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WARN Act Calculator: Federal and State Mini-WARN Laws (2026)

When does the WARN Act require notice?

Federal WARN applies to employers with 100 or more full-time employees and requires 60 days' notice of a plant closing affecting 50 or more workers, or a mass layoff of 50 to 499 workers who are at least 33% of the site (or 500 or more). States go further: New York and New Jersey require 90 days, California covers layoffs of 50 with no percentage test, and New Jersey, Maine and Vermont require severance pay.

A layoff that falls short of federal WARN can still be covered by a state law with lower thresholds: 25 people in New York, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. Four more states (Delaware, New Hampshire, Ohio and Nebraska) have their own laws, Nebraska's from July 2026.

Enter the state, the event and the numbers; the calculator tests federal WARN and the state law, and gives the notice period, the recipients and the penalty.

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Built by Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Every rule is linked to the statute or the state labour department page it came from.

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Part-time: under 20 hours a week, or employed under 6 of the last 12 months.
Add losses within 90 days unless they have separate causes.

    The federal rule in full

    An employer is covered with 100 or more employees excluding part-time workers (under 20 hours a week, or employed under 6 of the last 12 months), or 100 or more employees working at least 4,000 hours a week in total. A plant closing is the shutdown of a site or unit causing employment loss for 50 or more people in 30 days. A mass layoff is employment loss for 50 to 499 people who are at least a third of the site, or for 500 or more. Employment loss means termination (not for cause, resignation or retirement), a layoff of more than six months, or hours cut by more than half in each month of a six-month period. Separate actions within 90 days are added together unless they have separate causes.

    The states that go further

    Notice periods: 90 days in New York, New Jersey, Maine and Nebraska; 60 in California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin; 30 in Iowa; Vermont 45 to the state and 30 to employees. Severance is mandatory in New Jersey (a week per year, plus four if notice is short), Maine (a week per year for staff with 3+ years) and Vermont (a day per day of short notice, up to ten). Minnesota requires a list of affected employees whenever notice is given; Connecticut, from 1 October 2026, wants to know if AI caused the layoff, and California will from 2027.

    Before you rely on this

    What this will not tell you

    This tests the main thresholds with the numbers you enter. It does not decide who is an employee or a part-time worker in edge cases, sale-of-business situations, single-site questions for remote workers, or whether an exception applies; and some states' triggers are simplified (New Hampshire's come from a secondary source, Ohio's percentage test is disputed). Philadelphia has a city closing-notice ordinance whose status could not be confirmed. Every other state relies on federal WARN only. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

    Questions

    Questions people actually ask

    How many employees trigger the WARN Act?

    Federal WARN applies to employers with 100 or more full-time employees, for a plant closing affecting 50 or more workers or a mass layoff of 50 to 499 workers who are at least 33% of the site, or 500 or more.

    Which states have mini-WARN laws?

    California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska (from July 2026), New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio (from September 2025), Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, with reporting duties in Minnesota and an AI disclosure in Connecticut.

    How much notice does New York WARN require?

    90 days, for employers with 50 or more full-time employees in New York, for a closing affecting 25 or more, a mass layoff of 25 who are at least 33% of the site, or 250 or more.

    Does New Jersey require severance for layoffs?

    Yes. Under the 2023 amendments, employers with 100 or more employees laying off 50 or more must pay one week's pay per full year of service, plus four more weeks if they give less than 90 days' notice.

    What is the penalty for not giving WARN notice?

    Federally, back pay and benefits for each day of violation up to 60 days, plus up to USD 500 a day to the local government. States add their own: Maryland up to USD 10,000 a day, Delaware at least USD 1,000 a day.

    Where every rule comes from

    Sources

    Checked against the text of the law on 17 October 2026. Laws and notified rates change; if a source below has moved on, the source wins over this page.

    1. Federal WARN Act, 29 USC 2101-2104: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/2101
    2. California WARN: https://edd.ca.gov/en/jobs_and_training/Layoff_Services_WARN/
    3. Delaware WARN: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title19/c019/index.html
    4. Hawaii WARN: https://law.justia.com/codes/hawaii/title-21/chapter-394b/section-394b-9/
    5. Illinois WARN: https://www.illinoisworknet.com/DownloadPrint/Illinois%20WARN%20Requirements%20and%20Procedures.pdf
    6. Iowa WARN: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/84C.pdf
    7. Maine WARN: https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/26/title26sec625-b.html
    8. Maryland WARN: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gle&section=11-301&enactments=false
    9. Nebraska WARN: https://www.littler.com/news-analysis/asap/nebraska-enacts-state-mini-warn-act
    10. New Hampshire WARN: https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XXIII/275-F/275-F-4.htm
    11. New Jersey WARN: https://www.nj.gov/labor/assets/PDFs/WARN/NJ_WARN_ACT_2023law.pdf
    12. New York WARN: https://dol.ny.gov/worker-adjustment-and-retraining-notification-warn
    13. Ohio WARN: https://codes.ohio.gov/assets/laws/revised-code/authenticated/41/4113/4113.31/9-30-2025/4113.31-9-30-2025.pdf
    14. Tennessee WARN: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/workforce/documents/employers/WARN_Technical_Assistance_Guide.pdf
    15. Vermont WARN: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/fullchapter/21/005
    16. Washington WARN: https://esd.wa.gov/employer-requirements/layoffs-and-employee-notifications/warn-requirements
    17. Wisconsin WARN: https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/eworkboard/closing/
    18. Minnesota WARN: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/116L.976
    19. Connecticut WARN: https://www.cga.ct.gov/
    Citation

    Cite this tool

    Free to use and free to quote. If a figure here is useful in something you are writing, a link back is all that is asked.

    Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. WARN Act and State Mini-WARN Calculator. Shahzeb Speaks. https://www.shahzebspeaks.com/warn-act-notice-calculator/

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    The people who stay matter too

    Layoffs change how the remaining team works. The article on layoff survivor syndrome explains why the people who keep their jobs often end up more stressed and less engaged, and what helps.

    Read about layoff survivor syndrome