The federal WARN Act , officially known as the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988, mandates that qualified employers give a 60-day notice in certain situations of mass layoffs, plant closings, and other significant employment losses. This lead time aims to help employees and their communities better prepare for the impact of these events.
Several states, including New York, have implemented laws commonly called mini WARN Acts, which provide greater protection than the federal WARN Act.
Here we’ll take a closer look at the New York State WARN Act (NYS WARN Act) and how it differs from the federal WARN Act.
The NYS WARN Act was first established on August 4, 2008, and took effect November 2, 2008. It has been amended since then, most recently in June of 2023. As with the federal WARN Act, this advance notice period provides employees with time to transition, look for new employment, and enter workforce training programs with assistance from the Department of Labor and Local Workforce Development Boards.
The NYS WARN Act is stricter than the federal WARN Act in that it applies to smaller employers and provides a 90-day notice period versus the federal 60-day mandate. In addition, smaller employment-loss events may trigger the NYS WARN Act.
We’ll dive into the specifics of the NYS WARN Act in the next several sections.
The NYS WARN Act generally applies to private employers with 50 or more full-time employees in the state of New York. More specifically, the NYS WARN Act verbiage describes employers as follows:
Employer means any business enterprise, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, that employs 50 or more employees within New York State, excluding part-time employees, or 50 or more employees including part-time employees within the state that work in aggregate at least 2,000 hours per week.
Employers who meet this description are required to adhere to the NYS WARN Act. Next, we’ll go over the types of employment-loss events that warrant compliance with the NYS WARN Act.
The following employment loss events trigger the NYS WARN Act. Employers should be familiar with these triggers to ensure compliance with any NYS WARN-qualifying workforce adjustments.
It’s important to note that, in certain circumstances, one or more locations could meet the definition of a single site of employment when determining whether the NYS WARN Act will be triggered. Examples include contiguous locations, areas in reasonable geographic proximity that share resources, and even remote workers who are “based” at the affected site(s).
Additionally, when evaluating for NYS WARN Act applicability, employment losses are aggregated over a rolling 90-day period. With that in mind, it’s important that employers look backward and forward 90 days when any of these events arise.
The NYS WARN Act notice period is 90 days, meaning employees are given more lead time than the federal WARN Act’s 60-day requirement. Some exceptions, described in the next section, may enable an employer to reduce or waive the required notice period.
Employers are required to provide written notice to affected employees. This notice should include:
To ensure employers are protected, they should maintain thorough documentation of the employee notification process.
In addition to employee notifications, employers must provide notice to these entities when the NYS WARN Act is triggered:
In certain circumstances, New York’s 90-day notice period may be reduced. Even if the situation necessitates an exception, the employer is required to provide as much notice as possible.
Exceptions generally fall into one of these categories:
When illustrating the need for an exception under the NYS WARN Act, the employer bears the burden of proof.
So, what happens if a qualified employer fails to adhere to the specifics of the NYS WARN Act?
The New York Commissioner of Labor is entitled to enforce a civil penalty of $500 for each day of the employer’s violation. Additionally, employers who have violated the NYS WARN Act are liable for back pay and benefits to each employee for up to 60 days of the violation. To take it a step further, impacted employees can opt to file a lawsuit, such as a class-action suit, to seek additional compensation.
Financial penalties aside, violation of employment laws like the NYS WARN Act can negatively impact an employer’s reputation.
Private employers in New York with 50 or more full-time employees should understand the ins and outs of the NYS WARN Act to ensure compliance with the mandated 90-day notice period. The NYS WARN Act is triggered in certain situations of employment loss, including mass layoffs, plant closings, relocations, and reductions in work hours.
Failure to comply with the NYS WARN Act can result in significant financial consequences, such as civil penalties enforced by the New York Commissioner of Labor, 60 days of back pay and benefits to each affected employee, as well as potential lawsuits seeking additional financial restitution. Non-compliance can also harm an employer’s reputation, leading to long-lasting consequences.
Qualifying employers should ensure they have a plan in place to assess for NYS WARN Act-triggering events. To learn about Onwards HR’s WARN Act evaluation tools, schedule a demo .
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