WA WARN Act: Covered Employers, Triggers, and Penalties

The Washington WARN Act requires covered employers to give affected workers, their union, the state Employment Security Department, and the local chief elected official at least 60 days’ written notice before a qualifying layoff or business closure. Two laws run in parallel: the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, and a Washington statute at RCW 49.45 that took effect in July 2025 and reaches smaller employers. If you employ 100 or more full-time workers, plan to satisfy both at once. If you employ between 50 and 99 full-time workers in Washington, the state law applies to you even though the federal one does not.

Which Employers Are Covered

Federal WARN applies to any business with 100 or more full-time employees, or 100 or more employees who together work at least 4,000 hours a week excluding overtime.¹ Workers with fewer than six months on the job and those averaging under 20 hours a week are excluded from that headcount.²

Washington’s state law sets the threshold at 50 or more full-time employees in the state, and it is broader than the federal version in another respect: a mass layoff is not limited to a single site of employment.³ A company with workers spread across several Washington locations can trigger state notice obligations through losses that would never aggregate under federal rules.

What Triggers a Notice

Plant Closings

A plant closing is a permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site, facility, or operating unit that causes an employment loss for 50 or more full-time workers in any 30-day period.¹ Part-time employees are excluded from the count, and the shutdown does not need to be permanent to qualify.

Mass Layoffs

A mass layoff is a workforce reduction that is not the result of a plant closing. Federal notice is required when, during any 30-day period at a single site, either 500 or more full-time workers lose their jobs, or between 50 and 499 workers lose their jobs and that group amounts to at least 33 percent of the active full-time workforce.¹ At 500 or more affected employees, the one-third test drops out.

Rolling Reductions Across 90 Days

Employers cannot stay under the threshold by staging a layoff in waves. Two or more rounds of job losses at the same site that each sit below the trigger are treated as a single event if, taken together, they cross a threshold within any 90-day window. The only escape is proof that the rounds stemmed from genuinely separate and distinct causes.⁴ A round of 30 cuts in March and 25 more in May at the same location can retroactively require notice.

What Counts as an Employment Loss

Not every departure counts. An employment loss means a termination (other than for cause, voluntary resignation, or retirement), a layoff running longer than six months, or a cut of more than 50 percent in a worker’s hours during each month of any six-month stretch.⁵

Several moves don’t count. If the employer relocates or consolidates and offers a transfer to another site within reasonable commuting distance with no more than a six-month break, the worker has not suffered an employment loss. The same is true of a transfer offer to any site, regardless of distance, that the employee accepts within 30 days.⁵ Reassignment to an employer-sponsored retraining or job-search program is also excluded if it is not a constructive discharge.

Exceptions That Shorten the 60 Days

Three narrow exceptions permit less than 60 days’ notice. In each case the employer must still give as much notice as practicable and explain in writing why the full period was not possible.

Faltering company. An employer actively seeking capital or business can shorten notice for a plant closing if full notice would realistically kill the deal that might keep the company open. This exception does not apply to mass layoffs.⁴
Unforeseeable business circumstances. A sudden, dramatic event outside the employer’s control, such as a major contract cancellation, an unexpected regulatory shutdown, or a principal client’s bankruptcy, qualifies.⁶
Natural disaster. No advance notice is required when a closing or layoff is the direct result of a flood, earthquake, storm, drought, or similar event. Indirect fallout (losing customers because a hurricane struck another region) does not qualify under this exception, though it might fall under unforeseeable business circumstances. Even here, the employer must provide notice containing as much of the required information as available, before or after the event.⁷

What the Notice Must Say

Washington’s Employment Security Department requires the notice on company letterhead, containing:³

Company name, and both the physical and mailing address of the affected site.
Name and phone number of a company contact for rapid response coordination; a local contact is preferred.
Whether the event is a layoff or a full closure, and whether it is temporary or permanent.
The expected date of the first separation and a schedule of any staged reductions.
Whether the action is driven by a relocation or by contracting out operations or positions.
The total number of employees affected, with their job titles, names, and addresses by job category.
Whether a union represents the affected employees; if so, each union representative’s name and the name and address of the chief elected officer of each union. Include a statement on bumping rights if any exist.
Name, title, and signature of a company official.

If more than one local government has jurisdiction over the site, federal law directs notice to the chief elected official of the government to which the employer pays the highest taxes.⁴

Where to Send the Notice

Notices must reach every required party at least 60 days before the first separation. In Washington, that means three recipients:

The Employment Security Department. Email the letter to the Grants Management Office WARN team at ESDGPLayoffAssistance@esd.wa.gov with “WARN” in the subject line, or mail it to Employment Security Department, Grants Management Office, Attention: WARN Team, P.O. Box 9046, Olympia, WA 98507-9046.³
The chief elected official of the local community: a mayor, council chair, or county executive depending on the jurisdiction. The employer must identify the correct person.³
Affected employees, or their union. If workers are represented, notice goes to the union’s chief officer rather than to each individual. Non-union employees must each receive individual written notice.⁴

Federal regulations accept any reasonable delivery method designed to ensure receipt 60 days in advance, including first-class mail or personal delivery with a signed receipt. Inserting a notice into pay envelopes is acceptable for individuals, but a boilerplate “ticketed notice” preprinted on every paycheck does not qualify.⁸ Once ESD processes a submission, it posts a redacted copy to its public WARN layoff and closure database and reaches out to coordinate rapid response services for the workers.

Remote Workers and Business Sales

Remote and telecommuting employees count toward WARN thresholds. The question is which site they belong to. A remote worker’s single site of employment is the location to which the worker is assigned as a home base, from which their work is assigned, or to which they report.⁵ An employee living in Spokane whose assignments flow out of a Seattle office is counted as a Seattle employee. Map each remote worker to a physical site before running the threshold math.

In a sale of all or part of a business, the seller is responsible for WARN notice through the date of sale, and the buyer takes over for anything triggered after closing.⁹ The technical shift of workers from one payroll to another is not itself an employment loss as long as the employees keep working. If actual layoffs follow the sale, someone owes proper notice, and the transaction itself is not a defense.

Penalties for Missing the Notice

An employer that fails to give the required 60 days owes each affected worker back pay for every day the notice fell short. The daily rate is the higher of the employee’s final regular rate or their average regular rate over the last three years. The employer also owes the value of benefits the worker would have received, including medical expenses incurred during the violation period that the company’s health plan would have covered.¹⁰

Liability is capped at 60 days of back pay per employee and cannot exceed half the total number of days the worker was employed. The employer can offset liability with wages already paid during the violation period, voluntary unconditional payments, or third-party benefit payments made on the employee’s behalf.¹⁰

Failure to notify the local government carries a separate civil penalty of up to $500 per day. That penalty is avoided entirely if the employer pays every affected employee in full within three weeks of ordering the shutdown or layoff.¹⁰ Courts may award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party, and an employer who proves the violation was made in good faith with reasonable grounds may see the penalty reduced, though not eliminated.¹¹

Enforcement runs through private lawsuits in federal district court, not through a government agency. Affected workers, their union, or local officials can sue individually or on behalf of all similarly situated employees. No administrative complaint process exists. If an employer shorts the notice, the courthouse is the only remedy.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2101 – Definitions
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act Frequently Asked Questions
3
Employment Security Department. WARN Requirements
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2102 – Notice Required Before Plant Closings and Mass Layoffs
5
eCFR. 20 CFR 639.3 – Definitions
6
U.S. Department of Labor. WARN Advisor – Unforeseeable Business Circumstances
7
eCFR. 20 CFR 639.9 – When May Notice Be Given Less Than 60 Days in Advance
8
eCFR. 20 CFR 639.8 – Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification
9
U.S. Department of Labor. WARN Advisor
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2104 – Administration and Enforcement of Requirements
11
U.S. Department of Labor. WARN Advisor – Frequently Asked Questions