(a) Purpose of WARN. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act (WARN or the Act) provides protection to workers, their
families and communities by requiring employers to provide notification
60 calendar days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs. Advance
notice provides workers and their families some transition time to
adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and obtain
alternative jobs and, if necessary, to enter skill training or
retraining that will allow these workers to successfully compete in the
job market. WARN also provides for notice to State dislocated worker
units so that dislocated worker assistance can be promptly provided.
(b) Scope of these regulations. These regulations establish basic
definitions and rules for giving notice, implementing the provisions of
WARN. The Department's objective is to establish clear principles and
broad guidelines which can be applied in specific circumstances.
However, the Department recognizes that Federal rulemaking cannot
address the multitude of industry and company-specific situations in
which advance notice will be given.
(c) Notice encouraged where not required. Section 7 of the Act
states:
It is the sense of Congress that an employer who is not required to
comply with the notice requirements of section 3 should, to the
extent possible, provide notice to its employees about a proposal to
close a plant or permanently reduce its workforce.
(d) WARN enforcement. Enforcement of WARN will be through the
courts, as provided in section 5 of the statute. Employees, their
representatives and units of local government may initiate civil actions
against employers believed to be in violation of Sec. 3 of the Act. The
Department of Labor has no legal standing in any enforcement action and,
therefore, will not be in a position to issue advisory opinions of
specific cases. The Department will provide assistance in understanding
these regulations and may revise them from time to time as may be
necessary.
(e) Notice in ambiguous situations. It is civically desirable and it
would appear to be good business practice for an employer to provide
advance notice to its workers or unions, local government and the State
when terminating a significant number of employees. In practical terms,
there are some questions and ambiguities of interpretation inherent in
the application of WARN to business practices in the market economy that
cannot be addressed in these regulations. It is therefore prudent for
employers to weigh the desirability of advance notice against the
possibility of expensive and time-consuming litigation to resolve
disputes where notice has not been given. The Department encourages
employers to give notice in all circumstances.
(f) Coordination with job placement and retraining programs. The
Department, through these regulations and through the Trade Adjustment
Assistance Program (TAA) and Economic Dislocation and Worker Adjustment
Assistance Act (EDWAA) regulations, encourages maximum coordination of
the actions and activities of these programs to assure that the negative
impact of dislocation on workers is lessened to the extent possible. By
providing for notice to the State dislocated worker unit, WARN notice
begins the process of assisting workers who will be dislocated.
(g) WARN not to supersede other laws and contracts. The provisions
of WARN do not supersede any laws or collective bargaining agreements
that provide for additional notice or additional rights and remedies. If
such law or agreement provides for a longer notice period, WARN notice
shall run concurrently with that additional notice period. Collective
bargaining agreements may be used to clarify or amplify the terms and
conditions of WARN, but may not reduce WARN rights.
