1. Labor Commissioner's Office

Cal-WARN Act

Relocations, Terminations and Mass Layoffs in California are regulated by Labor Code sections 1400-1408 Generally, “an employer may not order a mass layoff, relocation, or termination at a covered establishment unless, 60 days before the order takes effect, the employer gives written notice of the order” to employees and the Employment Development Department and shall include the notice elements required by the Federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. section. 2101 et seq.)  (Labor Code section 1401(a)-(c)). 

“An employer who fails to give notice as required by paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 1401 before ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination is liable to each employee entitled to notice who lost his or her employment” for back pay and the value of the cost of any benefits the employee may have been entitled to up to a maximum of 60 days or one-half the number of days that the employee was employed by the employer, whichever is smaller. An employer’s liability may be reduced by specific payments made.  (Labor Code section 1402(a)-(c))

An employer may request that the Director grant an exemption to comply with the notice requirement if it meets certain conditions outlined in Labor Code section 1402.5.  The Director has issued determinations on requests for exemption in the following instances:

Determination re Request for Exemption under Cal-WARN Act (Labor Code section 1402.5) – Anderson Truss

Determination re Request for Exemption under Cal-WARN Act (Labor Code section 1402.5) – Insync Marketing Solutions, LLC version

Determination re Request for Exemption under Cal-WARN Act (Labor Code section 1402.5) – Telscape Communications, Inc. version

Determination re Request for Exemption under Cal-WARN Act (Labor Code section 1402.5) – Good Samaritan Hospital version

Conditional Suspension of WARN Act FAQs