Winding Down Guide

Company wind-down guides Updated

Illinois WARN Act: rules for employers

How Illinois WARN differs from federal WARN on coverage, notice recipients, timing and penalties.

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Illinois WARN Act rules generally require covered employers with 75 or more full-time employees to give 60 days’ advance written notice of a covered plant closing or mass layoff. Illinois uses lower thresholds than federal WARN. You need separate state and federal calculations before approving a reduction or closure. Source: Illinois Department of Labor.

This guide reflects official sources checked as of November 2026. Put the staffing decision, notice period and payroll funding into your company wind-down plan together. A closure date is easier to manage when the people responsible for each obligation approve the same timetable.

Looking for filed WARN notices?

For filed notices, use the state’s Illinois WARN dashboard and monthly reports, linked by DCEO’s official WARN page. The dashboard describes reported activity, not every layoff or the employer’s final action. Both pages opened and checked November 4, 2026. Employers preparing a notice can use the worksheet below.

WARN Act Illinois coverage and thresholds

The ordinary employer test is 75 employees excluding part-time employees. The alternative is 75 or more employees working at least 4,000 aggregate hours a week, excluding overtime. For these definitions, part-time includes people averaging fewer than 20 hours weekly or employed fewer than six of the preceding 12 months. Source: Illinois WARN rules.

Use historical payroll records to establish coverage, then review the affected site and employment losses. Keep company headcount and the event calculation in separate columns. The first determines employer coverage; the second addresses the proposed action.

EventPrincipal Illinois trigger
Plant closingA permanent or temporary shutdown of a site or operating unit causing employment loss for 50+ employees during 30 days, excluding part-time employees.
Mass layoffA reduction unrelated to a plant closing affecting 25+ employees and at least 33% of employees at a single site, or 250+ employees, during 30 days, excluding part-time employees.

These definitions appear in the Illinois administrative rules. Apply the event that fits the actual operational change. Closing one unit and reducing staff across an operating location may produce different calculations.

Example: A covered employer plans 30 qualifying employment losses at a site with 80 employees in the relevant count. That plan merits Illinois mass-layoff review even though the number of losses is below the federal mass-layoff minimum. Give counsel the roster and percentage calculation before announcing dates.

Keep an entry for earlier reductions and planned later waves. Ask counsel to review related losses and the applicable aggregation rules. If you describe a layoff as temporary, include the recall plan and expected duration so the reviewer can test the actual employment-loss definition.

Required recipients and notice content

Section 10 requires notice to affected employees and their representatives, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and the chief elected official of each municipality and county where the event occurs. Notice must include the elements required under federal WARN. Source: 820 ILCS 65/10.

Distinguish the recipient agency from the enforcement agency. Illinois DOL administers the state law; the statute names DCEO as a notice recipient. A submission to one office should not become an assumption that every required party has received it.

Build a distribution list before drafting. Identify the exact legal employer, affected site, union representatives where relevant, municipal officials and county officials. Confirm current delivery instructions and retain the approved notice and transmission evidence together.

Federal notice elements vary with the recipient. Relevant details include the action’s temporary or permanent nature, whether the entire plant closes, the separation dates and schedule, affected positions, and a contact for further information. Use the recipient-specific requirements rather than sending an abbreviated employee announcement everywhere. Source: 20 CFR 639.7.

Have HR and payroll reconcile the employee count in the notice with the separation roster. Ask operations to confirm which work actually stops. Resolve discrepancies before the owner signs the final package.

The 60-day rule and the energy-sector exception

The general Illinois advance-notice period is 60 days. However, owners of investor-owned electric generating plants and coal mining operations face a two-year rule for the specified actions. The adopted rules also flag possible additional notice for employers receiving state or local economic development incentives. Source: Illinois Secretary of State, adopted rules.

If your business falls into either category, stop using a generic closure calendar and request a specific review. Give counsel the facility type, ownership information and incentive documents. The general table above cannot resolve those obligations.

When notice may be short, preserve the decision chronology and ask counsel to evaluate the state exceptions. Identify the first date management knew the relevant circumstances, the documents supporting that date, and the earliest practical delivery date. Continue preparing the notice package while the exception analysis is underway.

The 2025–2026 amendment check

As of November 2026, the cited Illinois DOL guidance continues to state the general 75-employee coverage and 60-day notice rules. This review did not identify an enacted 2025 or 2026 amendment changing those general WARN thresholds. Do not incorporate proposed legislative language into your notice process without checking enactment and effective dates.

There is a confirmed, separate change to prepare for: Public Act 104-0839 takes effect January 1, 2027. It amends the Unemployment Insurance Act to require specified secure employee reporting to the Department of Employment Security for covered mass separations. Its coverage involves employers with 75 or more employees in Illinois during the preceding calendar year and separations of 50 or more at a single site, excluding defined part-time employees. Source: Public Act 104-0839.

That reporting includes employee identifiers and separation information submitted securely as prescribed by IDES. It is a separate reporting obligation with its own scope and exceptions. Have your payroll lead confirm the implementing process before a 2027 reduction, and keep employee identifiers out of public-facing notice copies.

For the operating checklist, create separate entries for WARN delivery and the upcoming IDES report. Give each an owner and evidence requirement. This prevents a completed advance-notice task from concealing an unfinished unemployment reporting task.

Penalties and final compensation

Illinois DOL identifies potential liability for back pay and benefits during the violation period, capped at 60 days, plus a possible civil penalty of up to $500 for each day of a notice violation. The agency provides a WARN complaint process. Source: Illinois DOL.

Budget notice exposure separately from wages already earned. Illinois final compensation is generally due by the next regular payday, and earned vacation can form part of that compensation. Use the state final paycheck table to coordinate wage deadlines across locations. Source: Illinois wage-payment FAQ.

Ask payroll to produce a person-by-person final compensation preview before the announcement. Reconcile time records, vacation balances and applicable compensation plans. Leave a named contact with access to the records after the operating team departs.

Coordinate federal and multistate requirements

Use the federal WARN guide for the national coverage and event tests. The California WARN guide explains its different establishment threshold and 2026 notice-content amendment. The Texas WARN guide covers the federal framework and state notice recipient there.

For a multistate closure, keep a single separation roster with state-specific deadline columns. Require each location’s reviewer to identify the controlling source and any unresolved issue. Approve the announcement only when the dates, recipient lists and payroll funding agree.

Printable Illinois extension to the employer worksheet

Attach this page to the federal scoping worksheet. Record the state and federal calculations separately.

  1. Employer count: Illinois full-time count: ______; excluded part-time rows and reasons: ______; alternative-hours test still to resolve: ______. DCEO describes general coverage at 75 or more full-time employees, excluding part-time workers. DCEO WARN guidance. Record the enterprise-wide count; site counts belong in the loss windows below. 820 ILCS 65/5(c).
  2. Losses and windows: each separation date: ______; site/group: ______; 30-day window start/end and unique losses: ______; related 90-day groups for review: ______. DCEO describes a mass layoff at a single site as 25 or more full-time losses constituting one-third or more of the full-time workforce (DCEO’s wording; the statute says at least 33%, 820 ILCS 65/5(d)), or 250 or more losses, within 30 days and sometimes 90 days. See 56 Ill. Adm. Code 230.340(a) for the 90-day look-ahead and look-back. Preserve the numerator and denominator; ask counsel to apply the statutory percentage and aggregation rules, and the separate plant-closing definition. DCEO WARN guidance.
  3. Preparation pack: attach the location/operating-unit map, part-time classifications, recall and transfer facts, missing records and recipient register. Enter the proposed notice receipt and separation dates against the general 60-day period. DCEO lists CEO.WARNSubmission@Illinois.gov as its WARN contact; verify the submission instructions and all other recipients before delivery. DCEO WARN guidance.

Source opened and checked November 4, 2026. Before deciding: resolve unknown dates, hours, tenure and site groupings; check the special energy-sector and incentive issues described above. Ask counsel to reconcile the state and federal counts, confirm all recipients and review any exception. Counsel assesses coverage and notice sufficiency; the authorized employer approves the action and delivery plan. This worksheet does not decide whether notice is required.

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Next steps

Confirm coverage, check any energy-sector or incentive obligations, and complete the recipient register. Add the approved employment timetable to your wind-down plan, with a separate owner for any 2027 IDES reporting work.

Frequently asked questions

How many employees make an employer subject to Illinois WARN?

The ordinary coverage test is 75 employees excluding part-time employees. An alternative test covers 75 or more employees working an aggregate of at least 4,000 hours weekly, excluding overtime.

What is the Illinois mass-layoff threshold?

Generally, the event must affect at least 25 employees and 33% of employees at a single site, or at least 250 employees, during 30 days, excluding part-time employees. Plant closings have a separate 50-employee trigger.

Is every Illinois WARN notice due 60 days beforehand?

Sixty days is the general rule. Investor-owned electric generating plants and coal mining operations have a special two-year notice rule.

Is the new Illinois unemployment reporting law already effective?

Public Act 104-0839 takes effect January 1, 2027. Its mass-separation reporting provision is separate from the Illinois WARN advance-notice requirements.

Sources