Labor Employment Law Blog

Beginning on February 1, 2009, New York employers will not only have to make sure that they are in compliance with the Federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“Federal WARN Act”), but they will also have to make sure that they are in compliance with New York’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“NY WARN Act”).

On December 12, 2005, in MacIsaac v. Waste Mgmt. Collection & Recycling, Inc. (2005) __ Cal.App.4th __, 2005 Cal. App. LEXIS 1905, the First District Court of Appeal issued the first appellate opinion construing the California's "WARN" Act. The California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, Labor Code § 1400, et seq., took effect on January 1, 2003, and prohibits an employer from, inter alia, ordering a "mass layoff" of 50 or more employees during a 30-day period unless the employer gives 60 days' notice to the affected employees and various governmental entities. MacIsaac considered the question of whether there has been a "mass layoff" within the meaning of the California WARN Act where employees are transferred seamlessly from one employer to another, performing the same work for the same pay and benefits. In an opinion upholding the trial court's grant of summary judgment for the defendant employer, the MacIsaac panel determined that in such circumstances there was no "mass layoff" triggering the notice requirements of the California WARN Act. Id., at *1-2.