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Summary of differences between federal and state regulations
Under federal law, employers having 100 or more employees (not counting employees who worked less than six months of the last 12 months and not counting employees who average less than 20 hours a week) are subject to the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). Employers are required to provide 60 days’ advance notice of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs. This notice must be given either to the affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union) plus the State dislocated worker unit and the appropriate unit of local government.
On January 1, 2010, the New Hampshire WARN law became effective. The state law is very similar to the federal law regarding notice (60 days in advance) but applies to smaller employers (with 75 or more employees) and applies to mass layoffs which affect as few as 25 employees. Some key provisions include:
“Employer” means any business enterprise that employs in New Hampshire: (1) Seventy-five or more employees, excluding part-time employees; or (2) Seventy-five or more employees who in the aggregate work at least 3,000 hours per week, exclusive of hours of overtime.
"Mass layoff" means a reduction in force which: (a) Is not the result of a plant closing; and (b) Results in an employment loss at a single site of employment in New Hampshire during any 30-day period for at least 250 employees, excluding any part-time or seasonal employees, or at least 25 employees, excluding any part-time or seasonal employees, if they constitute 33 percent of the full-time employees of the employer.
“Plant closing” means the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment in New Hampshire, or one or more facilities or operating units within a single site of employment in New Hampshire, if the shutdown results 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.
State
Contact
In New Hampshire send WARN Act notices to:
Dislocated Worker Unit Coordinator, Adult Workforce Director, Workforce Opportunity Council
Regulations
New Hampshire Statutes, Title XXIII, Chapter 275-F, New Hampshire Worker Adjustment And Retraining Notification Act
Federal
Contact
U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
Regulations
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), 29 USC 2101 et seq.; 20 CFR 639