They are narrow and difficult to meet. Notice the quotations marks and please do not assume that one of these exceptions applies. Liability for noncompliance. The WARN Act provides that aggrieved employees may sue the employer in federal court and recover back wages for each day of violation, up to a maximum of 60 days. The recovery includes benefits such as payment of medical expenses for illness or injury which would have been covered if the employment loss had not occurred.
Employees can also recover attorneys fees.
The state of Tennessee has its own plant closing law, which applies to employers with at least 50 but less than 99 full-time employees. This law imposes notice requirements when the employer experiences a reduction in operations, which generally means any action that results in a permanent or indefinite reduction of the work force by 50 or more employees during any three-month period. The employer complies by giving notice to the affected employees, and to the state by phoning the Commission of Labor and Workforce Development and informing that office of the circumstances of the reduction in operations, and the number of employees affected. While WARN can be hyper-technical, when you get right down to it, compliance is largely a matter of sending written notices to the right people at the right time. Further, the employer who complies is very unlikely to be sued.