Changes are in Effect for California’s WARN Act When Workers are Laid Off

Layoffs when business is slow or when a business closes, are a sad fact of life. You may think that you have no cause of action to recover compensation or back pay, when your employer shuts its doors because of financially required layoffs. And while that is often true, a company cannot just shut its doors and lay you off, because of what is known as the WARN Act.

What is the WARN Act?

The California WARN Act, sometimes called CalWARN, requires that employees who are subject to a mass layoff, be given 60 days advance notice of the layoff. Although the law uses “layoff,” the law also applies to firings or relocations.

To be subject to WARN and to have to comply with it, an employer must have employed at least 75 employees in the previous year. The act is broad and applies to almost every industry. If the employer is not laying off, but rather relocating, then the employer only needs to have 50 employees in order to be subject to the Act. Relocation means that workers will be moved to a main employment office that is 100 or more miles away.

How Notice is Given and New Changes

Notifications to affected employees can be given in any reasonable manner. Email attachments must be in generally accepted electronic forms, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat.

It used to be that employers could just post a standard disclosure under federal laws, as the notice to employees informing of layoffs. But as of October 2025, California’s laws changed, now requiring further disclosures to workers subject to mass layoffs or terminations.

The notice now must provide to workers, notice of whether the employer will provide services to laid off or relocated workers through a local workforce development board, and the employer must provide the email and contact phone number of the board or agency that will be coordinating social services for laid off workers.

Information on the statewide food assistance program, called CalFresh, must also be provided, and the employer must have a working email and phone number for workers to contact.

Notification of layoffs must also be given to the chief elected official in any city or municipality, where closings and layoffs will happen.

Exemptions and Exceptions

Even if an employer is big enough to be covered by the CalWARN Act, there are exemptions to the law, and some employers may not have to comply with the law if they fall under one of these exemptions.

WARN does not apply to layoffs or relocations, when workers were hired for a specific purpose or project, which the employees knew was intended to be temporary in nature. Seasonal employment is not covered, and layoffs caused by a sudden, unexpected calamity, such as a war, weather disaster, or pandemic, are exempt.

There are also times when the employer can show that it was trying to get funding to stay in business, and sending out WARN notices, would have negatively affected its ability to do so.

Violations of CalWARN do allow employees to sue privately, and employees can recover back pay and attorneys fees.

If you were laid off or relocated, you may not have received required legal disclosures from your former employer. Contact the San Jose employment law attorneys at the Costanzo Law Firm today.

Source:

shrm.org/topics-tools/tools/hr-answers/requirements-california-warn-act