The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act protects workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide 60 days’ notice of covered plant closings and mass layoffs. This notice must be provided to:
- Affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union)
- Division of Workforce Development
- The chief elected official of the unit of local government where the site is located.
This notice enables the Division of Workforce Development to provide assistance to affected workers and allows workers transition time to seek alternative jobs or enter training programs.
Upon receipt of a WARN notice, the Rapid Response team of the Division of Workforce Development coordinates with employers to provide onsite information including:
- Labor market information (occupational information and economic trends)
- Job search and placement assistance
- On-the-job training
- Classroom training
- Entrepreneurial training
- Referral to basic and remedial education.
Key WARN Act Definitions
Covered Employers—"Business enterprises" employing 100 or more workers, excluding part-time workers.
Plant Closing – Permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site, facility or operating unit within a single site that affects more than 50 employees over a 30-day period.
Mass Layoff – A reduction in force, not the result of a plant closing, during a 30-day period which affects at least 33% of the workforce, but not less than 50 employees, or at least 500 employees (not including part-time employees).
Employment Loss – Termination of employment (other than a discharge for cause, voluntary departure, or retirement), for more than 6 months, or a reduction in hours of more than 50% during each month of the 6 month period.
Employer Coverage
Employees entitled to notice under WARN include hourly and salaried workers, as well as managerial and supervisory employees. Business partners are not entitled to notice.
WARN Act Notice Triggers
Plant Closing: A covered employer must give notice if an employment site will be shut down and the shutdown will result in an employment loss of 50 or more employees during any 30-day period. This does not include employees who have worked less than 6 months in the last 12 months or employees who work an average of less than 20 hours a week for that employer.
Mass Layoff: A covered employer must give notice if there is to be a mass layoff which does not result from a plant closing, but which will result in a loss of employment at the employment site during any 30-day period for 500 or more employees, or for 50-499 employees if they make up at least 33% of the employer’s workforce.
North Carolina Contacts for WARN Notices:
N.C. Department of Commerce
Division of Workforce Development
4316 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, N.C. 27699-4316
(919) 661-6010 or (800) 562-6333
Fax: (919) 662-4770
Additional Information
For more information about the WARN Act and its implications for your company, download the WARN, Employer’s Guide to Advance Notice of Closings and Layoffs. 
WARN - Employer's guide to advance Notice of Closings and Layoffs
For a sample WARN letter, download this document. 
WARN Letter
For more information about Rapid Response, visit the Rapid Response section of our website.