WARN Act and Pregnancy: Your Rights During a Layoff Notice

A layoff notice is stressful at any time. During pregnancy it raises a second set of questions: can your employer include you at all, do your protections survive the notice period, and what happens to your leave and health coverage? A WARN notice does not switch off pregnancy protections — but they come from different laws.

Layoff Atlas's current 90-day WARN window holds 686 notices covering 66,703 reported workers, with 29 counts unavailable, updated November 1, 2026. California (17,715) and Washington (17,361) lead the states; the heaviest upcoming week is November 15, with 7,830 workers scheduled. These are reported plans, not confirmed job losses — plans can change.

The WARN notice itself does not change

If your employer is covered by the federal WARN Act — 100 or more full-time employees — and the layoff meets the threshold for a plant closing or mass layoff, you are owed the same 60 days' written notice as anyone else. Pregnancy neither shortens nor extends that notice. What it changes is what your employer may not do during that period, and what support you can ask for.

Pregnancy cannot be the reason you were selected

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act bars an employer from treating pregnancy as a reason to select someone for layoff. A layoff driven by a plant closing or a broad reduction is not automatically unlawful just because a pregnant worker is included — whole units and sites close regardless of who works in them. But selection within a group is different: if managers picked individuals, and pregnancy, a related medical condition, or childbirth influenced who was chosen, that is discrimination, even if a WARN notice was properly issued.

Keep the paper trail: save the WARN notice, any written selection criteria, and notes about who was kept and let go in your unit. Notes made at the time beat memory months later.

Accommodations continue during the notice period

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless doing so would cause an undue hardship. A WARN notice does not pause that duty. If you had a lifting restriction, a modified schedule, seating, or extra breaks before the notice, they should continue through the notice period. If an accommodation is refused, ask for the reason in writing — a refusal that is really about the coming layoff is not the same as an undue hardship.

Leave: what a layoff does and does not do

A layoff does not cancel leave you have already earned, but it can end the job that leave was attached to. If you are on FMLA leave when a layoff takes effect, the layoff is not automatically unlawful — an employer may still eliminate your position in a genuine reduction — but it may not use the leave as the reason for selecting you, or cut your leave short as retaliation for taking it. Accrued paid leave is handled under your employer's policy and your state's wage-payment law, not under the WARN Act.

If your due date falls inside the notice period, agree a plan early with your doctor and employer, and get it in writing, including its effect on final pay and benefits.

Health coverage after the effective date

Losing a job means losing employer health coverage, and pregnancy makes continuity of coverage especially important. Under COBRA, workers at employers with 20 or more employees can generally continue the same group coverage for up to 18 months, but you pay the full premium plus a small fee, and you have 60 days to elect it. Losing job-based coverage also opens a marketplace special enrollment period, where a subsidized plan may be far cheaper. Compare both before the 60-day window closes.

Do not rush a severance signature

Employers sometimes hand over a severance agreement with a WARN notice. Signing is usually voluntary, and the agreement may ask you to release legal claims, including discrimination claims. No WARN Act rule forces you to sign on the spot. Read it, note the deadline, and consider having an employment lawyer or legal aid organization review it first — particularly if pregnancy played any part in your selection. Workers over 40 get a 21-day review period for age-discrimination releases, but the advice holds at any age.

A checklist for the notice period

• Keep copies of the WARN notice, selection criteria, and accommodation requests and answers.
• Confirm in writing your last working day, final pay date, and benefits end date.
• Ask HR about COBRA election and marketplace special enrollment timing.
• If you are on leave or due during the notice period, get the plan in writing.
• Do not sign a severance release under time pressure without reading it and getting advice if anything looks off.
• If pregnancy influenced your selection, note the facts promptly and consider a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or your state agency — deadlines apply.

A WARN notice tells you a layoff is planned. It does not end your pregnancy protections. Knowing which law covers which question — notice from WARN, non-discrimination from the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, accommodations from the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act — turns a frightening letter into a manageable plan.

Data source: Layoff Atlas