Texas has no state plant-closing statute, so notice requirements for Texas employers come entirely from the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. A covered employer must give at least 60 days’ written notice of a plant closing or mass layoff to affected workers (or their union), the Texas Workforce Commission, and the chief elected official of the local government where the site sits. Miss any of those, and the company owes back pay and benefits for every day of the shortfall, up to 60 days per worker.
Which Employers Are Covered
WARN applies to businesses with 100 or more full-time employees. Part-time workers, defined as those averaging fewer than 20 hours per week or who have been on the payroll less than six of the last 12 months, are excluded from that count.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2101 – Definitions
There’s a second way in. An employer also qualifies if it has 100 or more employees (part-timers included) who together work at least 4,000 hours per week, excluding overtime.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2101 – Definitions Businesses that lean heavily on part-time staff can still land inside the statute through this test.
What Triggers a Notice
Two kinds of events require WARN notice, and both are measured at a single site of employment over any 30-day period.
A plant closing is the permanent or temporary shutdown of a site, or of a facility or operating unit within it (which can be as small as a single department or production line), that causes an employment loss for 50 or more full-time workers.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2101 – Definitions
A mass layoff is a reduction in force not caused by a closing that hits one of two thresholds: 500 or more employees, or at least 50 employees when those 50 represent 33 percent or more of the full-time workforce at the site.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2101 – Definitions; Exclusions From Definition of Loss of Employment The percentage prong catches mid-sized employers by surprise. A site with 140 full-time workers that cuts 50 has tripped both floors.
Rolling Layoffs Get Added Together
Splitting a large layoff into smaller rounds does not work. If separate rounds occur within any 90-day window and each falls below the threshold on its own, they are aggregated. If the total reaches the plant-closing or mass-layoff numbers, every round required notice.3U.S. Department of Labor. WARN Advisor – Aggregation The employer avoids aggregation only by proving each round came from a separate and distinct cause.4eCFR. 20 CFR 639.5 – When Must Notice Be Given
What the Notice Must Say
The federal regulations set out specific content for the notice sent to the TWC and to the local elected official. It must include:
- The name and address of the site, plus a company contact name and phone number.
- Whether the action is permanent or temporary, and whether the entire site will close.
- The expected date of the first separation and the schedule for later rounds.
- Job titles of affected positions and the number of employees in each.
- The name of each union representing affected workers and the name and address of each union’s chief elected officer.
Where there is no union, notices go directly to individual workers, and those notices must also state whether bumping rights (the ability of senior employees to displace less senior ones in different positions) exist. The notice to individual workers has to be written in language they can understand.5eCFR. 20 CFR 639.7 – What Must the Notice Contain
How to File in Texas
Notice must reach three recipients at least 60 days before the first separation: affected workers (through the union, or individually if none), the state dislocated worker unit, and the chief elected official of the local government hosting the site.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2102 – Notice Required Before Plant Closings and Mass Layoffs If a site sits across multiple jurisdictions, the local notice goes to the unit the employer pays the highest taxes to.
In Texas, the state filing goes to the Texas Workforce Commission by mail, email, or fax:
- Mail: Texas Workforce Commission, Attn: Layoff/WARN, 101 E 15th St, Rm 440T, Austin, TX 78778-0001
- Email: warnletter.central@twc.texas.gov
- Fax: 512-936-0331
Delivery to workers or unions can use any reasonable method designed to ensure receipt at least 60 days in advance. The regulations name first-class mail and personal delivery with an optional signed receipt. Inserting the notice into pay envelopes works too, but a preprinted “ticketed” notice included in every paycheck as a matter of routine does not.8eCFR. 20 CFR 639.8 – How Is Notice Served
When Less Than 60 Days Is Allowed
Three narrow exceptions permit a shorter notice period. Even when one applies, the employer must give as much notice as is practicable and include a brief written explanation of why the full 60 days wasn’t possible.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2102 – Notice Required Before Plant Closings and Mass Layoffs
The faltering company exception covers plant closings only, not mass layoffs. The employer must have been actively seeking capital or new business that would have allowed it to avoid or postpone the shutdown, and it must show a reasonable, good-faith belief that giving 60 days’ notice would have scared off that capital or deal.
The unforeseeable business circumstances exception covers both closings and layoffs. The triggering event has to have been caused by circumstances not reasonably foreseeable when the 60-day notice would have been due. A sudden loss of a major client or an abrupt economic downturn is the paradigm.
The natural disaster exception requires no advance notice at all when a flood, earthquake, storm, drought, or similar event causes the closing or layoff.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2102 – Notice Required Before Plant Closings and Mass Layoffs
The employer bears the burden of proving any exception in court if workers challenge the shortened notice.
What WARN Does Not Cover
Two categories fall entirely outside the statute. Closing a temporary facility or ending a specific project requires no notice if workers were hired with the understanding that their jobs would last only as long as the facility operated or the project continued. And a closing or layoff that amounts to a strike or lockout is exempt, provided it isn’t a device to evade WARN. If a closing or layoff happens during a strike for reasons unrelated to the labor dispute, though, notice is still owed to non-striking workers and to workers at other affected sites.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2103 – Exemptions
Who Files During a Business Sale
The notice obligation transfers at the moment of sale. The seller is responsible for any plant closing or mass layoff occurring up to and including the effective date of the sale. After that date, the buyer is on the hook.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2101 – Definitions Every full-time employee of the seller as of the sale date counts as an employee of the buyer immediately afterward, so a buyer cannot argue it hasn’t yet crossed the 100-employee threshold by excluding the workers it just acquired.
Penalties for Skipping or Shorting the Notice
An employer that orders a closing or layoff without proper notice owes each affected worker back pay and benefits for every day of the violation, capped at 60 days. Back pay is calculated at the higher of the worker’s average regular rate over the last three years or their final regular rate. Benefits liability includes medical expenses the employee incurred that the employer’s plan would have covered had the layoff not happened.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2104 – Administration and Enforcement of Requirements
The employer can offset that liability dollar-for-dollar with any wages voluntarily paid during the violation period, any unconditional payments to affected workers, and payments to third parties on their behalf (continued health insurance premiums, for example).10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2104 – Administration and Enforcement of Requirements
Failing to notify local government carries a separate civil penalty of up to $500 per day. It disappears if the employer pays every affected worker the full amount owed within three weeks of ordering the layoff or closure.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2104 – Administration and Enforcement of Requirements A court can also award reasonable attorney’s fees to workers who bring suit.11U.S. Department of Labor. WARN Advisor – Penalties
An employer that shows it acted in good faith and had reasonable grounds to believe it was complying can ask the court to reduce damages or the penalty.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2104 – Administration and Enforcement of Requirements
What Happens After the TWC Receives the Notice
Once TWC has the filing, it deploys a Rapid Response team to the affected worksite so that services reach workers before their last day rather than after. The team helps employees register on WorkInTexas.com, file for unemployment insurance, and learn about training through local Workforce Solutions offices. Orientations also cover financial management, stress counseling, and job search skills.7Texas Workforce Commission. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Notices Employers that allow on-site access during the 60-day window give their workers a faster transition into whatever comes next.