Your Rights Under WARN?

Aside from any internal policies the company you work for may or may not have, you likely have rights under State and Federal laws such as WARN “Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification” Act, Public Law 100-379 (29 U.S.C. § 2101 et seq.).

You must receive a written notice 60 days before the date of a mass layoff or plant closing if you meet certain conditions. If your employer does not give you the required notice, you may be able to seek damages for back pay and benefits for up to 60 days, depending on how many days’ notice you actually received.

I’ve provided a link at the end of this article to my website where you can read “A guide to Your Rights Under WARN.”

Large Businesses Have Internal Layoff Policies

Most large businesses have a written policy regarding their internal procedures including layoff rights for workers. These procedures usually include such details as the determination of severance payment to be allotted each employee affected in accordance with their years of employment, salary level, and position held. For example, when I was laid off the first time I had been employed with the company for 10 years. According to their layoff rights for workers, I was entitled to $1,000 per year for each year I had worked.

To determine your layoff rights take the time to read the company policies and learn what regulations the company may be governed by.

You Could Lose Thousands of Dollars

The company you currently work for must have some security in place to keep their entire staff of employees from abandoning ship too soon. Even in the mist of layoffs, there is work to be done. Some employees must be kept working until the work ends or until what is left of the work can be moved into the hands of other surviving employees.

If you know your company is downsizing, it’s important to stay with the job until you have been offered an acceptable retirement package or given a pink slip with severance pay.

Let’s say you’ve been notified that the department you work in will be gradually eliminated and you will be laid off at some point in the near future. By knowing you will be laid off you decide to look for, and find, another job in another company. If you accept another job before you are laid off, you will likely lose any severance package you may have been entitled to.

With 20 plus years in the corporate world I know what it’s like to be in the middle of mass layoffs and I know what it’s like to be a victim with a pink slip in my hands. Layoffs don’t just occur when the economy is in a downturn. They occur when one company buys out another and there are overlapping departments and talents, and for many other reasons.

I was the victim of two layoffs and the survivor of several others through those years. The layoffs, while stressful, were also profitable because I stuck with the job until the pink slip was handed to me. Unless you have only been with the company for a short period of time, you could receive a substantial sum of money through your severance package along with Cobra health benefits.

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