As an employer, if your company plans to close a facility or conduct a mass personnel layoff, you may be required to file a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification—commonly called a WARN notice — with the state.

How Filing a WARN Notice Works

A federal law, the WARN Act, governs the process for filing a notice.  The act seeks to protect workers, their families, and their communities by requiring employers to provide 60 days’ advance notice of certain plant closings and mass layoffs. Businesses that employ at least 100 workers, excluding part-time workers, are required to file a WARN notice if they are preparing to take one of the following actions:

  • Close a plant that affects at least 50 employees during any 30-day period. (This does not include workers who have worked less than six months during the last year or employees who work less than an average of 20 hours a week.)
  • Conduct a mass layoff of at least 500 employees, or a layoff impacting between 50-499 employees when that number represents at least one-third of the employer’s workforce.

You must file your WARN notice with the following:

  • All affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union)
  • The North Carolina Division of Workforce Solutions, a unit of the N.C. Department of Commerce
  • The chief elected official of the unit of local government where the site is located

After filing the WARN notice, our workforce Rapid Response team will contact you in 48 hours or less, to assist your workers and your Human Resources staff.

This sample WARN notice provides an example to guide you.

For More Information About Filing a WARN Notice

Contact the Rapid Response Team at the N.C. Division of Workforce Solutions

  • Call: (800) 562-6333 
  • Email: warn@commerce.nc.gov
    • Note: Please only use this email address to send actual WARN notices to our agency.

Review this COVID-19 "Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act Frequently Asked Questions" document from the U.S. Department of Labor.

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