Mini WARN Act by State: 16 Layoff Notice Laws Compared With Federal WARN (2026)

State plant-closing and mass-layoff notice laws (mini WARN acts)

Checked quarterly, and after each state legislative session. Last checked 2026-10-31. Entries are neutral records of public data; each links to its source record.

The mini WARN act registry: 16 state laws read from the statute books

Sixteen states impose their own enacted, mandatory notice duty before a plant closing or mass layoff. Each row below was coded from the official statute or rule and links to it.

Mini WARN act: A state law that requires advance notice of a plant closing, mass layoff or relocation, modeled on the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 to 2109). The federal law covers employers with 100 or more employees excluding part-time, and requires 60 days' notice.

The registry counts a state only if an enacted law in force on 2026-10-31 puts a notice duty on private employers. That rule keeps proposed bills, voluntary programs and repealed sections out. It keeps in two thin laws: Ohio Rev. Code 4113.31, which writes the federal WARN Act into state law with added notice content, and Tennessee's Plant Closings and Reduction in Operations law, which covers employers of 50 to 99 full-time staff and asks only that the state be told when employees are.

Confidence is marked clear text where the operative words were read directly. New Jersey and Tennessee are marked interpretation needed because the compiled code was not reachable and the text came from a chapter law and an agency reproduction; Ohio is marked the same way because its sale rule applies only through a cross-reference to 20 CFR 639.1 to 639.10.

Ten states reach employers that the federal law leaves out

Ten of the 16 laws apply below the federal 100-employee line. Iowa goes lowest at 25; the most common line is 50.

• 25 employees: Iowa, excluding part-time (Iowa Code 84C.2).
• 50 employees: Hawaii (per establishment), Maryland, New York, Tennessee (50 to 99 full-time only), Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
• 75 employees: California (per establishment, counting anyone employed in the prior 12 months) and Illinois (excluding part-time, or 4,000 hours a week).
• 100 employees: Delaware, Maine (per establishment), Nebraska, New Hampshire (in-state), New Jersey and Ohio.

The numbers are not measured the same way. Maryland drops anyone working under 20 hours a week or employed under 6 of the last 12 months. Vermont counts part-time employees who work at least 1,040 hours a year. New York counts remote employees based at a site, under its current rules (last amended effective 2023-06-21). Delaware's hours test is 2,000 a week and New Hampshire's is 3,000, against 4,000 in federal law.

Event triggers vary too. Six states start counting below the federal 50 job losses: Maryland at 15 employees or 25 percent of the workplace, whichever is greater, and Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York and Wisconsin at 25. Nebraska goes the other way: its 2026 law needs 100 job losses before notice is due.

About 33,652 firms owe notice only because their state drew the line lower

Census business counts show how many employer firms sit between each state's threshold and 99 employees, where federal WARN does not reach.

Using Census Statistics of U.S. Businesses for 2022, the latest release, SMBB summed employer firms in each lower-threshold state whose enterprise size falls from the state threshold up to 99 employees. The total across ten states is 33,652 firms with 2,115,575 employees in those states. For every firm of 100 or more in the same states there are 0.44 firms in the state-only band.

New York has the most, 8,264 firms of 50 to 99 employees. Iowa stands out on a relative basis: its 25-employee line takes in 4,385 firms of 25 to 99, more than the 3,795 Iowa firms of 100 or more, and 6.9 percent of all Iowa employer firms.

When the business is sold: five ways state laws assign the notice duty

Twelve of the 16 laws address a sale. Most copy the federal split between seller and buyer; four go their own way and four say nothing.

In an asset sale the seller's employment ends and the buyer hires the staff. Federal law does not count that change of employer as a job loss by itself: the seller's employees, other than part-time, are treated as the buyer's employees immediately after the effective date of the sale. The provision sits under the heading 'Exclusions from definition of employment loss' in 29 U.S.C. 2101(b)(1). Notice is still owed for any closing or layoff, by the seller up to and including the sale date and by the buyer after it, and 20 CFR 639.4(c) lets a seller, if so empowered, give notice as the buyer's agent when it knows of definite buyer plans to cut jobs within 60 days.

• Federal split (seller before, buyer after): Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York and Washington; Ohio adopts it by reference to 20 CFR 639.
• Both parties give notice: Maryland (seller on or before the sale date, purchaser after it) and Vermont (seller and purchaser 'are still required' to comply where mass layoffs will occur).
• The sale is the trigger: Hawaii defines a divestiture (sale, transfer or merger that dislocates workers) as a notice event, but a seller actively seeking a buyer may wait until it has a binding agreement.
• Exemption if the buyer hires: Wisconsin excuses notice when the purchaser agrees in writing, in the purchase agreement, to hire substantially all affected employees with no more than a 6-month break.
• Silent: California, Maine, New Jersey and Tennessee have no sale provision in the text read.

New York's rules add detail no other state text has: a buyer's promise of employment does not relieve the seller of notice, but if keeping the workforce is a good-faith condition of the purchase and the buyer does not honor it, the buyer owes notice and the seller is relieved (12 NYCRR 921-2.1(b)). Wisconsin's statute annotation records a 2001 state supreme court holding that a transfer of business assets is not a business closing unless the site shuts down.

Notice timing is one of several labor and tax items that sit on a sale timeline; see the six stages of a sale. Unemployment tax transfers on a sale are covered separately in the SUTA successor rules report, and sales tax successor rules in the bulk sales law registry.

Ninety days in four states, 30 days in two, no lead time in Tennessee

Most state laws keep the federal 60 days. Four lengthen it, two shorten the employee notice, and three add severance on top.

Maine, Nebraska, New Jersey and New York require 90 days. Maine's 90 days apply to closings and relocations of a covered establishment; a mass layoff there must be reported to the director within 7 days. Vermont asks for 45 days to the state and 30 days to employees, and Iowa for 30 days. A state's shorter period does not shorten federal notice for an employer the federal law covers.

Three states require payments beyond back pay. New Jersey requires severance of one week's pay for each full year of service whenever its law is triggered, plus 4 more weeks if notice falls short. Maine requires one week's pay per year of service for employees with at least 3 years. Hawaii requires a dislocated worker allowance that tops up unemployment benefits for up to 4 weeks. Maryland allows civil penalties of up to $10,000 a day; Delaware's penalty is $1,000 a day or $100 a day per dislocated worker, whichever is greater.

Three new state laws since 2025, and older ones that no longer apply

Washington, Ohio and Nebraska added laws in 2025 and 2026, while New Jersey and New York tightened theirs in 2023. Several laws on older lists are gone or voluntary.

Washington's law covers employers of 50 or more in the state and, unlike federal law, counts a mass layoff of 50 without limiting it to a single site. It also bars including employees on paid family or medical leave in a mass layoff. Ohio's law states that it does not set a different standard from federal law; it adds content requirements for notices and names the director of job and family services as a recipient.

Secondary lists of mini WARN acts often carry laws that have changed. An October 2008 law-firm list of sixteen states included Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan and South Carolina. In the official texts read for this registry, Connecticut's provisions were repealed effective 2024-06-06, South Carolina's in 2010, the Kansas section governs essential industries rather than layoff notice, and the Michigan citation is the short title of the Employee-Owned Corporation Act.

Questions a seller can raise with a broker or attorney before announcing a sale

The registry points to the questions that decide whether notice is owed; it does not answer them for a specific business.

• How many employees does the business have in each state where it operates, and how does that state count part-time and remote staff?
• Will the buyer keep substantially all employees, and is that written into the purchase agreement? (Wisconsin and New York rules turn on it.)
• Does the state treat the sale itself as an event (Hawaii) or require both parties to give notice (Maryland, Vermont)?
• Does the state require severance in addition to notice (Maine, New Jersey) and who bears it under the deal terms?
• Which agency, local officials and unions must receive the notice, and by what date relative to closing?

Brokers handle many of these questions during diligence; a list of questions to ask a broker is on the home page. Licensing of the broker is covered in the broker license registry. Confirm any notice duty with the state labor agency or an employment attorney.

Counts and distributions

Download the calculations (CSV)

Key findings

1. Sixteen states had an enacted, mandatory mini WARN act on 2026-10-31, coded from the statute or rule text of each (SMBB registry).^{[3][11][13][26][30]}
2. Iowa has the lowest employer threshold: 25 employees excluding part-time, one quarter of the federal 100 (Iowa Code 84C.2).^[13][1]
3. Seven states use a 50-employee threshold: Hawaii, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.^{[22][17][4][25][16][28][12]}
4. In Census SUSB 2022, 33,652 employer firms in the ten lower-threshold states had between the state threshold and 99 employees, with 2,115,575 in-state employees.^[40]
5. Iowa had 4,385 firms of 25 to 99 employees and 3,795 firms of 100 or more in 2022, so its state law reaches more firms than federal WARN does there.^[40][13]
6. New York had the largest state-only group: 8,264 firms of 50 to 99 employees in 2022.^[40][4]
7. Maine, Nebraska, New Jersey and New York require 90 days' notice; federal law requires 60 (29 U.S.C. 2102).^{[14][30][9][5][1]}
8. Nebraska's 2026 law covers employers of 100 or more but is triggered only when 100 or more jobs are lost, twice the federal plant-closing trigger of 50.^[30][1]
9. Maryland triggers notice at a cut of 25 percent or 15 employees, whichever is greater, over 3 months, and allows civil penalties up to $10,000 a day.^[17][19]
10. Hawaii treats a sale, transfer or merger that dislocates workers as a notice event in itself, with 60 days' notice, though a seller still looking for a buyer may wait until a binding agreement.^[22][23]
11. Wisconsin excuses notice when a sale causes the closing and the purchaser agrees in writing to hire substantially all affected employees with no more than a 6-month break.^[12]
12. New York's rules say a buyer's promise of jobs does not relieve the seller of notice, but a buyer that breaks a good-faith hiring condition of the purchase becomes responsible (12 NYCRR 921-2.1(b)).^[7]
13. New Jersey requires severance of one week's pay per full year of service, plus 4 weeks if notice is short, for employers of 100 or more (P.L.2019, c.423).^[9]
14. Maine requires severance of one week's pay per year for employees with 3 or more years when a covered establishment of 100 or more closes (26 M.R.S. 625-B).^[14]

Executive summary

• Sixteen states had an enacted, mandatory plant-closing or mass-layoff notice law on 2026-10-31; three of them (Washington, Ohio and Nebraska) were enacted in 2025 or 2026.
• Ten of the 16 cover employers below the federal 100-employee line: Iowa at 25, seven states at 50, and California and Illinois at 75.
• About 33,652 employer firms in those ten states, with about 2.1 million in-state jobs, fall between the state threshold and 99 employees in Census SUSB 2022 data.
• Four states require 90 days' notice (Maine, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York); Iowa and Vermont give employees 30 days and Tennessee sets no lead time.
• Twelve laws address a sale: most copy the federal rule that the seller notifies up to closing and the buyer after it, but Maryland and Vermont require both, Hawaii makes the sale itself a notice event, and Wisconsin excuses a seller whose buyer agrees in writing to hire substantially all workers.
• Maine and New Jersey require severance on top of notice, and Hawaii requires a dislocated worker allowance for up to 4 weeks.
• Seven laws that secondary lists still describe as mini WARN acts were not counted: Connecticut's was repealed in 2024, South Carolina's in 2010, Massachusetts and Minnesota are voluntary, and the Michigan citation points to an unrelated act.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides, services and research

• How a business sale works
• Questions to ask a business broker
• Business Broker License Requirements by State: A 2026 Registry of 51 Jurisdictions
• Age of Small Business Owners by State: Owners 65 or Older in Employer Firms, 2017 to 2023
• Business Owner Net Worth: How Much of It Is the Business? Federal Reserve Data (2026)
• Can a Child Care License Transfer to a New Owner? State-by-State Rules for Selling a Daycare (2026)
• All business sale research

Reproduce this analysis

Every figure comes from the files below. The scripts that pulled and computed them are kept with the report and can be re-run.

Data quality and exclusions

• Registry scope: 23 jurisdictions were opened in official text; 16 were coded as mandatory laws and 7 were excluded (2 repealed, 2 voluntary or conditional, 1 federal notice recipient only, 1 not a notice law, 1 citation not found). States not listed were not individually searched in their codes; see limits.
• Archived copies: 10 of the 16 state rows rely at least in part on an Internet Archive copy because the official site refused automated connections or returned HTTP 403; each copy is of the official page and is labelled in registry.csv.
• New Jersey was coded from the 2019 chapter law (amended sections only) because the compiled N.J.S.A. was not reachable; confidence is set to interpretation needed.
• Tennessee was coded from the statute text reproduced in the state labor department's guide because the official code is hosted by a commercial publisher; confidence is set to interpretation needed.
• SUSB: used the 'U.S. and states, NAICS, detailed employment' file, all-industry rows only (NAICS '–'); 11 non-overlapping size classes below 100 were used and the overlapping subtotal classes (<20, <500) were dropped. No employment noise flags other than G were present in the 110 cells used.
• SUSB firms at 100 or more were computed as the state total minus all classes below 100, not read from a subtotal.

Methodology

Selection: candidate states came from federal sources and secondary lists of mini WARN acts. Each candidate's statute or rule was opened on the legislature or agency site and saved to raw/. Where the official site refused automated connections or returned HTTP 403, an Internet Archive copy of the same official page was used and labelled; no bot protection was bypassed.

Inclusion: a state is counted only if an enacted law in force on 2026-10-31 requires private employers to give notice of a closing, mass layoff or similar event. Proposed bills, voluntary programs, repealed sections and laws that only name a recipient for federal notices are listed in the exclusion table instead.

Coding: for each law SMBB recorded the employer threshold and its unit, the smallest event trigger, notice days to employees, remedies, severance, the sale-of-business rule (grouped into five types), the latest amendment shown in the text, the official URL, the saved file and a confidence level (clear text, interpretation needed, not found). Law-firm pages were read only as Tier 3 context and are not evidence for any row.

Conflicts: where a secondary source and the official text disagreed (for example a citation to MCL 450.731 for Michigan), the official text was followed and the difference recorded in excluded.md.

Derived metrics: counts come from the coded registry. The firm count uses the Census SUSB 2022 'U.S. and states, NAICS, detailed employment' file (server date 2025-04-10, the latest release), all-industry rows, summing firms and employment in size classes from each state's threshold to 99 employees for the ten states with a threshold below 100. Formulas and inputs are in derived_metrics.csv and scripts/compute_susb.py.

Limitations: the registry is a text reading, not legal analysis; it does not code case law, agency guidance or local ordinances, and SUSB sizes are national and include part-time staff. Matching services for owners comparing brokers are described at find a broker; that page is not part of the research.

Last update: 2026-10-31. The registry is rechecked quarterly and after each legislative session.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, financial or investment advice.

Sources, ranked by quality

Tier 1: primary and official sources (41)

• [1] U.S. Government Publishing Office (United States Code, 2023 edition). 29 U.S.C. chapter 23, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (sections 2101 to 2109). Statute as codified, 2023 edition. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [2] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 20 CFR Part 639, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification. Current to 2026-10-29. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [3] California Legislative Information. California Labor Code, Division 2, Part 4, Chapter 4 (sections 1400 to 1413), Internet Archive copy of 2026-09-16. Includes Stats. 2025, Ch. 229. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [4] New York State Senate. New York Labor Law 860-a, Definitions (Internet Archive copy). Current law, archived 2025-08-08. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [5] New York State Senate. New York Labor Law 860-b, Notice (Internet Archive copy). Current law, archived 2025-09-13. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [6] New York State Senate. New York Labor Law 860-g, Violation; liability (Internet Archive copy). Current law, archived 2026-08-31. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [7] New York State Department of Labor. WARN Regulations, 12 NYCRR Part 921. Current rules (amended 2023). Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [8] New York Department of State. New York State Register, June 21, 2023: Notice of Adoption, Update to the WARN Act Rules (LAB-13-23-00002-A). 2023. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [9] New Jersey Legislature. P.L.2019, Chapter 423 (amending N.J.S.A. 34:21-1 and 34:21-2), Internet Archive copy. Approved 2020-01-21. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [10] New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. File a WARN Notice (Internet Archive copy of 2026-10-23). 2026. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [11] Illinois General Assembly. 820 ILCS 65, Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (Internet Archive copy of 2025-05-23). Through P.A. 102-662. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [12] Wisconsin State Legislature. Wis. Stat. 109.07 (Internet Archive copy of 2026-08-16). 2025 biennium statutes. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [13] Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 84C. Iowa Code 2026. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [14] Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes. 26 M.R.S. 625-B. Data extracted 2026-10-05. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [15] New Hampshire General Court. N.H. RSA Chapter 275-F (Internet Archive copy of 2025-11-27). Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [16] Vermont General Assembly. 21 V.S.A. Chapter 5, Subchapter 3A, Notice of Potential Layoffs Act. Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [17] Maryland General Assembly. Md. Code, Labor and Employment 11-301. Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [18] Maryland General Assembly. Md. Code, Labor and Employment 11-305. Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [19] Maryland General Assembly. Md. Code, Labor and Employment 11-306. Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [20] Maryland General Assembly. SB 780 (2020 Regular Session), Chapter 407. 2020. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [21] Maryland General Assembly. HB 1154 (2021 Regular Session), Chapter 587. 2021. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [22] Hawaii State Legislature. Haw. Rev. Stat. 394B-2, Definitions (Internet Archive copy of 2026-09-23). Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [23] Hawaii State Legislature. Haw. Rev. Stat. 394B-9, Notification; penalty (Internet Archive copy of 2026-09-23). Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [24] Hawaii State Legislature. Haw. Rev. Stat. 394B-10, Dislocated worker allowance (Internet Archive copy of 2015-09-18). Text unchanged since L 1987 per its history note. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [25] Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. WARN Technical Assistance Guide, reproducing Tenn. Code Ann. 50-1-601 to 50-1-604 (Internet Archive copy of 2026-10-17). Current guide. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [26] Delaware General Assembly. 19 Del. C. Chapter 19, Delaware Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [27] Delaware General Assembly. 81 Del. Laws c. 312. Approved 2018-07-11. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [28] Washington State Legislature. RCW Chapter 49.45, Notice of mass layoffs and business closings. Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [29] Washington State Legislature. RCW 42.56.230 and effective-date note for 2026 c 86. 2026. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [30] Nebraska Legislature. LB 921 (2026) slip law, Nebraska Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (Internet Archive copy of 2026-05-07). Approved 2026-04-14. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [31] Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Rev. Code 4113.31, Compliance with federal WARN Act (Internet Archive copy of 2026-04-22). Effective 2025-09-30. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [32] Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minn. Stat. 116L.976, Early warning system. 2026 Minnesota Statutes. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [33] General Court of Massachusetts. Mass. Gen. Laws c. 151A, 71A (Internet Archive copy of 2026-07-13). Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [34] General Court of Massachusetts. Mass. Gen. Laws c. 149, 182 (Internet Archive copy of 2026-04-19). Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [35] Connecticut General Assembly. Conn. Gen. Stat. Chapter 557 (31-51n and 31-51o repealed). Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [36] South Carolina Legislature. S.C. Code Title 41, Chapter 1 (41-1-40 repealed). Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [37] Oregon State Legislature. ORS Chapter 285A (285A.510 to 285A.522), Internet Archive copy of 2025-10-17. 2025 edition. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [38] Michigan Legislature. MCL 450.731 (Internet Archive copy of 2025-08-05). Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [39] Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. K.S.A. 44-616. Current law. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [40] U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022: U.S. and states, NAICS, detailed employment sizes (us_state_naics_detailedsizes_2022.txt). Employment as of March 2022. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [41] U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 SUSB Annual Data Tables by Establishment Industry. 2022. Accessed 2026-10-31.

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (3)

• [42] Barnes & Thornburg LLP. The State of Employment Law: 13 States Have Mini-WARN Acts (2025-06-04). 2025. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [43] BakerHostetler. Efforts to Expand Mini-WARN Acts Requirements Underscore the Importance of Knowing State-Level Post-Sale Obligations (2025-04-24). 2025. Accessed 2026-10-31.
• [44] K&L Gates LLP. Mini-WARN Acts: Does Your State Have One? (October 2008). 2008. Accessed 2026-10-31.