Pennsylvania WARN Act: Layoff and Plant Closing Notice Rules

The phrase “Pennsylvania WARN Act” is a common search, but Pennsylvania has not enacted a state version of the law. Layoff and plant closing notice in Pennsylvania runs entirely on the federal WARN Act. This article explains who the federal law covers, how much notice it requires, when the notice period can be shortened, and what happens when an employer gives no notice. It is one of the procedures covered in Pennsylvania employment law, the plain-language reference to how work is regulated in the Commonwealth.

Does Pennsylvania have its own WARN Act?

No. Unlike states such as New York, New Jersey, and California, Pennsylvania has never passed a “mini-WARN” statute setting its own layoff-notice rules. A Pennsylvania worker facing a mass layoff or a plant closing looks to the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, codified at 29 U.S.C. § 2101 and the sections that follow, rather than to a state code provision.

That could change. House Bill 815 of the 2025-2026 session would create a Pennsylvania mini-WARN law with notice requirements of its own; as of 2026 it remains pending in the General Assembly and has not become law (House Bill 815 of 2025). Until a bill like it passes and takes effect, the federal standard is the only WARN obligation that applies to work performed in Pennsylvania.

Which employers and layoffs the WARN Act covers

The WARN Act does not reach every employer or every layoff. It applies to a “covered employer” and is triggered only by a “plant closing” or a “mass layoff” as the statute defines those terms.

A covered employer is a business that employs 100 or more employees, not counting part-time employees, or 100 or more employees who together work at least 4,000 hours a week excluding overtime, under 29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(1). A part-time employee, for this purpose, is one who averages fewer than 20 hours a week or who has worked fewer than 6 of the 12 months before notice is due.

The two triggering events have their own thresholds:

• A plant closing is the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment, or of one or more facilities or operating units within it, that causes at least 50 employees (excluding part-time employees) to lose their jobs during any 30-day period.
• A mass layoff is a reduction in force that is not a plant closing and causes an employment loss during any 30-day period for either 500 or more employees, or for 50 or more employees who make up at least 33 percent of the workforce at the site.

Both figures come from 29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(2)-(3). An “employment loss” under the same section means a termination other than a firing for cause, a voluntary quit, or retirement; a layoff lasting more than 6 months; or a cut of more than 50 percent in work hours during each month of any 6-month period.

The 60-day notice the WARN Act requires

When an event is covered, the employer must give written notice at least 60 calendar days before the closing or layoff takes effect, under 29 U.S.C. § 2102(a). The 60-day clock runs from the date the notice is served, so a shutdown scheduled for a given date requires notice roughly two months earlier.

The same section directs the notice to three separate recipients. Leaving any of them out is a failure to comply, even if the workers themselves were told.

1. Notify the affected employees or their representative

   Written notice goes to each affected employee, or, where the workers are unionized, to the chief elected officer of the exclusive employee representative. Affected employees are those who can reasonably be expected to lose their jobs because of the closing or layoff.

2. Notify the state dislocated worker unit

   Notice also goes to the state’s dislocated worker unit, the office that coordinates rapid-response assistance for laid-off workers. In Pennsylvania that function sits within the Department of Labor and Industry.

3. Notify the chief elected official of local government

   The employer must notify the chief elected official of the unit of local government where the closing or layoff will occur, such as the mayor or county commissioners for that area.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employer’s Guide to Advance Notice of Closings and Layoffs describes the information each notice must contain, including whether the action is permanent or temporary and the expected date of the first separation.

Exceptions that can shorten the notice period

The 60-day rule bends in three defined situations, but it never disappears entirely. Under 29 U.S.C. § 2102(b), an employer may order a covered closing or layoff on shorter notice when one of the following applies:

• Faltering company. A struggling business that was actively seeking capital or new business it reasonably believed would let it avoid or postpone the shutdown, where giving full notice would have precluded getting that money or business. This exception applies only to plant closings.
• Unforeseeable business circumstances. A closing or layoff caused by conditions that were not reasonably foreseeable at the time 60-day notice would have been required, such as the sudden loss of a major contract.
• Natural disaster. A closing or layoff that is the direct result of a flood, earthquake, drought, storm, or similar event.

Even when an exception applies, the employer must still give as much notice as is practicable and must include a brief statement of the reason for the shortened notice. The exception reduces the notice period; it does not excuse notice altogether.

Penalties for skipping WARN notice

An employer that orders a covered plant closing or mass layoff without proper notice is liable to each affected worker for back pay and benefits for each day of the violation, up to a maximum of 60 days, under 29 U.S.C. § 2104(a). The award is capped at back pay for no more than half the number of days the employee actually worked for the employer, and it can be reduced by wages the employer paid during the violation period.

The same section adds a separate civil penalty of up to $500 for each day of violation, payable to the affected unit of local government. That penalty does not apply if the employer pays each affected employee what is owed within three weeks of ordering the shutdown.

Enforcement runs through the courts, not an agency. A worker, a union, or a unit of local government may sue in federal district court for the district where the violation occurred or where the employer does business. A court has discretion to award the prevailing party reasonable attorney’s fees. WARN does not let a court stop a closing or layoff from happening; back pay and the civil penalty are the exclusive remedies for a violation.

Rapid Response and pending Pennsylvania legislation

Because the notice to the state dislocated worker unit is one of WARN’s three required notices, Pennsylvania plays a role even without its own statute. The Department of Labor and Industry receives WARN notices and coordinates Rapid Response services, which connect workers facing a layoff with unemployment compensation information, retraining programs, and job-search help, often on site before the separations occur.

The gap that HB 815 aims to fill is the coverage floor. Because federal WARN reaches only employers of 100 or more and layoffs of at least 50 workers, many Pennsylvania layoffs at smaller employers fall outside any notice requirement. A state mini-WARN law could lower those thresholds, as neighboring states have done, but until House Bill 815 or a similar measure is enacted, no Pennsylvania statute requires layoff notice beyond the federal minimum.