Lay Off Laws

Generally there is no such thing as a “lay off law.”  Common “at will” employment relationships that end by a “lay off” are not regulated by law.  That being said, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) is central as to any “federal lay off laws” that provide protection for workers by requiring employers to provide advance notification of plant closings and mass layoffs. Advance notice of an impending lay off can provide workers with an amount of transition time to adjust to the impending loss of employment, to seek and obtain alternative jobs or enter a skill training or retraining program to successfully compete again in the job market. 

Lay Off Notice Requirements for Employers

Employers may be required, in addition to the notice requirements of the WARN Act, to provide lay off employees with some measure of continuance of healthcare coverage, outplacement services and/or severance pay.  Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) is a federal lay off law requiring employers to allow eligible laid-off employees to continue their employer-provided health insurance coverage at group rates.

Time and Company Requirements for Laying Off Employees

Typically, under the WARN Act a large employer must give all affected employees sixty days notice before a plant closing or mass lay off.  A large employer is one that employs one hundred or more workers for more than twenty hours per week.  Notice of the mass employee reduction must be provided to the union representative for union employees or personally to all non union employees.  No employer notice is required if the company is financially faltering, has suffered an unforeseeable downturn or some kind of natural disaster. The WARN Act also requires employers to continue to pay employees “lay off compensation” during the lay off period and give them the benefits to which they are entitled even if employers don’t require affected employees to show up for work.

Employee Rights and Legal Help

Some states, have their own “layoff laws” which are similar to the federal WARN Act, generally referred to as “mini-WARN Acts”.  Employees may be protected by whichever law, federal or state, can provide them with the most protection.  State unemployment laws also function as layoff laws, in that they provide unemployment benefits to eligible laid-off employees and grant them the right to appeal a denial of unemployment benefits.  It is always advisable to seek the assistance of an experience employment attorney if you believe your rights have been violated by an employer in a lay off.