California Suspends WARN Act Notice Requirements Due to COVID-19 Pandemic until Further Notice

On March 17, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order intended to protect employers laying off workers or shuttering their businesses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.   Executive Order N-31-20 (the “Executive Order”) temporarily suspends California’s Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (“CA WARN”) Act’s requirement that employers provide covered employees 60-days’ written notice before a mass layoff, relocation, termination or plant closure, but requires that, in lieu of the full 60-day notice period, businesses give employees “as much notice as is practicable” and provide “a brief statement of the basis for reducing the [regular] notification period.”  The Executive Order is retroactive to March 4, 2020—the date Governor Newsom declared a State of Emergency in California.

PDF of Client Alert:  California Suspends WARN Act Notice Requirements Due to  COVID-19 Pandemic until Further Notice