Employment: Cal/WARN Act: plant closings and mass layoffs., the official text

An act to amend Sections 1400.5 and 1401 of the Labor Code, relating to employment.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

Existing law, the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (Cal/WARN Act), among other things, prohibits an employer from ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination at a covered establishment unless, 60 days before the order takes effect, the employer gives written notice of the order to the employees affected by the order and to the Employment Development Department and certain local officials. Existing law requires the notice to contain specified information and makes an employer who fails to give the required notice liable to each employee entitled to notice who lost their employment for back pay and the value of the cost of any benefits to which the employee would have been entitled had their employment not been lost, as provided. Existing law also makes an employer subject to civil penalties, as provided, for each day of the employer’s violation. Existing law defines “employer” for these purposes to mean any person, as defined, who directly or indirectly owns and operates a covered establishment and defines “covered establishment” to mean any industrial or commercial facility or part thereof that employs, or has employed within the preceding 12 months, 75 or more persons.
This bill would add “public agency” to the definitions of employer and covered establishment, thereby making the Cal/WARN Act applicable to public agencies. The bill would, in the case of a sale of part or all of an employer’s business, make the seller responsible for providing the notice for any mass layoff, relocation, or termination up to and including the effective date of the sale, and make the purchaser responsible for providing the notice following the effective date of the sale.
The bill would make other technical and conforming changes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
Section 1400.5 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
1400.5.
(a) The definitions set forth in this section shall govern the construction and meaning of the terms used in this chapter:
(1) “Covered establishment” means any public agency or industrial or commercial facility, or part thereof, that employs, or has employed within the preceding 12 months, 75 or more persons.
(2) “Employee” means a person employed by an employer for at least 6 months of the 12 months preceding the date on which notice is required.
(3) “Employer” means any public agency or person, as defined by Section 18, who directly or indirectly owns and operates a covered establishment. A parent corporation is an employer as to any covered establishment directly owned and operated by its corporate subsidiary.
(4) “Layoff” means a separation from a position for lack of funds or lack of work.
(5) “Mass layoff” means a layoff during any 30-day period of 50 or more employees at a covered establishment.
(6) “Public agency” means any state agency, department, board, or commission, any county, city and county, city, regional agency, district, or other political subdivision.
(7) “Relocation” means the removal of all or substantially all of the operations in a covered establishment to a different location 100 miles or more away.
(8) “Termination” means the cessation or substantial cessation of operations in a covered establishment.
(b) (1) This chapter does not apply where the closing or layoff is the result of the completion of a particular project or undertaking of an employer subject to Wage Order 11, regulating the Broadcasting Industry, Wage Order 12, regulating the Motion Picture Industry, or Wage Order 16, regulating Certain On-Site Occupations in the Construction, Drilling, Logging and Mining Industries, of the Industrial Welfare Commission, and the employees were hired with the understanding that their employment was limited to the duration of that project or undertaking.
(2) This chapter does not apply to employees who are employed in seasonal employment where the employees were hired with the understanding that their employment was seasonal and temporary.

SEC. 2.
Section 1401 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
1401.
(a) An employer may not order a mass layoff, relocation, or termination at a covered establishment unless, 60 days before the order takes effect, the employer gives written notice of the order to the following:
(1) The employees of the covered establishment affected by the order.
(2) The Employment Development Department, the local workforce development board, and the chief elected official of each city and county government within which the termination, relocation, or mass layoff occurs.
(b) An employer required to give notice of any mass layoff, relocation, or termination under this chapter shall include in its notice the elements required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. Sec. 2101 et seq.).
(c) An employer required to give notice of any mass layoff, relocation, or termination under this chapter shall include in the notice whether the employer plans to coordinate services, such as a rapid response orientation, through the local workforce development board, the employer plans to coordinate services through a different entity, or the employer does not plan to coordinate services with any entity.
(1) Regardless of whether the employer chooses to coordinate services with the local workforce development board or another entity, the employer shall include in the notice a functioning email and telephone number of the board and the following description of the rapid response activities offered by the local workforce development board in accordance with Chapter 32 (commencing with Section 3102) of Title 29 of the United States Code:
“Local Workforce Development Boards and their partners help laid off workers find new jobs. Visit an America’s Job Center of California location near you. You can get help with your resume, practice interviewing, search for jobs, and more. You can also learn about training programs to help start a new career.”
(2) If the employer chooses to coordinate services with the local workforce development board or another entity, the employer shall arrange services within 30 days from the date of the notice.
(d) An employer required to give notice of any mass layoff, relocation, or termination under this chapter shall include in the notice a description of the statewide food assistance program known as CalFresh (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 18900) of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code), the CalFresh benefits helpline, and a link to the CalFresh internet website.
(e) An employer required to give notice of any mass layoff, relocation, or termination under this chapter shall include in the notice a functioning email and telephone number of the employer for contact.
(f) Notwithstanding the requirements of subdivision (a), an employer is not required to provide notice if a mass layoff, relocation, or termination is necessitated by a physical calamity or act of war.
(g) In the case of a sale of part or all of an employer’s business, the seller shall be responsible for providing notice for any mass layoff, relocation, or termination under this chapter in accordance with this section up to and including the effective date of the sale. Following the effective date of the sale, the purchaser shall be responsible for providing the notice.