public-service · WARN Act 60-day notice
WARN Act 60-Day Notice: What 20 CFR Part 639 Requires
20 CFR Part 639 requires covered employers to give 60 days' advance notice before a plant closing or mass layoff, and sets the size thresholds that trigger it.
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What matters now
- WARN requires covered employers planning a plant closing or mass layoff to give affected employees at least 60 days' notice of that action.
- Not every plant closing or layoff is covered — the regulations state that certain employment thresholds must be reached before WARN applies.
- One threshold covers employers with 100 or more employees, excluding part-time employees.
- A second threshold covers employers with 100 or more employees including part-time employees, if those employees together work at least 4,000 hours per week (excluding overtime).
- When layoffs happen in successive groups, each group of terminated employees is entitled to its own full 60 days' notice, not a shared or shortened one.
If your employer is planning a plant closing or a mass layoff and WARN’s coverage rules apply to it, the federal WARN Act regulations require at least 60 calendar days’ advance notice to affected employees before the action takes effect. The regulations, codified at 20 CFR Part 639, state plainly: “WARN requires employers who are planning a plant closing or a mass layoff to give affected employees at least 60 days’ notice of such an employment action” (20 CFR Part 639). This notice requirement does not reach every employer or every closing or layoff — it applies only once specific employer-size thresholds are met, which this article walks through below.
This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.
Key points
- WARN requires covered employers planning a plant closing or mass layoff to give affected employees at least 60 days’ notice of that action.
- Not every plant closing or layoff is covered — the regulations state that certain employment thresholds must be reached before WARN applies.
- One threshold covers employers with 100 or more employees, excluding part-time employees.
- A second threshold covers employers with 100 or more employees including part-time employees, if those employees together work at least 4,000 hours per week (excluding overtime).
- When layoffs happen in successive groups, each group of terminated employees is entitled to its own full 60 days’ notice, not a shared or shortened one.
What WARN’s notice requirement says
The core notice rule in 20 CFR Part 639 is direct about both the trigger and the timing. The regulations state that “notice must be given at least 60 calendar days prior to any planned plant closing or mass layoff” (20 CFR Part 639). That 60-day figure is the minimum advance-notice period the regulation sets for a covered plant closing or mass layoff — it is a floor, not a range, in the text on this record.
Which employers this requirement reaches
The 60-day rule does not apply universally. The regulations are explicit that “not all plant closings and layoffs are subject to the Act, and certain employment thresholds must be reached before the Act applies” (20 CFR Part 639). Part 639 defines employer coverage using two alternative size tests, either of which brings an employer within WARN’s reach:
- “100 or more employees, excluding part-time employees” (20 CFR Part 639); or
- “100 or more employees, including part-time employees, who in the aggregate work at least 4,000 hours per week, exclusive of hours of overtime” (20 CFR Part 639).
The cited regulation displays these two employer-size tests. This article reports their wording and does not determine whether a particular workforce meets either test.
Staged-layoff notice
The regulations state: “The first and each subsequent group of terminees are entitled to a full 60 days’ notice” (20 CFR Part 639). This article reports that sentence without applying it to a particular reduction or termination group.
What this record does not answer
This article reports only the cited Part 639 notice and employer-size language. It does not determine whether a particular employer, closing, layoff, exception, or termination group meets the regulation’s requirements, or state the outcome of an individual worker’s claim.