Mini-WARN Laws by State: Why Layoff Data Is Richer in Some States

The federal WARN Act sets the national floor for layoff notices: employers with 100 or more full-time employees must give 60 days' written notice before a plant closing (50 or more workers at a single site) or a mass layoff (500 or more workers, or 50–499 if they make up a third of the site's workforce). But a growing number of states have their own "mini-WARN" laws that go further — lower employer thresholds, smaller layoff triggers, and in some cases longer notice periods. These laws do more than protect workers: they change what shows up in the public record, which is why WARN data is noticeably richer in some states than others.

These are reported plans, not confirmed job losses. And the legal summaries below are informational, not legal advice — thresholds and exceptions vary by state and change over time.

The states that go furthest

California (Cal-WARN). Covers employers with 75 or more employees, counting part-time workers too. A layoff of 50 or more employees triggers notice regardless of what share of the workforce they represent — the federal one-third test does not apply. California also covers relocations of all or substantially all operations 100 or more miles away, which federal WARN does not. Notice period: 60 days.

New York. Covers employers with 50 or more full-time employees, and requires 90 days' notice — the longest notice period of any state, 50% more lead time than the federal baseline. Its layoff triggers are also broader than the federal ones.

New Jersey. Notice of 90 days plus mandatory severance pay for workers affected by a qualifying mass layoff — a requirement almost no other state imposes. New Jersey's law is one reason its registry is so active: 141 notices covering 17,913 reported workers in 2026 so far, already well above its full 2025 total of 90 notices.

Illinois. Covers employers with 75 or more full-time employees and requires 60 days' notice for layoffs affecting 25 or more workers — a much smaller trigger than the federal 50/500 thresholds. Illinois also requires that each individual union member receive notice, not just the union itself.

Wisconsin. Applies to employers with 50 or more employees and layoffs of 25 or more, with 60 days' notice.

Iowa. The broadest employer coverage at just 25 or more employees — but the shortest notice period, 30 days.

Other states with some form of plant-closing or mini-WARN law include Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont. Hawaii, Maryland, Vermont, and Washington cover employers with 50 or more employees. Some of these laws are no more restrictive than federal WARN, but they still put the event on the public record.

What this means for the numbers

Lower thresholds mean more filings enter the public record. Compare two large Northeastern states in 2026: New Jersey, with its strict mini-WARN law, has logged 141 notices this year. The stricter the triggers, the more of the layoff landscape becomes visible — cuts at smaller employers that would never cross the federal threshold still generate public notices in these states.

California illustrates the scale effect. In the last 365 days, the Layoff Atlas imported archive holds 1,502 eligible official California filings reporting 74,528 affected workers — the deepest official record of any state, fed by Cal-WARN's broad coverage (75+ employees, no percentage test, relocations included). For 2026 alone: 1,152 notices covering 58,577 reported workers.

The flip side: states without mini-WARN protections, or with thin official reporting, look quieter than they are. Pennsylvania, a large state with no mini-WARN law, currently has no eligible official filings in the last 365 days of the Layoff Atlas archive — its 2026 figures (74 notices, 11,952 workers) come from attributed secondary reports, not direct government records. Missing coverage is not zero layoffs.

The worker side of the equation

Mini-WARN laws buy workers time and, in some states, money:

• Longer notice: New York and New Jersey give workers up to 90 days of lead time to job-hunt, file for unemployment, and arrange benefits — versus 60 under federal law (and just 30 in Iowa).
• Severance: New Jersey's mandatory severance requirement is the standout; in most states, severance after a layoff is voluntary on the employer's part.
• Penalties with teeth: Employers that skip required notice face back pay and benefits per affected worker for each day of the violation (up to 60 days federally), plus civil penalties of up to $500 per day — liability that applies under many state laws as well.

Exceptions exist everywhere: faltering companies actively seeking capital, unforeseeable business circumstances, and natural disasters can shorten or excuse notice under both federal and most state laws.

Reading state comparisons with care

When you see one state with far more WARN filings than another, part of the gap is the law itself. That is why these figures are presented as reported plans from connected sources, and why state pages flag where official coverage is thin.

The takeaway is twofold: mini-WARN states give workers earlier warning and a fuller public record, and anyone comparing layoff data across states should check the legal threshold before reading too much into the ranking. The law shapes the data as much as the economy does.

Data source: Layoff Atlas.