about the affected employees:

    • Total number of employees this notice affects.
    • Job titles, names and addresses of the affected employees in each job category.
    • Whether a union represents the affected employees.
      • If so, name of each union/employee representative and the name and address of the chief elected officer of each union.
      • A statement of bumping rights, if any exist.
    • Signature of company official including name and title.

  3. Email the letter to our Grants Management Office WARN team

    Email us a copy of the letter at ESDGPLayoffAssistance@esd.wa.gov. Please include "WARN" in the subject line.

    If you need to mail the letter instead, address it to:

    Employment Security Department
    Grants Management Office
    Attention: WARN Team
    P.O. Box 9046
    Olympia, WA 98507-9046

    We will:

    • Post a copy of the notice without employee information on the WARN database page. It will be available for the public to download.
    • Contact the listed company representative to acknowledge we received the notification and provide this information to your local Rapid Response team.

  4. Send the letter to the chief elected official of the community where the layoff or closure will occur

    The chief elected official of a community can vary depending on location. It could be a mayor, council or county leader or someone else. The business determines who that contact is.

Penalties

A business that does not comply with the law may need to pay up to $500 for each day of the violation.

Employers can avoid possible penalties by doing both within 3 weeks of the date of layoff:

  • Giving employees back pay for each day of the violation, up to 60 days. The back pay needs to be at each employee’s final rate of pay or their last three-year average rate of pay, whichever is higher.

  • Paying the value of any benefits employees would have been entitled to if they had not lost their jobs. This amount would include any medical costs incurred by employees because they lost their benefit plan.

Guidance for employers

To determine if you need to report a layoff:

If in doubt, report the layoff. There's no penalty for reporting a layoff when the law does not require it.

Go to the layoff assistance page on the Washington Workforce Association website to get help managing your layoff.

Guidance for workers

If you believe your employer has violated the law, you can sue them in court within 3 years of the alleged violation. Your union also can file a lawsuit. Only a court of law can determine if the employer actually violated the law.

The Employment Security Department:

  • Cannot determine if the employer violated the law.
  • Can investigate a worker’s or union’s allegation that the employer violated the law. We would let you know if we found a possible violation. But again, only a court of law can decide if the employer actually violated the law.
  • Can sue the employer on behalf of workers. But we would do this rarely and only in cases when an employer repeatedly violates the law. 

To ask us to investigate a possible violation, send an email to ESDGPLayoffAssistance@esd.wa.gov. 

Include:

  • Your name and the name of the business.
  • Your email or phone number.
  • What you believe to be the violation.

More layoff information