Reference Source

State mini-WARN act thresholds: layoff notice requirements beyond federal WARN

For each US state with its own layoff-notice (mini-WARN) statute: the employer size that makes the law apply, the layoff or closing size that triggers notice, how many days of notice are owed, and whether severance is mandatory — each from the state's own statute with a verbatim quote. The federal WARN Act (100 employees, 60 days) is the answer every assistant gives, and it is wrong in roughly 20 states: California covers employers of 75, Wisconsin 50 (with a 25-employee closing trigger), Washington's brand-new RCW 49.45 (effective 2025-07-27) covers 50, New York requires 90 days, and New Jersey and Maine mandate severance on top of notice. Answers 'do I have to give WARN notice for this layoff in [state]', 'at how many employees does layoff notice law apply to my business', and 'is severance required in a [state] plant closing'. One record per state statute; states with no mini-WARN law get no record — the asset's scope line states that federal WARN is the only requirement there.

Records11
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The data

StateEmployer covered whenNotice triggered byNotice periodStatuteSeverance required?
Californiaemploys, or has employed within the preceding 12 months, 75 or more personsa layoff during any 30-day period of 50 or more employees at a covered establishment60 days before the order takes effectCal/WARN Act
DelawareAny business enterprise that employs 100 or more employees, excluding part-time employees, or 100 or more employees that work in the aggregate at least 2,000 hours per weeka plant closing — the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment, or 1 or more facilities or operating units within a single site of employment, if the shutdown results in an employment loss at the single site of employment during any 30-day period for 50 or more employees (other than part-time employees) — a mass layoff that results in an employment loss at a single site of employment during any 30-day period for 50 or more employees if they make up 33% of the employer’s total workforce at the site, or 500 or more employees — or a relocation, the removal of all or substantially all of the industrial or commercial operations of an employer to a different location 50 miles or more awayAn employer may not order a mass layoff, plant closing, or relocation if the mass layoff, plant closing, or relocation will cause an employment loss unless, at least 60 days before the order takes effect, the employer gives written notice of the orderCHAPTER 19. Delaware Workplace Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act
Hawaii"Covered establishment" means any industrial, commercial, or other business entity that employs at any time in the preceding twelve-month period, fifty or more personsa closing — the permanent shutting down of all operations within a covered establishment due to the sale, transfer, merger, other business takeover or transaction of business interests, bankruptcy, or other close of business transaction — or a divestiture, partial closing, or relocation of a covered establishment§394B-2
Illinois"Employer" means any business enterprise that employs: (1) 75 or more employees, excluding part-time employees; or (2) 75 or more employees who in the aggregate work at least 4,000 hours per week (exclusive of hours of overtime)a plant closing — a shutdown resulting in an employment loss at the single site of employment during any 30-day period for 50 or more employees excluding any part-time employees — or a mass layoff resulting in an employment loss during any 30-day period for at least 33% of the employees and at least 25 employees (excluding part-time), or at least 250 employees820 ILCS 65/5
Iowa“Employer” means a person who employs twenty-five or more employees, excluding part-time employeesa business closing — the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment of one or more facilities or operating units that will result in an employment loss for twenty-five or more employees, other than part-time employees — or a mass layoff, a reduction in employment force that is not the result of a business closing and results in an employment loss at a single site of employment during any thirty-day period of twenty-five or more employees, other than part-time employeesAn employer who plans a business closing or a mass layoff shall not order such action until the end of a thirty-day period which begins after the employer serves written notice of such actionChapter 84C
Maine"Covered establishment" means any facility or part thereof that employs or has employed at any time in the preceding 12-month period 100 or more personsa closing (the permanent shutdown of operations at a covered establishment) or a mass layoff — a reduction in workforce, not the result of a closing, that results in an employment loss at a covered establishment for at least 6 months of at least: (1) Thirty-three percent of the employees and at least 50 employees; or (2) Five hundred employeesnotify the director in writing not less than 90 days prior to the relocation or closing§625-Bseverance pay at the rate of one week's pay for each year, and partial pay for any partial year, from the last full month of employment by the employee in that establishment
Marylandmeans any person, corporation, or other entity that employs at least 50 employees and operates an industrial, commercial, or business enterprise in the Statea reduction in operations — the relocation of a part of an employer’s operation from an initial workplace to another existing or proposed site that may reduce the total number of employees at the initial workplace by at least 25% or 15 employees, whichever is greater; or the shutting down of a workplace or a portion of the operations of a workplace that reduces the total number of employees by at least 25% or 15 employees, whichever is greater, over any 3-month period11-301
New Jerseyan employer who employs 100 or more employeesa transfer of operations or a termination of operations which results, during any continuous period of not more than 30 days, in the termination of employment of 50 or more employees, or if an employer conducts a mass layoffnot less than 90 days, or the period of time required pursuant to the federal "Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act," 29 U.S.C. s.2101 et seq., or any amendments thereto, whichever is longer34:21-2severance pay equal to one week of pay for each full year of employment. If the employer provides any employee with less than the number of days of notification required pursuant to subsection a. of this section, the employer shall provide that employee with an additional four weeks of pay
New YorkThe WARN Act applies to private businesses with 50 or more full-time employees in New York State.Closings affecting 25 or more employees; mass layoffs involving 25 or more full-time employees (if the 25 or more employees make up at least 33% of all the employees at the site); mass layoffs involving 250 or more full-time employees; certain other relocations and covered reductions in work hourscovered businesses must provide all employees with notice 90 days prior to a plant closing, mass layoff, relocation, or other covered reduction in work hoursNew York State WARN Act
Washington"Employer" means a person who employs 50 or more employees in this state, excluding part-time employees. "Employer" does not include the state or any political subdivision thereof, including any unit of local government, or any Indian tribea business closing — the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment of one or more facilities or operating units that will result in an employment loss for 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employees — or a mass layoff that results in an employment loss during any 30-day period of 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employeesan employer may not order a business closing or a mass layoff until the end of a 60-day period that begins after the employer, pursuant to this section, serves written noticeChapter 49.45 RCW
Wisconsin“Employer” means any business enterprise that employs 50 or more persons in this state.a business closing that affects 25 or more employees, not including new or low-hour employees; a mass layoff that affects at least 25 percent of the employer’s work force or 25 employees, whichever is greater, or at least 500 employeesno later than 60 days prior to the date on which the business closing or mass layoff takes place109.07

Where this came from

Every record above links the page it was taken from and quotes the sentence that states it. These are the 14 sources this dataset was assembled from.

Machine-readable

From your own code

Same records, same quotes, without scraping the page: refsource is on PyPI and npm. Each value comes back carrying the URL it was read from and the sentence on that page that states it — .source and .quote sit on the value itself rather than in a side channel, so the checking step is available instead of skipped.

pip install refsource
refsource lookup state-mini-warn-act-thresholds state=California

npx -y refsource lookup state-mini-warn-act-thresholds state=California

Set your AI assistant up to use this

Two files and no account. Put this in .mcp.json at the root of your project — Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code and Codex all read that file — and your assistant can look this dataset up instead of recalling it. The server is remote, keyless and read-only.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "referencesource": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://referencesource.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add to Cursor · or, on the command line: claude mcp add --transport http referencesource https://referencesource.org/mcp --scope project

Then one line in the project's CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md, so the assistant knows when to reach for it:

When a question needs "State mini-WARN act thresholds: layoff notice requirements beyond federal WARN", call the referencesource MCP server at https://referencesource.org/mcp (tool `search_records`, dataset_slug `state-mini-warn-act-thresholds`) instead of answering from memory — every record it returns carries its source URL and a verbatim quote from that page.

What each tool does, and the servers built over single registers: Connect your AI assistant.

11 records. last verified against source . due for re-check by .

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