How Do I File a WARN Notice?
When letting your employees know of a plant closing or mass layoff, any reasonable method of delivery that ensures receipt of notice at least 60 days before is acceptable. Examples include:
- First class mail.
- Personal delivery with optional signed receipt.
- A notice in your employee’s pay envelope.
- Note:A ticketed or preprinted notice regularly included in each employee’s paycheck or pay envelope does not meet the requirements.
Your Local Workforce Development Areas (Local Areas) will help you contact the chief elected officials in those communities affected by the planned layoff or closure.
You can find your Local Workforce Development Area Administrator in theLocal Area listing.
Steps to File a WARN Notice
To file a WARN notice, emaileddwarnnotice@edd.ca.gov. The email must include:
- The name of the employer listed in the subject of the email.
- The notification (as an attachment or within the body of the email).
- Contact information in case we need more information.
Note:Attachments should be compatible with Microsoft Office or Adobe Reader software.
What Happens After an Employer Files a WARN Notice?
We have Rapid Response Teams to help employers and workers during a mass layoff or plant closing. The Rapid Response Teams are a combined effort between our staff and the Local Area team's services provided locally throughAmerica’s Job Center of CaliforniaSM (AJCC).
Rapid Response Teams share information about the adult and dislocated worker services available:
- Under Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
- Through the AJCC
- Through our Unemployment Insurance programs.
If worker dislocation is the result of foreign competition or foreign relocation, the dislocated worker may be eligible forTrade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program, which can include:
- Employment and case management services
- Training benefits
- Trade Readjustment Allowances
- Job Search allowances
- Relocation allowances
- Alternative or Reemployment Trade Adjustment Assistance
What Should I Include in the WARN Notice?
There is no official form to file a WARN. You can find what must be included in a WARN notice delivered to your employees inTitle 20 Code of Federal RegulationsSection 639.7.
All notices must be submitted in writing to us and the chief elected official of the local government. You must include the following:
- Name and address of the employment site where the plant closing or the mass layoff will occur.
- Name and phone number of a company official to contact for more information.
- Statement that says if the planned action will be permanent or temporary, and if the entire plant will be closed.
- Expected date of the first separation, and the expected schedule for subsequent separations.
- Job titles of positions to be affected, and the number of employees to be laid off in each job classification.
- For multiple lay-off locations, list the number of affected employees and their job titles by each lay-off location.
- List if bumping rights exist.
- Name of each union representing affected employees.
- Name and address of the chief elected officer of each union.
