Client Alert - Employment Law Update
New York Becomes Latest State to Enact WARN Legislation
In August 2008, New York joined a growing list of states that have enacted legislation, mirroring the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). The new law becomes effective on February 1, 2009, and will apply to private employers with more than 50 employees.
What is WARN legislation?
The WARN Act is a federal law, which requires employers with at least 100 employees to provide advance notice of plant closings and mass layoffs. Because it only applies to larger employers, however, various states have enacted similar legislation to reach smaller employers.
California did so with a law that became effective on January 1, 2003. It applies to employers with more than 75 employees and layoffs that affect more than 50 people during any 30-day period, or relocation of an operations site to a location more than 100 miles away. Illinois' version of the law became effective on January 1, 2005, and applies to employers with more than 75 employees. It provides for 60-day notice of layoffs affecting 25 or more full-time employees if they constitute at least one-third of the full-time employees at a site, or 250 or more full-time employees.
The New York WARN Act
The New York WARN Act requires private sector employers to give at least 90 days notice to affected employees, their union representatives, and state and local agencies of either: (1) a mass layoff; (2) a relocation; or (3) a plant closing. A mass layoff means a reduction in force of at least 33% of the full-time workforce and at least 25 full-time employees, or of at least 250 full-time employees during any 30-day period. A relocation is defined as "the removal of all or substantially all of the industrial or commercial operations of an employer to a different location fifty miles or more away." A plant closing is a permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment, or one or more facilities or operating units within a single site, if the shutdown results in employment loss at the single site during any 30-day period for 25 or more full-time employees. There are exceptions under the new law, such as where the reasons for termination of employment were not reasonably foreseeable in sufficient time to provide notice.
Enforcement
The Commissioner of Labor is charged with enforcing the new measure, and violations can result in liability for back pay and benefits for up to 60 days after the violation. In addition, civil penalties can be assessed of up to $500 per day of violation.
If you would like more information about this legislative enactment, or would like advice concerning your employment matters in general, please contact Mr. Gonzalez at 312-558-9779 or at egonzalez@elvisgonzalezltd.com.
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