New Jersey's Mini-WARN Act: 90 Days' Notice and Mandatory Severance, Explained

Federal WARN law requires covered employers to give workers 60 days' notice before a mass layoff or plant closing. New Jersey requires 90 days — and, uniquely among states, it also requires employers to pay severance whether or not they gave full notice. For workers in New Jersey, that combination makes the state's layoff law the strongest in the country.

The law is formally called the Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act, but everyone calls it the NJ WARN Act. Its expanded protections took effect on April 10, 2023, after amendments passed in response to large bankruptcies — most famously Toys "R" Us, whose New Jersey workers received little warning or severance when the company collapsed.

The two big differences from federal WARN

The first difference is time. Federal WARN requires 60 days' notice. New Jersey requires 90 days' written notice before a covered mass layoff, termination of operations, or transfer of operations. That extra month gives workers more time to prepare.

The second difference is money. Under federal WARN, an employer that gives proper notice generally owes no severance at all — severance is voluntary unless a contract or company policy promises it. Under New Jersey law, severance is mandatory. Every affected employee must receive one week of pay for each full year of employment, even if the employer gave the full 90 days' notice. If the employer gives less than 90 days' notice, it owes an additional four weeks of pay on top of that.

The severance rate is the higher of the employee's average regular pay over the previous three years or their final regular rate of pay. So a worker with ten years at a company is owed ten weeks of pay, and a worker with twenty years is owed twenty weeks — with no cap on years of service.

Who is covered

New Jersey's law applies to employers with 100 or more employees — and, unlike federal WARN, part-time employees count toward that threshold. There is no distinction between full-time and part-time workers for coverage purposes.

A covered event is triggered when 50 or more employees in New Jersey lose their jobs during any 30-day period, whether through a mass layoff, a termination of operations, or a transfer of operations. Two federal limits do not apply: there is no one-third-of-workforce requirement, and the 50 employees need not work at a single site — layoffs statewide can be added together. One limit does remain: the law covers an establishment only if the employer has operated it for more than three years.

Who must be told

When a covered event happens, the employer must give 90 days' written notice to four recipients: the New Jersey Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, the chief elected official of the municipality where the establishment is located, each affected employee, and any collective bargaining unit representing employees at the establishment.

Workers should know that their severance cannot be conditioned on signing a release of legal claims. An employee may waive the severance right only with approval from the Commissioner of Labor or a court order.

What the law does not do

New Jersey's law does not guarantee anyone's job, and it does not stop a layoff from happening. It buys time and money, not continued employment. Exceptions also remain for some situations, such as layoffs caused by natural disasters. The law covers employees, not independent contractors.

New Jersey in the current layoff data

New Jersey's registry holds 2,342 imported WARN notices reporting 375,900 workers affected, with 25 notices carrying future effective dates. In 2026 so far, the state has 141 notices covering 17,913 workers, and six notices are already on the books for 2027, covering 465 workers.

Two of those 2027 notices are recent imports: Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, with 61 workers in Fairfield effective February 1, 2027, and Mars Information Services, with 55 workers in Newark effective January 31, 2027. Both are reported plans, not confirmed job losses — WARN figures describe what employers have notified, and plans can change before the effective date.

Nationally, the current 90-day window holds 671 notices covering 63,327 reported workers, with 31 counts unavailable. Washington (16,960 workers) and California (13,427) lead the states, followed by Illinois (4,626), Texas (3,652), and Georgia (2,492). The heaviest upcoming week is November 25, with 9,555 workers scheduled, followed by October 28 with 8,110.

What to do if you receive a New Jersey WARN notice

First, confirm the notice in writing and note the date you received it — the 90-day clock runs from proper notice, and a shortfall can mean extra severance. Second, calculate your severance: one week per full year of service, plus four more weeks if you received less than 90 days' notice. Third, do not sign any severance agreement or release without checking whether it gives you less than the law requires — remember, the statutory severance cannot be waived without state or court approval. Finally, contact New Jersey's Rapid Response team and file for unemployment promptly.

New Jersey's law shows what a state can do when it decides federal WARN is not enough: more notice, guaranteed severance, and counting rules that catch layoffs federal law would miss.

Data source: Layoff Atlas