Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act
PL 100-379 (S.2527), enacted 08/04/1988

102 STAT. 890 
PUBLIC LAW 100-379—AUG. 4, 1988 
Public Law 100-379 
100th Congress 
An Act 
Aug. 4, 1988 
[S. 2527] 
Worker 
Adjustment and 
Retraining 
Notification Act. 
Business and 
industry. 
Employment 
and 
unemployment. 
29 u s e 2101 
note. 
29 u s e 2101. 
To require advance notification of plant closings and mass layoffs, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the "Worker Adjust-
ment and Retraining Notification Act". 
0)) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Definitions; exclusions from definition of loss of employment. 
Sec. 3. Notice required before plant closings and mass layoffs. 
Sec. 4. Exemptions. 
Sec. 5. Administration and enforcement of requirements. 
Sec. 6. Procedures in addition to other rights of employees. 
Sec. 7. Procedures encouraged where not required. 
Sec. 8. Authority to prescribe regulations. 
Sec. 9. Effect on other laws. 
Sec. 10. Report on employment and international competitiveness. 
Sec. 11. Effective date. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS; EXCLUSIONS FROM DEFINITION OF LOSS OF 
EMPLOYMENT. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act— 
(1) the term "employer" means any business enterprise that 
employs— 
(A) 100 or more employees, excluding part-time employ-
ees; or 
(B) 100 or more employees who in the aggregate work at 
least 4,000 hours per week (exclusive of hours of overtime); 
(2) the term "plant closing" means the permanent or tem-
porary shutdown of a single site of employment, or one or more 
facilities or operating units within a single site of employment, 
if the shutdown repults in an employment loss at the single site 
of employment during any 30-day period for 50 or more employ-
ees excluding any part-time employees; 
(3) the term "mass layoff means a reduction in force which— 
(A) is not the result of a plant closing; and 
(B) results in an employment loss at the single site of 
employment during any 30-day period for— 
(i)(I) at least 33 percent of the employees (excluding 
any part-time employees); and 
(II) at least 50 employees (excluding any part-time 
employees); or 
(ii) at least 500 employees (excluding any part-time 
employees); 
(4) the term "representative" means an exclusive representa-
tive of employees within the meaning of section 9(a) or 8(f) of 
the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(a), 158(0) or 
section 2 of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 152);. 
PUBLIC LAW 100-379—AUG. 4, 1988 
102 STAT. 891 
(5) the term "affected employees" means employees who may 
reasonably be expected to experience an employment loss as a 
consequence of a proposed plant closing or mass layoff by their 
employer; 
(6) subject to subsection O
t
>
)
, the term "employment loss" 
means (A) an employment termination, other than a discharge 
for cause, voluntary departure, or retirement, (B) a layoff 
exceeding 6 months, or (C) a reduction in hours of work of more 
than 50 percent during each month of any 6-month period; 
(7) the term "unit of local government" means any general 
purpose political subdivision of a State which has the power to 
levy taxes and spend funds, as well as general corporate and 
police powers; and 
(8) the term "part-time employee" means an employee who is 
employed for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week or 
who has been employed for fewer than 6 of the 12 months 
preceding the date on which notice is required. 
OJ) EXCLUSIONS FROM DEFINITION OP EMPLOYMENT LOSS.—(1) In the 
case of a sale of part or all of an employer's business, the seller shall 
be responsible for providing notice for any plant closing or mass 
layoff in accordance with section 3 of this Act, up to and including 
the effective date of the sale. After the effective date of the sale of 
part or all of an employer's business, the purchaser shall be respon-
sible for providing notice for any plant closing or mass layoff in 
accordance with section 3 of this Act. Notwithstanding any other 
provision of this Act, any person who is an employee of the seller 
(other than a part-time employee) as of the effective date of the sale 
shall be considered an employee of the purchaser immediately after 
the effective date of the sale. 
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (a)(6), an employee may not be 
considered to have experienced an employment loss if the closing or 
layoff is the result of the relocation or consolidation of part or all of 
the employer's business and, prior to the closing or layoff— 
(A) the employer offers to transfer the employee to a different 
site of employment within a reasonable commuting distance 
with no more than a 6-month break in employment; or 
(B) the employer offers to transfer the employee to any other 
site of employment regardless of distance with no more than a 
6-month break in employment, and the employee accepts within 
30 days of the offer or of the closing or layoff, whichever is later. 
SEC. 3. NOTICE REQUIRED BEFORE PLANT CLOSINGS AND MASS LAYOFFS. 
29 USC 2102. 
(a) NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES, STATE DISLOCATED WORKER UNITS, AND 
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—An employer shall not order a plant closing 
or mass layoff until the end of a 60-day period after the employer 
serves written notice of such an order— 
(1) to each representative of the affected employees as of the 
time of the notice or, if there is no such representative at that 
time, to each affected employee; and 
(2) to the State dislocated worker unit (designated or created 
under title III of the Job Training Partnership Act) and the 
chief elected official of the unit of local government within 
which such closing or layoff is to occur. 
If there is more than one such unit, the unit of local government 
which the employer shall notify is the unit of local government to 
which the employer pays the highest taxes for the year preceding 
the year for which the determination is made. 
102 STAT. 892 
PUBLIC LAW 100-379—AUG. 4, 1988 
(b) REDUCTION OP NOTIFICATION PERIOD.—(1) An employer may 
order the shutdown of a single site of employment before the 
conclusion of the 60-day period if as of the time that notice would 
have been required the employer was actively seeking capital or 
business which, if obtained, would have enabled the employer to 
avoid or postpone the shutdown and the employer reasonably and 
in good faith believed that giving the notice required would 
have precluded the employer from obtaining the needed capital or 
business. 
(2XA) An employer may order a plant closing or mass layoff before 
the conclusion of the 60-day period if the closing or mass layoff is 
caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foresee-
able as of the time that notice would have been required. 
(B) No notice under this Act shall be required if the plant closing 
or mass layoff is due to any form of natural disaster, such as a flood, 
earthquake, or the drought currently ravaging the farmlands of the 
United States. 
(3) An employer relying on this subsection shall give as much 
notice as is practicable and at that time shall give a brief statement 
of the basis for reducing the notification period. 
(c) EXTENSION OF LAYOFF PERIOD.—A layoff of more than 6 months 
which, at its outset, was announced to be a layoff of 6 months or less, 
shall be treated as an employment loss under this Act unless— 
(1) the extension beyond 6 months is caused by business 
circumstances (including unforeseeable changes in price or cost) 
not reasonably foreseeable at the time of the initial layoff; and 
(2) notice is given at the time it becomes reasonably foresee-
able that the extension beyond 6 months will be required. 
(d) DETERMINATIONS WITH RESPECT TO EMPLOYMENT Loss.—For 
purposes of this section, in determining whether a plant closing or 
mass layoff has occurred or will occur, employment losses for 2 or 
more groups at a single site of employment, each of which is less 
than the minimum number of employees specified in section 2(a) (2) 
or (3) but which in the aggregate exceed that minimum number, and 
which occur within any 90-day period shall be considered to be a 
plant closing or mass layoff unless the employer demonstrates that 
the employment losses are the result of separate and distinct actions 
and causes and are not an attempt by the employer to evade the 
requirements of this Act. 
29 u s e 2103. 
SEC. 4. EXEMPTIONS. 
This Act shall not apply to a plant closing or mass layoff i
f
— 
(1) the closing is of a temporary facility or the closing or layoff 
is the result of the completion of a particular project or under-
taking, and the affected employees were hired with the under-
standing that their employment was limited to the duration of 
the facility or the project or undertaking; or 
(2) the closing or layoff constitutes a strike or constitutes a 
lockout not intended to evade the requirements of this Act. 
Nothing in this Act shall require an employer to serve written 
notice pursuant to section 3(a) of this Act when permanently 
replacing a person who is deemed to be an economic striker 
under the National Labor Relations Act: Provided, That nothing 
in this Act shall be deemed to validate or invalidate any judicial 
or administrative ruling relating to the hiring of permanent 
i replacements for economic strikers under the National Labor 
Relations Act. 
•^•i^^fjf.'-.,-
PUBLIC LAW 100-379—AUG. 4, 1988 
102 STAT. 893 
SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) CIVIL ACTIONS AGAINST EMPLOYERS.—(1) Any employer who 
orders a plant closing or mass layoff in violation of section 3 of this 
Act shall be liable to each aggrieved employee who suffers an 
employment loss as a result of such closing or layoff for— 
(A) back pay for each day of violation at a rate of compensa-
tion not less than the higher o
f
— 
(i) the average regular rate received by such employee 
during the last 3 years of the employee's employment; or 
(ii) the final regular rate received by such employee; and 
(B) benefits under an employee benefit plan described in 
section 3(3) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
1974 (29 U.S.C. 1002(3)), including the cost of medical expenses 
incurred during the employment loss which would have been 
covered under an employee benefit plan if the employment loss 
had not occurred. 
Such liability shall be calculated for the period of the violation, up 
to a maximum of 60 days, but in no event for more than one-half the 
number of days the employee was employed by the employer. 
(2) The amount for which an employer is liable under paragraph 
(1) shall be reduced by— 
(A) any wages paid by the employer to the employee for the 
period of the violation; 
(B) any voluntary and unconditional payment by the em-
ployer to the employee that is not required by any legal obliga-
tion; and 
(C) any payment by the employer to a third party or trustee 
(such as premiums for health benefits or payments to a defined 
contribution pension plan) on behalf of and attributable to the 
employee for the period of the violation. 
In addition, any liability incurred under paragraph (1) with respect 
to a defined benefit pension plan may be reduced by crediting the 
employee with service for all purposes under such a plan for the 
period of the violation. 
(3) Any employer who violates the provisions of section 3 with 
respect to a unit of local government shall be subject to a civil 
penalty of not more than $500 for each day of such violation, except 
that such penalty shall not apply if the employer pays to each 
aggrieved employee the amount for which the employer is liable to 
that employee within 3 weeks from the date the employer orders the 
shutdown or layoff. 
(4) If an employer which has violated this Act proves to the 
satisfaction of the court that the act or omission that violated this 
Act was in good faith and that the employer had reasonable grounds 
for believing that the act or omission was not a violation of this Act 
the court may, in its discretion, reduce the amount of the liability or 
penalty provided for in this section. 
(5) A person seeking to enforce such liability, including a rep-
resentative of employees or a unit of local government aggrieved 
under paragraph (1) or (3), may sue either for such person or for 
other persons similarly situated, or both, in any district court of the 
United States for any district in which the violation is alleged to 
have occurred, or in which the employer transacts business. 
(6) In any such suit, the court, in its discretion, may allow the 
prevailing party a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs. 
29 u s e 2104. 
Wages. 
Health and 
medical care. 
Wages. 
Health and 
medical care. 
Retirement. 
Courts, U.S. 
State and 
local 
governments. 
Courts, U.S. 
102 STAT. 894 
PUBLIC LAW 100-379—AUG. 4, 1988 
(7) For purposes of this subsection, the term, "aggrieved em-
ployee" means an employee who has worked for the employer 
ordering the plant closing or mass layoff and who, as a result of the 
failure by the employer to comply with section 3, did not receive 
timely notice either directly or through his or her representative as 
required by section 3. 
Courts, U.S. 
(b) EXCLUSIVITY OF REMEDIES.—The remedies provided for in this 
section shall be the exclusive remedies for any violation of this Act. 
Under this Act, a Federal court shall not have authority to enjoin a 
plant closing or mass layoff. 
29 use 2105. 
SEC. 6. PROCEDURES IN ADDITION TO OTHER RIGHTS OF EMPLOYEES. 
Contracts. 
The rights and remedies provided to employees by this Act are in 
addition to, and not in lieu of, any other contractual or statutory 
rights and remedies of the employees, and are not intended to alter 
or affect such rights and remedies, except that the period of notifica-
tion required by this Act shall run concurrently with any period of 
notification required by contract or by any other statute. 
29 use 2106. 
SEC. 7. PROCEDURES ENCOURAGED WHERE NOT REQUIRED. 
It is the sense of Congress that an employer who is not required to 
comply with the notice requirements of section 3 should, to the 
extent possible, provide notice to its employees about a proposal to 
close a plant or permanently reduce its workforce. 
29 use 2107. 
SEC. 8. AUTHORITY TO PRESCRIBE REGULATIONS. 
(a) The Secretary of Labor shall prescribe such regulations as may 
be necessary to carry out this Act. Such regulations shall, at a 
minimum, include interpretative regulations describing the meth-
ods by which employers may provide for appropriate service of 
notice as required by this Act. 
(b) The mailing of notice to an employee's last known address or 
inclusion of notice in the employee's paycheck will be considered 
acceptable methods for fulfillment of the employer's obligation to 
give notice to each affected employee under this Act. 
29 use 2108. 
SEC. 9. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 
The giving of notice pursuant to this Act, if done in good faith 
compliance with this Act, shall not constitute a violation of the 
National Labor Relatidns Act or the Railway Labor Act. 
29 use 2109. 
SEC. 10. REPORT ON EMPLOYMENT AND INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVE-
NESS. 
Two years after the date of enactment of this Act the Comptroller 
General shall submit to the Committee on Small Business of both 
the House and Senate, the Committee on Labor and Human Re-
sources, and the Committee on Education and Labor a report 
containing a detailed and objective analysis of the effect of this Act 
on employers (especially small- and medium-sized businesses), the 
economy (international competitiveness), and employees (in terms of 
levels and conditions of employment). The Comptroller General 
shall assess both costs and benefits, including the effect on 
productivity, competitiveness, unemployment rates and compensa-
tion, and worker retraining and readjustment. 
•SJSr-SM 
PUBLIC LAW 100-379—AUG. 4,1988 
102 STAT. 895 
SEC. 11. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
29 USC 2101 
This Act shall take effect on the date which is 6 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, except that the authority of the 
Secretary of Labor under section 8 is effective upon enactment. 
[Note by the Office of the Federal Register: The foregoing Act, having been 
presented to the President of the United States on Friday, July 22, 1988, and not 
having been returned by him to the House of Congress in which it originated within 
the time prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, has become law without 
his signature on August 4, 1988.] 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 2527: 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 134 (1988): 
June 22-24, 27-29, July 6, considered and passed Senate. 
July 13, considered and passed House. 
WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 24 (1988): 
Aug. 2, Presidential statement.