Does the WARN Act apply to your company?

Federal WARN thresholds

A company is likely covered under federal WARN when it has at least 100 employees and at least 500 people would lose their jobs. Notice is 60 days. A plant closing looks at 50 people at a single site. A mass layoff can also turn on 50 people who are at least 33 percent of the workforce. If your layoff sits between those figures, talk to your lawyer before you set a date. They decide whether it is a plant closing or a mass layoff.

Part-time staff and layoffs spread over time can change who counts. Use the count your lawyer gives you. If more people would lose their jobs than the headcount you entered, talk to your lawyer.

The statute also names these exceptions. Ask your lawyer before you rely on a shorter period.

• An employer may order the shutdown of a single site of employment before the end of the 60-day period if, when notice would have been required, the employer was actively seeking capital or business that would have enabled it to avoid or postpone the shutdown, and the employer reasonably and in good faith believed that giving the required notice would have precluded it from obtaining that capital or business.
• An employer may order a plant closing or mass layoff before the end of the 60-day period if the closing or layoff is caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable when notice would have been required.
• No notice under this chapter shall be required if the plant closing or mass layoff is due to any form of natural disaster, such as a flood, earthquake, or the drought currently ravaging the farmlands of the United States.

The same question sits with the free tools for closing or selling a company. The employment steps around it are in how to wind down a company.

What each result means

You will see one of three results. Likely covered means the layoff clears the largest federal trigger, and you still talk to your lawyer before a notice date. Likely not means the company is under the federal employer minimum, the layoff is under both federal affected minimums, and the state rule does not change that. Talk to your lawyer means the figures sit between those triggers, the state's rule is not a single headcount, or the affected count is larger than the headcount you entered.

If the state has no mini-WARN, that part of the result is likely not, and the federal test still applies. If your headcount is under the state's single number, that part is likely not. If your headcount meets that number, talk to your lawyer, because a count at one site can still matter. A state rule alone does not mean you are likely covered. When the federal result is likely covered, that is the answer you see. Otherwise, talk to your lawyer wins over likely not.

The notice figure is a number of days, not a date on your calendar. You still choose the day the layoff would start, and your lawyer tells you whether weekends count. The ordered tasks for one state are the business closing checklist by state. Software dates are separate. See when will my software data be deleted after canceling.

Sample layoffs by state

The rows are sample companies, not yours. Read the result next to the state where your people work, then ask your lawyer before you set a notice date.

If your state is not in the list, read the final paycheck and WARN rules by state when closing a business.

Related

• Free tools

  Free browser tools for closing or selling a company: eligibility, a payout estimate, and a records inventory.

• Winding down

  Order of operations to wind down a company, from approval through taxes and dissolution.

• Closing checklist

  Ordered closing tasks for one US state.

• Deletion clock

  Export-by and data-gone-by dates, or the vendor's deletion rule in words.

• Records inventory

  A spreadsheet of each system, years of records, peak headcount, data rights, and client data to clear.

• Wind-down rules by US state

  Final paycheck deadlines, state WARN notice, and dissolution fees for 51 US jurisdictions.

Sources

1. U.S. Government Publishing Office. 29 U.S.C. § 2101. Checked 2026-11-04
2. U.S. Government Publishing Office. 29 U.S.C. § 2102.
3. U.S. Department of Labor. WARN Act Compliance Assistance.
4. eCFR. 20 CFR Part 639, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification.