What is a WARN notice?

A WARN notice is a written warning that the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires larger employers to give at least 60 calendar days before a mass layoff or plant closing. The notice goes to the affected workers or their union, the state's dislocated worker unit, and local government — and most states publish the filings as public records, which is how layoffs often become public before they happen.

Who must file a WARN notice?

The federal WARN Act covers employers with 100 or more full-time employees. Notice is required before:

• a plant closing — a shutdown at a single site causing employment loss for 50 or more full-time employees in a 30-day period, or
• a mass layoff — a reduction in force affecting 500 or more full-time employees at a single site, or 50–499 when they make up at least one third of the site's full-time workforce.

Several states set lower thresholds under their own laws (see mini-WARN below), so smaller layoffs can still trigger a notice depending on the state.

The 60-day rule

Covered employers must give written notice at least 60 calendar days before separations begin. The law allows shorter notice in three limited cases — a faltering company actively seeking financing, genuinely unforeseeable business circumstances, or a natural disaster — but even then the employer must give as much notice as practicable and explain why it was shortened. An employer that fails to give proper notice can owe each affected worker up to 60 days of back pay and benefits, plus a civil penalty for skipping the notice to local government.

For workers, that 60-day window is the single most useful thing about the WARN Act: it is a paid runway to line up unemployment, health coverage, and a focused job search before the income gap starts.

Where are WARN notices published?

Employers file with the state workforce or labor agency where the layoff occurs, and most agencies publish a running public list — employer, location, workers affected, notice date, effective date. There is no single federal database, and format and detail vary widely by state. JobForge aggregates these state reports into one sortable WARN layoff tracker and publishes monthly WARN reports summarizing filings, workers affected, and the largest layoffs.

WARN vs. mini-WARN states

A mini-WARN state has its own layoff-notification law layered on top of the federal WARN Act, usually stricter. New York requires 90 days' notice and covers employers with 50+ employees; California drops the 33% rule and covers employers with 75+ employees; New Jersey, Illinois, and a number of other states also lower thresholds or extend coverage. In those states, an employer can owe notice under state law even when the federal WARN Act would not apply — one reason some states' WARN lists show many more, and smaller, filings than others.

How to read a WARN notice

A published filing usually has five fields:

• Employer and location — the legal entity and the affected site, which may differ from the consumer brand name.
• Workers affected — the number of positions the employer expects to cut, as reported at filing. It can be revised or rescinded later.
• Notice date — when the employer filed; the warning clock starts here.
• Effective date — when separations begin. The gap between the two dates is the runway.
• Type — some states label filings as a closing vs. a layoff, permanent vs. temporary.

One thing a WARN notice is not: a statement about any individual employee. It is a public record about a group action, and not everyone listed necessarily loses their job — filings are sometimes reduced, delayed, or rescinded.