Washington State Layoff Notice: 60-Day Rule and Exceptions

A Washington state layoff notice must reach affected workers at least 60 days before their jobs end. The requirement comes from two separate laws that often apply at the same time: Washington’s Securing Timely Notification and Benefits for Laid-Off Employees Act, which took effect July 27, 2025, and the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. The state law applies to employers with 50 or more full-time employees in Washington; the federal law applies at 100. An employer that skips or shortens the required notice can owe each affected worker up to 60 days of back pay and benefits, plus civil penalties.

Which Employers Have to Give Notice

Washington’s state law covers any employer with 50 or more full-time employees in the state. It requires 60 days’ advance written notice before a business closing or mass layoff that will cost 50 or more workers their jobs. A “business closing” is a permanent or temporary shutdown of a site, facility, or operating unit that eliminates at least 50 positions. A “mass layoff” uses the same 50-employee floor but applies when the cuts aren’t tied to a full closure.

The federal WARN Act runs alongside the state law for larger employers. It covers businesses with 100 or more full-time employees, or 100 or more employees who together work at least 4,000 hours per week. Part-time workers (people who average fewer than 20 hours a week, or who have worked fewer than 6 of the preceding 12 months) don’t count toward the 100-employee threshold.¹

Under federal WARN, a plant closing triggers the notice duty when a shutdown costs 50 or more full-time workers their jobs at a single site in any 30-day window. A mass layoff triggers it when 50 or more full-time workers are cut and they make up at least 33 percent of the site’s workforce. If 500 or more workers lose their jobs at one site, notice is required regardless of what share of the workforce they represent.¹

Employers can’t dodge these thresholds by staggering cuts. Rounds of layoffs at the same site within any 90-day period are added together and treated as a single event unless the employer can show each round had a separate and distinct cause.²

When Both Laws Apply

A Washington employer with 100 or more employees has to meet both the state and federal requirements. The two laws line up on the headline rule (60 days’ written notice), but the state version adds its own penalties and its own list of exceptions. Employers with 50 to 99 full-time employees fall under the state law only. Meeting the stricter requirement on any given point will generally satisfy both.

What the Notice Must Include

Federal regulations set out what a WARN notice has to say:

The expected date of the first separation and the schedule for later separations.
Whether the closure or layoff is expected to be permanent or temporary, and whether the whole plant will close.
Whether senior employees can bump less-senior workers to keep a position.
The name, address, and phone number of a company official who can answer questions.

Each of these points has to appear in the version of the notice sent to employees, unions, and government agencies, with small format differences depending on the recipient.³ For non-union employees, the notice has to be written in language they can understand. Employers should break out job titles and say how many workers in each category will be affected. The Washington Employment Security Department (ESD) posts suggested notice formats to help employers hit every element.⁴

Who Receives the Notice

Three groups must receive written notice at least 60 days before the first separation:²

Affected workers or, if they’re represented, the union’s chief elected officer. Non-union workers each receive individual notice.
The state rapid-response agency. In Washington, that is ESD.
The chief elected official of the local government where the layoff will happen. When a site crosses jurisdictions, the employer notifies the one it pays the highest taxes to.

On-site workers are usually handed the notice. Anyone off site can be mailed a copy at their last known address, as long as it’s sent early enough to arrive inside the 60-day window.

Exceptions to the 60-Day Rule

Both laws recognize situations where full notice isn’t possible. Federal WARN allows shortened notice in three circumstances:

A faltering company actively looking for capital or new business can give shorter notice if announcing the layoff would reasonably have derailed those efforts. This one applies only to plant closings, not mass layoffs.
Unforeseeable business circumstances, such as the sudden cancellation of a major contract, justify less notice.
A natural disaster that directly causes the shutdown allows the employer to give as much notice as practicable.

Even when an exception applies, the employer still has to give as much notice as possible and explain why it couldn’t give the full 60 days.¹ Two situations exempt an employer from the notice duty altogether: workers hired for a temporary facility or defined-end project who knew the work was limited from the start, and layoffs that result from a strike or lockout (unless the lockout was staged to avoid WARN).⁵

Washington’s state law has similar but narrower exceptions. It recognizes unforeseeable business circumstances, natural disasters, and certain construction projects, but it does not include a faltering-company exception. When an exception covers only part of the 60-day window, the employer still has to give notice as soon as the exception no longer applies.

Penalties for Noncompliance

Under federal WARN, an employer that fails to give the required notice owes each affected worker back pay for every day of the violation, calculated at whichever is higher: the worker’s average regular rate over the preceding three years or the final regular rate. The employer also has to cover the cost of benefits the worker would have received, including health insurance premiums. Liability caps at 60 days and can’t exceed half the total days the worker was employed there.⁶

The employer’s bill is reduced by wages paid during the violation period, voluntary unconditional payments to the worker, and third-party payments made on the worker’s behalf such as health premiums or pension contributions.⁶ A separate civil penalty of up to $500 per day runs for failing to notify the local government, waived if the employer pays every affected worker in full within three weeks of ordering the layoff.

Washington’s state law adds its own penalties on top. An employer who fails to give notice may owe each worker up to 60 days of back pay and benefits at the higher of the average or final rate of pay. A separate state civil penalty of up to $500 per day applies when the employer fails to notify ESD, unless full payments reach every affected worker within three weeks of the layoff or closure. Workers can sue under the state law and recover attorneys’ fees if they win.

Time Limit for Filing Suit

Federal WARN doesn’t set its own statute of limitations. The U.S. Supreme Court held in North Star Steel Co. v. Thomas that courts borrow the limitations period from the most closely analogous state statute where the suit is filed.⁷ Because that deadline depends on which Washington statute a court treats as most comparable, workers who believe a WARN violation occurred should talk to an attorney promptly rather than guess at a cutoff.

Can an Employer Pay in Lieu of Notice?

The WARN Act requires written notice and doesn’t authorize cash as a substitute. In practice, though, paying 60 days of wages and benefits can work as a backstop. Because the Act lets employers offset back-pay liability with voluntary and unconditional payments, an employer that pays every affected worker in full for the 60 days effectively cancels out its back-pay exposure. The payment has to be genuinely voluntary. If it’s already owed under a contract, company policy, or another law, it can’t be credited against WARN damages.⁸ If the worker finds a new job during that 60 days, the former employer may stop the payments.

Pay in lieu of notice is not severance. Federal law doesn’t require severance pay at all; whether you receive it depends on your employer’s policies, your contract, or a collective bargaining agreement.⁹

What Laid-Off Workers Should Do Next

Washington law requires employers to pay your final wages by the end of the next regular pay period after your employment ends. A collective bargaining agreement can set a different timeline, but otherwise, the next regular payday is the deadline.¹⁰ That final paycheck covers all wages earned through your last day, including accrued vacation if your employer’s policy treats it as payable at separation. If your employer misses the deadline, the Washington Department of Labor and Industries handles wage complaints.

File for unemployment within two weeks of your last day of work. Waiting longer can prompt extra questions from ESD and delay your first payment.¹¹ You can apply through ESD’s eServices portal around the clock or by phone at 800-318-6022. Select “Laid off due to lack of work” as your separation reason, and have your employer’s legal registered name (usually on your pay stub or W-2) and the exact name on your Social Security card ready. To qualify, you need at least 680 hours worked during your base year. Washington’s maximum weekly benefit is $1,152, and benefits run up to 26 weeks.¹² Filing is only step one. You also have to submit a weekly claim and meet job-search requirements to keep getting paid.

Health coverage runs on a 60-day clock after your job-based plan ends. Under COBRA, you can continue the same employer plan for up to 18 months, but you pay the full premium yourself. You have 60 days from the date coverage ends to elect COBRA, and coverage is retroactive to the day the prior plan terminated.¹³ You also get a 60-day special enrollment period on the Health Insurance Marketplace, where income-based subsidies often make a plan cheaper than COBRA. Marketplace coverage typically starts the first day of the month after your employer plan ends.¹⁴ Compare costs before you commit to either path.

If you want to retrain, Washington’s Worker Retraining Program at community and technical colleges offers tuition assistance, books, advising, and job-search support to workers who are receiving or eligible for unemployment, or who exhausted benefits within the past four years.¹⁵

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S.C. Chapter 23 – Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S.C. 2102 – Notice Required Before Plant Closings and Mass Layoffs
3
eCFR. 20 CFR 639.7 – What Must the Notice Contain
4
Employment Security Department. Layoffs and Employee Notifications
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S.C. 2103 – Exemptions
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S.C. 2104 – Administration and Enforcement of Requirements
7
Justia. North Star Steel Co. v. Thomas
8
U.S. Department of Labor. WARN Advisor
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Severance Pay
10
Washington State Legislature. RCW 49.48.010 – Payment of Wages
11
Employment Security Department. How to Apply for Unemployment Benefits
12
Employment Security Department. Estimate Your Benefit
13
U.S. Department of Labor. COBRA Continuation Coverage
14
HealthCare.gov. If You Lose Job-Based Health Insurance
15
State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. Worker Retraining Program