Washington State WARN Act
Beginning July 27, 2025, Washington state employers should have a new law on their radar: the Securing Timely Notification and Benefits for Laid-Off Employees Act, also known as the WA-WARN Act. These state-specific laws, commonly called Mini-WARN Acts, offer greater protections than the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act)—a U.S. labor law that requires 60 days’ notice in certain situations of employee layoffs and plant closings.
The WARN Act, and state-based Mini-WARN Acts, provide employees with time to begin job searching and offer communities advance notice of changes that could impact the local economy.
Washington employers should familiarize themselves with the state’s Mini-WARN Act requirements to ensure compliance and avoid costly financial penalties.
What is the Washington State WARN Act?
On May 13, 2025, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed Senate Bill 5525, the WA-WARN Act. It takes effect on July 27, 2025, and will be overseen by the Washington State Employment Security Department.
Here are two of the law’s most important elements:
WA-WARN requires employers with 50 or more full-time employees (in Washington) to give 60 days’ advance written notice before mass layoffs or closures.
WA-WARN prohibits employers from laying off employees who are on Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML).
These key points are broken down in greater detail in this article.
Who must comply with the WA-WARN Act?
Employers with 50 or more full-time employees who work in Washington must comply with WA-WARN in certain situations of business closings and mass layoffs. This differs from the federal WARN Act, which applies to employers with 100 or more full-time employees in the U.S.
When does the WA-WARN Act apply?
WA-WARN is triggered by mass layoffs or business site closings. The Act defines these terms as follows:
Mass layoff means a reduction in employment force that is not the result of a business closing and results in an employment loss during any 30-day period of 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employees.
Business closing means 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.
The federal WARN Act is only triggered when mass layoffs affect 33% of the workforce at a single employment site (or impact 500 or more employees regardless of percentage). However, WA-WARN does not include an employee percentage threshold, making it applicable in more situations than federal WARN.
How far in advance do WA-WARN Act notifications need to be sent?
Under the WA-WARN Act, notifications should be sent at least 60 days before the site closing or mass layoff.
Who must employers notify to comply with the WA-WARN Act?
When a RIF or a business site closing triggers WA-WARN, employers must provide a minimum of 60 days’ notice to the affected employees, applicable unions, and the Washington State Employment Security Department.
What should the WA-WARN notice include?
The WA-WARN Act notice must be provided in writing and should include the same basic text as the federal WARN Act notice. Employers will also be required to provide:
The name and address of the employment site where the business closing or mass layoff will occur;
The name and contact information of the relevant company contact person;
A statement about whether the change is expected to be permanent or temporary and, if the entire business will be closed, a statement to that effect.
If the employment loss will be temporary, the statement must also include whether the action is expected to last longer or shorter than three months;
The expected date of the first employment loss and the anticipated schedule for subsequent losses;
The job titles of the affected positions and the names of the employees in those roles.
The notice to the Washington State Employment Security Department must also include the addresses of the affected employees; and
Whether the mass layoff or business closing is the result of, or will result in, the relocation or contracting out of the employer's operations or the employees' positions.
Employers must also provide notice of the dates (or schedule of dates) of planned business closings or mass layoffs extending beyond the date of any period that was announced in the original notice.
Are there exceptions to the WA-WARN Act?
Yes. The following situations are considered exceptions to the 60-day notice requirement:
Actively seeking capital or business: Notice is not necessary if:
The employer was actively seeking capital or business;
The capital or business sought would have enabled the employer to avoid or postpone the business closing or mass layoff; and
The employer reasonably and in good faith believed that giving the 60-day notice would have precluded the ability to obtain the capital or business.
Not reasonably foreseeable when notice would have been required: WA-WARN does not apply if the RIF or closing is caused by unforeseeable circumstances that cause a “sudden, dramatic, and unexpected action or condition outside of the employer’s control.”
Natural disasters: Notice is not necessary if the employment loss event is caused by natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, droughts, storms, tornados, or “similar effects of nature.”
Construction projects: WA-WARN is not triggered if the mass layoff occurs at:
A construction project where the affected employees were hired with the knowledge that their employment was limited in duration; or
A multiemployer construction project where the “only affected employees are subject to a full union referral or dispatch system.”
If an exception occurs for just a portion of the 60-day notice window, notice is still required when the exception no longer applies. If employers don’t provide notice as soon as possible, the employer will be subject to penalties, described in more detail below. Note that, to prove an exception, employers must meet all documentation and information requirements provided by the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) department.
Does WA-WARN prohibit employers from laying off employees who are on Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML)?
Yes. If WA-WARN is triggered, employers are prohibited from laying off any employee who is taking leave under Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) law. If the job loss is a result of one of the exceptions explained above, this does not apply.
What happens if an employer does not comply with the WA-WARN Act?
Employers can face three different types of financial penalties if they don’t adhere to the stipulations of the WA-WARN Act.
Payments to Employees
If employers do not provide notice as required by WA-WARN, they must pay the aggrieved employees as follows.
Back pay for each day of violation not less than the higher of:
The employee’s average regular rate of compensation during the last three years of employment; or
The employee's final rate of compensation; and
The value of the cost of any benefits the employee would have been entitled had their employment not been lost, including the cost of any medical expenses incurred by the employee that would have been covered under their employee benefit plan.
The total above will be reduced by:
Any employee wages paid by the employer during the violation period;
Any voluntary and unconditional payment by the employer to the employee that is not required by any legal obligation;
The amount paid to the employee pursuant to the federal WARN Act; and
Any payment the employer makes to a third party or trustee, such as health benefit premiums or payments to a pension plan on behalf of and attributable to the employee for the period of the violation.
Employer liability is determined by the length of the violation, up to a maximum of 60 days.
Costs Resulting from Civil Actions
Employees, their bargaining representatives, or the Washington State Employment Security Department may also bring a civil action within three years of the alleged violation. If the plaintiff wins, the court may award reasonable attorneys' fees.
The court may, however, decide the employer conducted a reasonable investigation in good faith and had grounds to believe that it did not violate the WA-WARN Act. In these cases, the court may reduce the amount of the penalty.
Courts do not have the authority to enjoin mass layoffs or business closings.
Civil Penalties to the Washington State Employment Security Department
Employers who fail to give the required notice to the Washington State Employment Security Department are subject to civil penalties of up to $500 for each day of the violation. However, employers are not subject to civil penalties under this section if they pay all applicable employees the amounts for which they are liable (60 days of back pay and benefits) within three weeks of the employment loss event.
Civil penalties paid by the employer under the federal WARN Act will be considered as payment of the WA-WARN civil penalty. All penalties recovered under this law must be paid into the state treasury and credited to the general fund.
How does Onwards HR help employers comply?
Washington employers must understand and comply with the WA-WARN Act to ensure all affected employees receive appropriate notice in qualifying mass layoffs or business site closings. Employment loss events are stressful enough, and state-specific laws create additional complexity for employers.
This is where Onwards HR comes in.
Onwards HR is an offboarding compliance platform for people-focused employers. In addition to RIF management and severance technology, Onwards HR provides state separation notice automation. This enables employers to prioritize compliance with state-specific separation laws.
The penalties for WA-WARN noncompliance can be significant—and the reputational harm can be long-lasting. Looking for a better way to manage workforce reductions? Onwards HR can help. Request a meeting to learn how.
