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Complete Guide

California WARN Act

Cal-WARN Act (Labor Code §§ 1400–1408)

Cal-WARN has a lower employer threshold, covers all part-time workers, has no financial distress exception, and includes a 90-day aggregation rule that catches staggered layoffs. Here is everything HR and legal teams need to know before a California reduction in force.

75+ employee minimum60-day noticeCovers part-timeNo financial distress exception90-day aggregation window
OverviewDoes Cal-WARN apply?Thresholds & triggersPart-time coverage90-day aggregation trapNo financial distress exceptionRelocation coverageCal-WARN vs. FederalWho gets noticeWhat the notice must sayCommon mistakesPenaltiesFAQ

What is the California WARN Act?

The California WARN Act (Cal-WARN, Labor Code §§ 1400–1408) requires employers to give employees advance written notice before a mass layoff, plant closing, or relocation. It is separate from and in addition to the federal WARN Act (29 U.S.C. § 2101).

Cal-WARN is stricter than its federal counterpart on nearly every dimension: lower employer threshold, broader employee coverage, no financial distress exception, and a rolling aggregation rule that catches staggered reductions. A company that does not trigger federal WARN can still trigger Cal-WARN.

California employers must comply with both laws where applicable. Cal-WARN does not replace the federal obligation.

Does Cal-WARN apply to your layoff?

Work through these three questions in order. If you answer No to any of them, Cal-WARN does not apply to that location and event.

1

Does the employer have 75 or more employees at the affected location?

YesContinue to question 2.
NoCal-WARN does not apply. Federal WARN requires 100+ employees, so that may not apply either.

Count all employees at the establishment, including part-time. Exclude workers employed fewer than 6 months in the last 12 months.

2

Will 50 or more employees lose their jobs (or be relocated 100+ miles) within a 30-day period at a single establishment?

YesContinue to question 3.
NoCheck whether prior rounds within the last 90 days push the aggregate count above 50. If not, Cal-WARN does not apply.

Count all affected employees regardless of hours worked or tenure. Include employees on leave of absence.

3

Is the event a plant closing, mass layoff, or relocation of operations more than 100 miles away?

YesCal-WARN applies. You must give 60 days written notice to all four required recipients before the first separation.
NoCal-WARN does not apply to this specific event type, though other obligations may.

Cal-WARN covers relocations even when positions are being offered at the new location.

Thresholds and triggers

Cal-WARN applies when all three conditions are met:

1

Employer size

The employer has 75 or more full- and part-time employees (not counting those employed fewer than 6 months in the last 12 months).

Federal threshold is 100

2

Layoff size

50 or more employees are laid off during any 30-day period at a single establishment.

No percentage threshold, just the count

3

Covered event

The layoff is a plant closing, mass layoff, or relocation of operations more than 100 miles away.

Relocation coverage is unique to Cal-WARN

No percentage trigger

Federal WARN requires both 50+ employees and 33% of the workforce. Cal-WARN drops the percentage condition entirely. If you lay off 50 people at a 2,000-person site, Cal-WARN is triggered. Federal WARN would not be (2.5% of workforce).

Part-time employees are covered

This is one of the most significant differences from federal WARN. The federal law excludes employees who work fewer than 20 hours per week or have been employed less than 6 months. Cal-WARN covers all employees, regardless of hours worked or tenure.

Employee typeFederal WARNCal-WARN
Full-time (20+ hrs/wk, 6+ months)
Part-time, 20+ hrs/wk, 6+ months
Part-time, under 20 hrs/wk
Employed less than 6 months
Employees on leave of absence
Independent contractors

Practical implication: a retail employer with many part-time workers may hit the 50-employee threshold under Cal-WARN while falling well short under federal WARN.

The 90-day aggregation trap

Cal-WARN includes an anti-circumvention rule: employment losses that occur in separate rounds but fall within a rolling 90-day window are aggregated together when counting toward the 50-employee threshold. This prevents employers from breaking a single large layoff into smaller rounds to avoid WARN.

Example: staggered layoffs that aggregate

1
January 15: 30 employees laid off

Below threshold. No WARN required yet.

2
March 5: 25 employees laid off

55 total within 90 days. Cal-WARN triggered retroactively.

The employer owed 60-day notice before the January round, not just the March round. Both groups of employees are owed back pay for the violation.

The 90-day window is rolling, not calendar-based. Courts also look at whether separate rounds were truly independent business decisions or parts of a single reduction. Even rounds more than 90 days apart may be aggregated if the employer cannot show they resulted from separate, distinct causes.

No financial distress exception

This is the biggest Cal-WARN trap for companies in distress

The federal WARN Act allows employers to give shorter notice (or no notice) if they were actively seeking capital or business and had a reasonable, good-faith belief that giving full notice would ruin that deal. California explicitly removed this exception under Labor Code § 1402.5.

In practice: a startup that is fundraising, a company in acquisition talks, or a business that just lost a major contract cannot use financial urgency to justify skipping Cal-WARN notice. Even if giving 60 days notice would cause the deal to fall apart or accelerate an insolvency, California law still requires it.

The two exceptions that do apply under Cal-WARN are:

  • Unforeseeable business circumstances

    A sudden, dramatic, and unexpected event caused by conditions outside the employer's control, such as an unexpected loss of a major contract or a sudden credit crisis. Must be genuinely unforeseeable, not just difficult.

  • Natural disaster

    A flood, earthquake, drought, storm, tidal wave, or similar act of nature that directly caused the closing or layoff.

Even when an exception applies, employers must still give as much notice as practicable and provide a written statement explaining why they could not give full notice.

Relocation coverage

Cal-WARN covers not just layoffs but also relocations: moving all or substantially all of the industrial or commercial operations at an establishment to a different location more than 100 miles away.

Federal WARN does not have an equivalent relocation trigger. It only covers plant closings and mass layoffs. A California employer moving its headquarters from San Francisco to Austin, Texas, must give 60-day Cal-WARN notice to all affected employees even if every position is being offered at the new location.

Cal-WARN vs. Federal WARN

FactorFederal WARNCal-WARN
Employer minimum100+ employees75+ employees
Notice period60 days60 days
Layoff threshold50+ AND 33% of workforce50+ employees (no % required)
Covers part-timeNo (20+ hrs/wk, 6+ months only)Yes, all employees
Financial distress exceptionYesNo (§ 1402.5)
Unforeseeable circumstancesYesYes
Natural disaster exceptionYesYes
Covers relocation (100+ miles)NoYes
Aggregation window90 days90 days
Mandatory severanceNoNo

Who must receive Cal-WARN notice

The 60-day written notice must be sent simultaneously to all four of the following:

1

Each affected employee

Or their representative (union, if applicable). Notice must be in writing and specify the expected date of the first separation and the anticipated schedule for subsequent separations.

2

California Employment Development Department (EDD)

Notice is filed with the EDD online or by mail. The EDD uses this information to coordinate reemployment services for displaced workers.

3

Local workforce development board

The board serving the area where the layoff occurs (previously called the local workforce investment board under WIOA).

4

Chief elected official of each city and county

For each city and county government where the affected establishment is located. If the layoff spans multiple locations, notice goes to each relevant jurisdiction.

What the notice must say

Cal-WARN does not specify a prescribed form, but the statute requires each notice to include specific information. A notice that omits required elements may be treated as legally defective. The following items are required in the employee notice:

Required in each employee notice

  • Name and address of the employment site where the plant closing or mass layoff will occur
  • Name and phone number of a company official to contact for further information
  • Statement of whether the planned action is expected to be permanent or temporary, and whether the entire plant is to be closed
  • Expected date of the first separation
  • Anticipated schedule of separations (if the event occurs over multiple dates)
  • Job titles of the positions to be affected and the names of workers currently holding those jobs
  • Whether bumping rights exist under any applicable collective bargaining agreement(if applicable)

Additional items required in notices to EDD, workforce board, and local officials

  • Name and address of the affected establishment and the employer's main office
  • Name and phone number of the employer's contact person
  • Statement of whether the action is permanent or temporary, and whether the plant will close entirely
  • Expected date of the first separation and the anticipated schedule
  • Job titles affected and employee counts for each title
  • Whether the workers are represented by a union, and if so the name of the chief elected officer of each union

If a WARN exception applies (unforeseeable circumstances or natural disaster), the notice must include a brief statement of the reason you could not provide 60 days notice.

Common Cal-WARN mistakes

Most Cal-WARN violations are not deliberate. They follow predictable patterns that employment counsel sees repeatedly.

Counting only full-time employees toward the threshold

Because federal WARN excludes part-timers, HR teams sometimes apply the same logic to Cal-WARN. Cal-WARN counts everyone. An employer with 40 full-time and 20 part-time employees affected has crossed the 50-person threshold.

Missing the EDD filing deadline

The EDD notice must be received 60 days before the first separation, not postmarked. Filing on day 58 by mail does not comply. File electronically or by certified mail with enough lead time.

Forgetting the local elected official notice

Most teams remember the employees and the EDD. The chief elected official of each affected city and county is frequently missed. For multi-county layoffs, this means separate notices to each jurisdiction.

Assuming financial distress creates an exception

Teams that know federal WARN often assume the faltering company exception carries over. It does not. There is no financial distress exception under Cal-WARN, period. A company in bankruptcy must still give 60 days notice.

Not tracking the 90-day window between rounds

A company that laid off 30 people in Q1 may not realize those separations count toward the threshold when planning a Q2 round. Without a rolling lookback, the second round triggers WARN without any advance warning to HR.

Omitting required fields from the written notice

A notice that does not list job titles and employee counts, or does not name the company contact, may be treated as legally defective and not count as valid notice. Use a checklist every time.

Amber bar indicates mistakes most frequently cited in Cal-WARN litigation.

Penalties for non-compliance

An employer that fails to give the required 60-day notice is liable for:

Per employee

Back pay + benefits value

For each day of violation, up to 60 days. Includes wages, salary, and the value of any lost benefits (health insurance, accrued holiday pay, etc.).

Per government entity

$500/day civil penalty

Payable to each unit of local government where the violation occurred, for up to 60 days. If the layoff spans multiple counties, the penalty applies separately to each.

An employer can reduce the back-pay liability by making voluntary payments to affected employees before a lawsuit is filed. Courts have held that these payments must be made promptly and in good faith to be credited against the statutory liability.

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Frequently asked questions

Do we need to comply with both Cal-WARN and federal WARN?

Yes. The laws are independent and you must comply with both when applicable. Cal-WARN does not preempt or replace the federal obligation; it adds to it. In practice, Cal-WARN is stricter on most dimensions, so complying with Cal-WARN often means you are already in compliance with federal WARN.

We are laying off employees across multiple California offices. Does the 50-employee count apply per location?

Yes. The threshold is measured per "establishment," meaning a single industrial or commercial facility or site. If you are laying off 30 at one office and 25 at another, neither location individually triggers Cal-WARN. You cannot aggregate across establishments to reach the threshold, but you also cannot break a single-site layoff into phased rounds to avoid it (that is what the 90-day aggregation rule addresses).

Can employees waive their right to Cal-WARN notice?

No. Cal-WARN rights cannot be waived prospectively. An employee can release claims after a violation (as part of a severance agreement), but employers cannot contractually eliminate the notice obligation in advance.

Does Cal-WARN apply to layoffs at California offices of companies headquartered out of state?

Yes. Cal-WARN applies based on where the affected employees work, not where the company is headquartered. An employer based in New York with a California office of 75+ employees must comply with Cal-WARN for layoffs at that California location.

What counts as a "mass layoff" under Cal-WARN?

A layoff of 50 or more employees at a single establishment during any 30-day period, where the employees are not laid off as part of a plant closing or relocation. Employees on temporary layoff who are not recalled within 6 months are counted.

Related resources

WARN Act: State-by-State ReferenceCalifornia WARN Act: quick referenceNew York WARN Act guideNew Jersey WARN Act guide

This guide is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Always verify with qualified employment counsel before a reduction in force.

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