Tag: layoff

NJ WARN Amended in Light of COVID-19 Pandemic

Asima J. Ahmad

On April 14, 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Senate Bill 2353 into law, which excludes mass layoffs resulting from the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic from the notice and severance pay requirements contained in the Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act (“NJ WARN”). Prior to this change, employers faced uncertainty on whether they would be obligated to provide notice and severance pay to each full-time employee that was terminated with less than the required 60-days’ notice due to the pandemic.

Specifically, SB 2353 revises the definition of “mass layoff” to mirror the exceptions that are already contained in NJ WARN’s definition of “termination of operations.” As a result, a mass layoff which would otherwise require notice shall not include one “made necessary because of a fire, flood, natural disaster, national emergency, act of war, civil disorder or industrial sabotage, decertification from participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs as provided under Titles XVIII and XIX of the federal “Social Security Act,” Pub.L. 74-271 (42 U.S.C. s.1395 et seq.) or license revocation pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et al.).” These changes go into effect immediately and are retroactive to March 9, 2020, the date that Governor Murphy declared a COVID-19-based state of emergency and public health emergency in New Jersey via Executive Order 103. Continue reading “NJ WARN Amended in Light of COVID-19 Pandemic”

California Suspends WARN 60-day Notice Requirement for COVID-19-Related Layoffs

Michael L. Ludwig

Citing the need to prevent or mitigate the spread of COVID-19, California Governor Newsom acknowledged that California employers have had to close rapidly without providing their employees the advance notice required under California law. Generally, the California WARN Act requires employers to give a 60-day notice to affected employees and both state and local representatives prior to a plant closing or mass layoff.

By Executive Order (see https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/3.17.20-EO-motor.pdf), California is suspending the 60-day notice requirement for an employer that orders a mass layoff, relocation, or termination at a covered establishment on the condition that the employer:

    1. provides the affected employees with a notice as described by the California WARN Act;
    2. provides as much notice as is practicable, including a brief statement of the basis for the reduced notice;
    3. undertakes the mass layoff, relocation, or termination because of COVID-19-related business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable; and
    4. includes specified language in the notice advising affected employees that they may be eligible for unemployment insurance.

The Labor and Workforce Development Agency will be providing guidance regarding implementation of the Order by March 23, 2020.

For the latest updates, please visit Blank Rome’s Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) Task Force page.

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