29 U.S.C. § 2102 — Notice required before plant closings and

Page 767 TITLE 29—LABOR § 2102 (A) 100 or more employees, excluding part- time employees; or (B) 100 or more employees who in the ag- gregate work at least 4,000 hours per week (exclusive of hours of overtime); (2) the term ‘‘plant closing’’ means the per- manent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment, or one or more facilities or op- erating units within a single site of employ- ment, if the shutdown results in an employ- ment loss at the single site of employment during any 30-day period for 50 or more em- ployees excluding any part-time employees; (3) the term ‘‘mass layoff’’ means a reduc- tion in force which— (A) is not the result of a plant closing; and (B) results in an employment loss at the single site of employment during any 30-day period for— (i)(I) at least 33 percent of the employees (excluding any part-time employees); and (II) at least 50 employees (excluding any part-time employees); or (ii) at least 500 employees (excluding any part-time employees); (4) the term ‘‘representative’’ means an ex- clusive representative of employees within the meaning of section 159(a) or 158(f) of this title or section 152 of title 45; (5) the term ‘‘affected employees’’ means employees who may reasonably be expected to experience an employment loss as a con- sequence of a proposed plant closing or mass layoff by their employer; (6) subject to subsection (b), the term ‘‘em- ployment loss’’ means (A) an employment ter- mination, other than a discharge for cause, voluntary departure, or retirement, (B) a lay- off exceeding 6 months, or (C) a reduction in hours of work of more than 50 percent during each month of any 6-month period; (7) the term ‘‘unit of local government’’ means any general purpose political subdivi- sion of a State which has the power to levy taxes and spend funds, as well as general cor- porate and police powers; and (8) the term ‘‘part-time employee’’ means an employee who is employed for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week or who has been employed for fewer than 6 of the 12 months preceding the date on which notice is required. (b) Exclusions from definition of employment loss (1) In the case of a sale of part or all of an em- ployer’s business, the seller shall be responsible for providing notice for any plant closing or mass layoff in accordance with section 2102 of this title, up to and including the effective date of the sale. After the effective date of the sale of part or all of an employer’s business, the pur- chaser shall be responsible for providing notice for any plant closing or mass layoff in accord- ance with section 2102 of this title. Notwith- standing any other provision of this chapter, any person who is an employee of the seller (other than a part-time employee) as of the ef- fective date of the sale shall be considered an employee of the purchaser immediately after the effective date of the sale. (2) Notwithstanding subsection (a)(6), an em- ployee may not be considered to have experi- enced an employment loss if the closing or lay- off is the result of the relocation or consolida- tion of part or all of the employer’s business and, prior to the closing or layoff— (A) the employer offers to transfer the em- ployee to a different site of employment with- in a reasonable commuting distance with no more than a 6-month break in employment; or (B) the employer offers to transfer the em- ployee to any other site of employment re- gardless of distance with no more than a 6- month break in employment, and the em- ployee accepts within 30 days of the offer or of the closing or layoff, whichever is later. (Pub. L. 100–379, § 2, Aug. 4, 1988, 102 Stat. 890.) Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE Pub. L. 100–379, § 11, Aug. 4, 1988, 102 Stat. 895, pro- vided that: ‘‘This Act [enacting this chapter] shall take effect on the date which is 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act [Aug. 4, 1988], except that the au- thority of the Secretary of Labor under section 8 [sec- tion 2107 of this title] is effective upon enactment.’’ SHORT TITLE Pub. L. 100–379, § 1(a), Aug. 4, 1988, 102 Stat. 890, pro- vided that: ‘‘This Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifi- cation Act’.’’ § 2102. Notice required before plant closings and mass layoffs (a) Notice to employees, State dislocated worker units, and local governments An employer shall not order a plant closing or mass layoff until the end of a 60-day period after the employer serves written notice of such an order— (1) to each representative of the affected em- ployees as of the time of the notice or, if there is no such representative at that time, to each affected employee; and (2) to the State or entity designated by the State to carry out rapid response activities under section 3174(a)(2)(A) of this title, and the chief elected official of the unit of local gov- ernment within which such closing or layoff is to occur. If there is more than one such unit, the unit of local government which the employer shall no- tify is the unit of local government to which the employer pays the highest taxes for the year preceding the year for which the determination is made. (b) Reduction of notification period (1) An employer may order the shutdown of a single site of employment before the conclusion of the 60-day period if as of the time that notice would have been required the employer was ac- tively seeking capital or business which, if ob- tained, would have enabled the employer to avoid or postpone the shutdown and the em- ployer reasonably and in good faith believed that giving the notice required would have pre- cluded the employer from obtaining the needed capital or business. Page 768 TITLE 29—LABOR § 2103 (2)(A) An employer may order a plant closing or mass layoff before the conclusion of the 60- day period if the closing or mass layoff is caused by business circumstances that were not reason- ably foreseeable as of the time that notice would have been required. (B) No notice under this chapter shall be re- quired if the plant closing or mass layoff is due to any form of natural disaster, such as a flood, earthquake, or the drought currently ravaging the farmlands of the United States. (3) An employer relying on this subsection shall give as much notice as is practicable and at that time shall give a brief statement of the basis for reducing the notification period. (c) Extension of layoff period A layoff of more than 6 months which, at its outset, was announced to be a layoff of 6 months or less, shall be treated as an employment loss under this chapter unless— (1) the extension beyond 6 months is caused by business circumstances (including unfore- seeable changes in price or cost) not reason- ably foreseeable at the time of the initial lay- off; and (2) notice is given at the time it becomes reasonably foreseeable that the extension be- yond 6 months will be required. (d) Determinations with respect to employment loss For purposes of this section, in determining whether a plant closing or mass layoff has oc- curred or will occur, employment losses for 2 or more groups at a single site of employment, each of which is less than the minimum number of employees specified in section 2101(a)(2) or (3) of this title but which in the aggregate exceed that minimum number, and which occur within any 90-day period shall be considered to be a plant closing or mass layoff unless the employer demonstrates that the employment losses are the result of separate and distinct actions and causes and are not an attempt by the employer to evade the requirements of this chapter. (Pub. L. 100–379, § 3, Aug. 4, 1988, 102 Stat. 891; Pub. L. 105–277, div. A, § 101(f) [title VIII, § 405(d)(26), (f)(18)], Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–337, 2681–424, 2681–432; Pub. L. 113–128, title V, § 512(kk), July 22, 2014, 128 Stat. 1722.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2014—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 113–128 substituted ‘‘the State or entity designated by the State to carry out rapid response activities under section 3174(a)(2)(A) of this title,’’ for ‘‘the State or entity designated by the State to carry out rapid response activities under sec- tion 2864(a)(2)(A) of this title,’’. 1998—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 105–277, § 101(f) [title VIII, § 405(f)(18)], struck out ‘‘the State dislocated worker unit or office (referred to in section 1661(b)(2) of this title), or’’ before ‘‘the State or entity’’. Pub. L. 105–277, § 101(f) [title VIII, § 405(d)(26)], sub- stituted ‘‘to the State dislocated worker unit or office (referred to in section 1661(b)(2) of this title), or the State or entity designated by the State to carry out rapid response activities under section 2864(a)(2)(A) of this title, and the chief’’ for ‘‘to the State dislocated worker unit (designated or created under title III of the Job Training Partnership Act) and the chief’’. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2014 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 113–128 effective on the first day of the first full program year after July 22, 2014 (July 1, 2015), see section 506 of Pub. L. 113–128, set out as an Effective Date note under section 3101 of this title. EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1998 AMENDMENT Amendment by section 101(f) [title VIII, § 405(d)(26)] of Pub. L. 105–277 effective Oct. 21, 1998, and amendment by section 101(f) [title VIII, § 405(f)(18)] of Pub. L. 105–277 effective July 1, 2000, see section 101(f) [title VIII, § 405(g)(1), (2)(B)] of Pub. L. 105–277, set out as a note under section 3502 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. EFFECTIVE DATE Section effective 6 months after Aug. 4, 1988, see sec- tion 11 of Pub. L. 100–379, set out as a note under sec- tion 2101 of this title. § 2103. Exemptions This chapter shall not apply to a plant closing or mass layoff if— (1) the closing is of a temporary facility or the closing or layoff is the result of the com- pletion of a particular project or undertaking, and the affected employees were hired with the understanding that their employment was limited to the duration of the facility or the project or undertaking; or (2) the closing or layoff constitutes a strike or constitutes a lockout not intended to evade the requirements of this chapter. Nothing in this chapter shall require an employer to serve written notice pursuant to section 2102(a) of this title when permanently replacing a per- son who is deemed to be an economic striker under the National Labor Relations Act [29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.]: Provided, That nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to validate or in- validate any judicial or administrative ruling relating to the hiring of permanent replace- ments for economic strikers under the Na- tional Labor Relations Act. (Pub. L. 100–379, § 4, Aug. 4, 1988, 102 Stat. 892.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT The National Labor Relations Act, referred to in par. (2), is act July 5, 1935, ch. 372, 49 Stat. 452, which is clas- sified generally to subchapter II (§ 151 et seq.) of chap- ter 7 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 167 of this title and Tables. EFFECTIVE DATE Section effective 6 months after Aug. 4, 1988, see sec- tion 11 of Pub. L. 100–379, set out as a note under sec- tion 2101 of this title. § 2104. Administration and enforcement of re- quirements (a) Civil actions against employers (1) Any employer who orders a plant closing or mass layoff in violation of section 2102 of this title shall be liable to each aggrieved employee who suffers an employment loss as a result of such closing or layoff for— (A) back pay for each day of violation at a rate of compensation not less than the higher of—