- Alternatives To Layoffs May Reduce The Risk Of Claims
- When Layoffs Are Unavoidable, Proper Planning May Reduce Risk Of Employment Disputes
- Planning the RIF.
- Making key policy decisions – how to select among employees.
- Strive for an objective comparison of employees where job qualifications and skills are considered in making reductions.
- Prior to implementing a RIF, factors militating against the selection of certain employees should be considered.
- Employers can attempt to limit their potential liability by obtaining general releases from employees affected by a RIF, in return for enhanced severance benefits or other valuable consideration.
- Wherever possible, outplacement services should be offered to assist displaced individuals in obtaining subsequent employment.
- Employees affected by a staff reduction should be advised of the RIF in as professional and supportive a manner as possible.
- After the implementation of a RIF, remaining employees must be enlisted as partners committed to future growth.
- Workforce reductions provide unique opportunities for reorganizing and streamlining operations.
- Notice Requirements Under The Worker Adjustment And Retraining Notification Act
- WARN applies to employers that have, nationwide:
- 100 or more employees (excluding part-timers); or
- 100 or more employees (including part-timers) whose total weekly work hours (excluding overtime) are at least 4,000 hours per week.
- WARN requires an employer to give 60 days written notice, as described by the Act and Department of Labor regulations, of a “plant closing” or “mass layoff” to:
- All affected employees (including supervisors), OR if the employees are represented by a labor organization, the international body of the union; AND
- The State dislocated workers unit and the chief elected official of the local governmental unit where the affected facility is located.
- A “plant closing” is defined as:
- A permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment, or of one or more facilities or operating units within a single site of employment.
- The shutdown results in an employment loss at the single site of employment during any 30-day period (this period is extended by WARN and the Department of Labor Regulations to 90
- A “mass layoff” is defined as a reduction in workforce which is not the result of a plant closing; AND
- Which results in an employment loss at a single site of employment during any 30-day period (this period is extended by WARN and the Department of Labor Regulations to 90 days), for at least 50 employees (excluding part-timers and employees who have not suffered an employment loss), if they comprise at least one-third of the workforce at the single site of employment; OR
- Which results in an employment loss at a single site of employment during any 30-day period (this period is extended by WARN and the Department of Labor Regulations to 90 days), for at least 500 employees (excluding part-timers and employees who have not suffered an employment loss).
- Limited exceptions to the 60 day notice requirement.
- State and local notice requirements