The WARN Act: when you must give 60 days' notice

A WARN Act notice is written advance notice of a covered plant closing or mass layoff. Federal WARN generally reaches employers with 100 or more employees and requires 60 calendar days’ notice. You must check employee-counting rules, the number and timing of job losses, and state laws before setting a closure date. Source: U.S. Department of Labor.

This guide reflects official sources checked as of November 2026. Start the review while you still have choices about dates, staffing and cash. Put the employment timetable into your company wind-down plan before announcing the last day of operations.

01Looking for filed WARN notices?

For another state, DOL lists each state’s Rapid Response coordinator (a few entries add a WARN notice address); confirm submission details on that state’s own WARN page. For the states covered here, use these official lists. Links opened and checked November 4, 2026.

• California: find filed notices in EDD’s WARN reports.
• Illinois: use the state’s WARN dashboard and monthly reports.
• Texas: find notices in TWC’s annual WARN listings.

The employer worksheet below prepares facts for a notice decision.

02When a federal WARN Act notice is required

Federal coverage starts with the employer. The ordinary test is 100 or more employees excluding people who worked fewer than six of the preceding 12 months or average fewer than 20 hours a week. There is also an alternative test for 100 or more employees whose combined weekly hours reach 4,000, excluding overtime. Source: DOL employer guide.

Keep separate calculations for employer coverage and the employees affected at a site. A company-wide headcount does not establish that a particular reduction triggers notice. Conversely, being below 100 at the closing location does not settle whether the employer is covered.

The federal regulations distinguish these events:

The distinction matters because the percentage test belongs to the mass-layoff calculation. Closing an operating unit can qualify even though the rest of the location remains open. Source: 20 CFR 639.3.

Example: A covered employer plans 60 qualifying job losses when it closes a distinct operating unit. Do not reject WARN coverage merely because those employees are less than one-third of everyone at the location. Have counsel review the plant-closing test using the actual unit and staffing records.

03Printable employer scoping worksheet

Print this section or copy it into your internal working papers. It organizes facts for counsel’s review and gives no legal verdict. Keep employee names and supporting records in your own controlled files; use row identifiers on a shared summary.

Review record: legal employer: ______; roster version/date: ______; prepared by: ______; counsel/reviewer: ______; proposed first separation: ______; unresolved facts owner: ______.

1. Build the dated roster. For each person record a row ID, start date, actual work site, reporting site, average weekly hours and averaging period, separation date, reason, expected recall date and any hours-reduction schedule. Federal employment loss includes qualifying terminations, layoffs exceeding six months, and reductions of more than 50% in an employee’s hours in each month of a six-month period. Discharge for cause, voluntary departure and retirement are excluded from the termination category. Flag transfers and recall assumptions for counsel. 20 CFR 639.3(f).
2. Separate the counts. Record total employees: ______; employees excluded as federal part-time: ______; remaining federal threshold count: ______. Federal part-time means averaging fewer than 20 hours weekly or employed fewer than six of the preceding 12 months before notice is required. Average hours over the shorter of actual employment or the most recent 90 days. Retain excluded rows for recipient review: exclusion from thresholds does not remove notice rights in a covered event. Keep the alternative employer test of 100 employees and 4,000 weekly hours excluding overtime separate. 20 CFR 639.3(a), (h), 639.6(b).
3. Map sites before aggregating. List each physical site and operating unit, then document any proposed grouping and its reason. Federal employer coverage and the single-site event test are different calculations. Contiguous locations or nearby operations sharing staff, equipment and purpose may need grouping; geographically separate operations are generally separate sites. Flag remote/mobile assignments and shared operations for review under the site rules. Do not simply sum every company location. 20 CFR 639.3(a), (i).
4. Record rolling windows. For each proposed separation, look backward and forward across the roster. For every relevant 30-day and 90-day window write its start: ______; end: ______; site/group: ______; unique qualifying losses: ______; excluded/uncertain rows: ______. Record the event under review: plant closing with 50 qualifying losses, or mass layoff with 50–499 losses and at least 33% of the active workforce, or 500 losses, excluding part-time employees, in 30 days. The federal rules call for looking ahead and behind over both periods. Separate subthreshold groups can aggregate over 90 days unless the employer establishes separate and distinct actions and causes without evasion. Use rolling 30- and 90-day windows, not calendar months. 20 CFR 639.3(b)–(c), 639.5(a).
5. Prepare the recipient pack. Record the proposed event, first and later separation dates, job titles/counts, temporary/permanent status and company contact. List affected workers’ representatives (or unrepresented workers), the state dislocated worker unit (the State’s rapid response entity) and the appropriate local chief elected official. Against each recipient enter the document version, delivery owner, proposed receipt date and receipt evidence. Check the recipient-specific content and the ordinary 60-calendar-day period before each affected separation. Ask counsel to review any shorter-notice explanation. 20 CFR 639.2, 639.5–639.9.

Missing facts: mark unknown dates, hours, tenure, sites, prior reductions, future waves, recall/transfer terms and recipient addresses. Assign each a named owner and resolution date. Recount when the roster changes.

Questions for counsel: Which employer and site groupings apply? Which losses and excluded workers belong in each test? Do overlapping waves aggregate? Which state rules also apply? Are the dates, recipients, notice content and any exception supportable?

Decision record: verify the roster, window boundaries, federal and state sources, recipient details and delivery evidence. Employment counsel assesses coverage and legal sufficiency; the authorized employer decision-maker approves the action and delivery plan. Leave unresolved conclusions marked pending.

Worksheet sources: the official 2025 annual edition of 20 CFR Part 639, opened and checked November 4, 2026. The eCFR text current to November 2, 2026 is identical to the 2025 annual edition; Part 639’s latest amendment date is October 24, 2016.

04Give notice to every required recipient

Federal WARN requires notice to the affected employees’ representative, or directly to affected employees who are unrepresented; the state dislocated worker unit; and the chief elected official of the appropriate local government. Part-time workers can be entitled to notice even though they were excluded from trigger calculations. Source: DOL worker guide.

Use a recipient register with the correct legal employer, site, contact, delivery address and receipt evidence. A press release or meeting announcement is a poor substitute for that register. Sending the agency a copy does not complete employee delivery.

The information required varies by recipient. The federal rules call for relevant separation dates, whether the action is temporary or permanent, whether the whole plant closes, and a company contact; union and government notices also require workforce information specified in the rules. Check the appropriate recipient-specific list before approving the document. Source: 20 CFR 639.7.

Work backward from each affected employee’s employment loss. The delivery method must ensure receipt at least 60 days beforehand. A mailing date alone is insufficient evidence of timely receipt. Source: DOL employer guide.

Assign one person to control the final notice version. Keep employee communications, government copies and delivery records together, with access limited to the people handling the closure. That makes a later date change easier to trace and reduces conflicting instructions from different managers.

05WARN notices by state

These states have their own WARN-style notice requirements. The table gives the principal coverage and event thresholds; it does not resolve every hours test, exclusion, aggregation rule or industry exception. Review the linked state source alongside the federal calculation as of November 2026.

Delaware’s detailed definitions appear in its state statute. New Hampshire’s state thresholds appear in RSA 275-F. These definitions require more care than a simple employee total.

For larger operations, use the detailed California WARN guide and Illinois WARN guide. Washington introduced its state law in 2025. Other states may impose narrower closure-related benefit or industry rules even when they do not appear in this notice table.

06Exceptions require a documented explanation

Federal exceptions for a faltering company, unforeseeable business circumstances and natural disasters can permit shorter notice. The faltering-company exception applies to plant closings and has specific capital-seeking conditions. An exception still requires notice as soon as practicable and an explanation of the shortened period. Source: 20 CFR 639.9.

Give counsel the chronology: when funding was sought, when a customer cancelled, what management knew, and when closure became probable. Preserve the underlying documents. A brief statement that the business ran out of money does not supply that chronology.

Ask for a separate state-law conclusion. A federal exception does not establish that the same facts excuse state notice. If the timetable is already short, escalate the decision immediately and prepare the most complete notice you can support.

07Penalties and final payroll

Federal liability can include back pay and benefits for the violation period, up to 60 days. Failure to notify local government can also expose the employer to a civil penalty of up to $500 per day. Federal WARN is enforced through federal district court; DOL does not investigate or prosecute WARN claims. Source: DOL plant-closing guidance.

Treat notice exposure and final payroll as separate budget lines. Check final paycheck laws by state before releasing employees. A notice period does not determine when earned wages or vacation must be paid.

The Texas WARN guide explains the federal framework and Texas Workforce Commission notice process for Texas operations. For a multistate closure, keep one master calendar with a separate deadline and source for each location.

08Keep the worksheet with the approved closure calendar

Attach the dated roster, window counts, counsel’s conclusions and recipient register to the approved schedule. Preserve the version actually used to prepare each notice. When operations changes a date or adds a reduction, return the revised facts to the reviewer before releasing updated instructions.

Keep payroll deadlines and notice receipt dates in separate columns. Name a continuing contact who can correct delivery details, retrieve the documents and answer employee questions after the operating team leaves.

09Next steps

Confirm coverage, approve the separation roster, complete the recipient register and fund payroll before fixing the announcement date. Use the closing business checklist to place those actions alongside the rest of the shutdown.