Washington is the latest state to enact a “mini-WARN” Act that will require employers with 50 or more full-time employees to provide at least 60 days’ notice to the state as well as any union or employees affected by a business site closing or mass reduction in force. Although Washington’s WARN Act mirrors many federal WARN Act provisions, it has some notable distinctions. Read on to learn more. 

On May 13, 2025, Gov. Bob Ferguson signed Senate Bill (SB) 5525, or the “Securing Timely Notification and Benefits for Laid-Off Employees Act,” which provides employees with similar protections regarding business site closings or a “mass layoff” as the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. Washington’s Mini-WARN act will take effect on July 27, 2025.  This is one of many new laws going into effect in Washington state.  See here for Ballard Spahr’s legal alert on these laws.

  • Definitions:
    • Covered employers: Washington WARN Act applies to companies that employ 50 or more employees in the state, excluding part-time employees. This is a marked difference from the federal WARN Act, which applies to larger employers with 100 or more employees (excluding part-timers).
    • Covered employees; part-time employees. As used in the statute, “employee” means a person employed in Washington state and includes part-time employees. Unless defined differently in an applicable collective bargaining agreement, a “part-time employee” is an employee who works an average of less than 20 hours per week or has been employed less than 6 of the 12 months preceding the date on which notice is required.
    • Employment Loss: Like the federal law, Washington’s WARN Act defines “employment loss” as a termination, other than a discharge for cause, voluntary separation, or retirement; (ii) A layoff exceeding six months; or (iii) A reduction in hours of more than 50 percent of work of individual employees during each month of a six-month period.
  • Triggering WARN Events:
    • Business Closing: Washington WARN Act defines “business closing” as “the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment of one or more facilities or operating units that will result in an employment loss for 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employees.” Critically, unlike the federal WARN Act, the Washington WARN Act is not expressly limited to employment losses occurring within a 30-day or 90-day period.  Employers conducting multiple smaller closures over a period of time should be aware of this key difference because these closures may be aggregated under this law.
    • Mass Layoffs: Under the Washington WARN Act, a mass layoff is are those workforce reductions that are not due to a business closing “and results in an employment loss during any 30-day period of 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employees.” Mass layoffs under the Washington WARN Act are not expressly limited to a single site of employment. It is possible that employers must consider statewide employment actions when assessing whether a mass layoff will occur. For example, if an employer laid off a total of 50 employees at various sites across the state within a 30-day period, the Washington WARN Act’s notice requirement might be triggered. Further, a mass layoff under the Washington WARN Act is not limited to layoffs that affect a minimum percentage of the workforce. Thus, a 50-person layoff could trigger notice obligations in Washington even if the layoff affects less than 33% of the countable workforce at any site of employment. However, the Washington WARN Act’s mass layoff trigger only looks at each 30-day period, unlike the federal WARN Act, which has a 90-day aggregation period.
    • Short-Term Layoffs: Like the federal WARN Act, the Washington WARN Act defines an “employment loss” as including a layoff that exceeds six months. Under the federal WARN Act, courts have interpreted that language to allow layoffs of up to six months without counting toward federal WARN Act notice obligations. It remains to be seen if courts will interpret this language under the Washington WARN Act. However, the Washington law does add additional requirements at the three-month mark of a short-term layoff.

If short-term layoff extends beyond three months for reasons that reasonably were unforeseeable at the time, then employers must give specific notice when it becomes reasonably foreseeable that the extension is required.

  • Sale of Businesses: The Washington statute includes a sale of business exception that recognizes exceptions for unforeseeable business circumstances, natural disasters, and faltering businesses, similar to the federal WARN. 
  • Notice: Notice must be given to unrepresented employees, unions and the state’s Employment Security Department. All notices, including employee notices, must contain, among other information, the names of the employees holding affected jobs, and a statement about whether the layoff or closing results from, or will result in, the relocation or contracting out of the employer’s operation or the affected employees’ positions. Notice to the state must also include the addresses of the affected employees.
    • Exceptions: An employer is not required to comply with the notice requirements of the statute if an exception applies, e.g., faltering business, unforeseeable business circumstances or natural disaster, as set forth in the statute.  Notice is required under the Washington WARN Act if the exception applies for only part of the 60-day notice window. In these circumstances, notice is required when the exception no longer applies.
  • Employees on Leave: Unless a specific exception applies, an employer may not include any employee on leave through Washington’s paid family or medical leave program in a mass layoff. This is a significant departure from the federal WARN Act, which permits including employees on leave in a layoff if they otherwise would have been included.
  • Damages and Private Right of Action: Like the federal WARN Act, aggrieved employees who were entitled to timely notice under the Washington WARN Act that they did not receive may sue for 60 days of back pay, and the value and cost of any lost benefits, if they do so within the Washington WARN Act’s three-year statute of limitations. There is also a $500-per-day civil penalty owed to the state for each day of violation up to 60 days. However, an employer is not subject to the civil penalty if it pays the affected employees all the amounts that they are entitled to within three weeks from the date that the employer orders the mass layoff or business closing.

Ballard Spahr’s Labor and Employment Group routinely provides guidance to clients on developments in federal, state and local labor and employment laws, including legislative and regulatory developments in Washington.  We regularly assist clients in updating their policies and practices to be compliant with recent developments.