What the Law Requires:

Summary of Public Law No. 100-379 (S.2527)

1. Employer must give sixty days notice of:
   • a plant closing that results in an employment loss of 50 or more employees at a site of employment.
   • a layoff of more than 6 months that: a) results in an employment loss of 50 or more employees if 33 percent of the workforce at a site of employment is affected; (b) results in an employment loss of 500 employees, whether or not 33 percent of the workforce is affected.
     
     
2. No employer with fewer than 100 full time employees is covered.
   
   
3. Only employees working at least 20 hours per week who have worked for the employer for at least six months are included in calculating the number of employees who have experienced an employment loss.
   
   
4. An employer shall not order a plant closing or mass layoff until the end of a 60 day period after the employer serves written notice of such an order:
   • to each (union) representative of the affected employees as of the time of the notice or, if there is no such representative at that time, to each affected employee, and
   • to the State Dislocated Worker Unit and the chief elected official of the unit of local government within which such closing or layoff is to occur.
   If there is more than one such unit, the unit of local government which the employer shall notify is the unit of local government to which the employer pays the highest taxes for the year preceding the year for which the determination is made.
   
   
5. Exceptions to the notice requirement are provided for:
   • unforeseeable business circumstances;
   • faltering companies;
   • closure or layoffs from temporary projects or undertakings where the employees knew at the time of hiring that their work was temporary; and
   • cases in which the closing or layoff constitutes a strike or a lockout that is not designed to avoid the requirements of the Act.
     
     
6. Remedies for violation of the notice requirement are limited to those specified in the statute:
   • the employer is liable to employees who should have, but did not receive, notice; damages are equivalent to a day's pay and the cost of related fringe benefits for up to sixty days that the notice should have been but was not given;
   • the employer is liable to the local unit of government for up to $500/day for each day of the sixty day period that notice was not given, to a maximum of $30,000; the employer is relieved of this liability to the community if it satisfies its liability to the employees expeditiously.
   • a person seeking to enforce such liability, including a representative of employees or a unit of local government aggrieved as outlined above may sue either for such person or for other persons similarly situated, or both, in any district court of the United States for any district in which the violation is alleged to have occurred, or in which the employer transacts business.

How to Request Further Help:
It is necessary to contact the Division of Workforce Development for assistance in the event of a plant closing or layoff. Depending upon the number of employees laid off, the Division coordinates a Rapid Response Team to offer fast and effective assistance. To learn more about how the Rapid Response Team can assist your company, contact the Division of Workforce Development at 1-800-877-8698.