New York WARN Act Regulations Finally Adopted

On September 7, 2010, the most recent (i.e., July 9, 2010) version of the New York State Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act emergency regulations, Part 921 to Title 12 NYCRR, was formally adopted into law on a permanent (rather than on an emergency) basis. Readers will recall that the New York Department of Labor (NYDOL) has issued a number of successive versions of substantially revised NY WARN Act regulations over the past year and one half, each of which were adopted on an “emergency” basis and effective immediately.

As addressed most recently in the August 2010 issue of the New Jersey eAuthority, the NY WARN Act differs from the federal WARN Act in many key respects, such as requiring 90 rather than 60 days’ notice, applying to employers with 50 rather than 100 employees, and covering certain job losses of 25 or more employees rather than 50 or more employees. The detailed guidelines set forth in this final version of Part 921 to Title 12 NYCRR should be reviewed closely by any New York employer planning a plant closing, mass layoff, relocation or covered reduction in hours.