How to Check Whether Your Employer Filed a WARN Notice

When layoff rumors start at work, one of the first concrete questions you can ask is whether your employer has filed a WARN notice. Under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, employers with 100 or more full-time employees must give at least 60 days' written notice before a mass layoff or plant closing. Those notices are filed with state labor agencies — and most states publish them.

Checking is free, takes a few minutes, and gives you a fact to work with instead of a rumor. Here's how.

Step 1: Confirm the layoff would even be covered

Not every job cut triggers a WARN filing, so set expectations before you search. The federal law covers employers with 100 or more full-time workers, and only when the layoff hits the federal threshold — generally 50 or more employees at a single site of employment.

Two important wrinkles:

Many states have stricter "mini-WARN" laws.…