Counting Employees
- Do you employ 100 or more employees who generally work 4,000 non-overtime hours per week?
- Did you count employees who have worked less than six months in the last 12 months?
- Did you count employees who work an average of less than 20 hours per week?
- Did you count workers who are not entitled to WARN Act notice, such as business partners, to determine the number of employees?
- Did you count workers who are on temporary layoff, vacation, sick leave, Family and Medical Leave Act leave, or are absent for any other reason?
- Did you count U.S. workers at foreign sites?
- Do you have any temporary employees?
- Do you have any subsidiaries? Can they be treated as separate employers or must they be treated as part of the parent company?
WARN Act Exceptions
- If you fit within an exception to the WARN Act, you may be allowed to give less than 60 days’ notice of an impending layoff or plant closing.
- Is your company a “faltering company”? Have you been actively seeking realistic financing or business when the 60-day notice would have been required?
- Do you reasonably believe that giving the required notice would prevent you from obtaining the financing or business?
- Are there any unforeseen circumstances that would cause a plant closing or layoff? Has there been a “sudden, dramatic, and unexpected action or condition” outside your control?
- Has there been a natural disaster, such as a flood, earthquake, or tsunami, that directly affects your business?
- Has there been a natural disaster that indirectly affects your business—for example, a supplier has to shut down because of a flood?
- Do you expect the layoff to be for less than six months?
- Is the layoff or plant closing the result of a strike or lockout?
- Are there other employees at the same site who are not involved in the strike or lockout?
SOURCE: The Reduction in Force Audit Guide is available by calling the Bureau of Business Practice at 800/243-0876, ext. 245.