Employers, be warned: COVID-19 layoffs may require advanced notice to employees

Many employers that have been negatively affected by Texas county "shelter-in-place" orders are having to make difficult business decisions and lay off employees who are unable to work. In those situations, you should carefully examine the notice re-quirements of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), a federal law requiring 60-day advanced notice of mass layoffs to employees and government officials. Failure to abide by the requirements could be costly and further debilitate the business.

Warning about WARN Act

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as employers struggle to make sense of the effects of the newly passed federal Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLEA) and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA), employers may also be subject to a little-known law passed in 1988 known as the WARN Act.

The WARN Act covers employers with more than 100 full-time employees, defined as those working an average of more than 20 hours per week and not including anyone with less than six months of employment. If those employers intend to lay off 50 or more employees at a single site of employment, they must provide the individuals with 60 calendar days' advanced notice of any plant closing or mass layoff.

The WARN Act applies when employers expect to implement a long-term layoff of six months or more or reduce employee hours by 50 percent in a six-month period as a result of a plant closing or mass layoff.

Exception for COVID-19?