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Have you been warned?
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Laid off job seekers standing in line for an interview
No…not the pink slip!
Were you given fair notice, write-ups, or disciplinary actions? Have you been given proper notice before you were laid off?
WARN The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act offers protection to workers and their families. It requires employers to give 60 days notice before a plant closing or mass layoffs. This does not apply to everyone.
Companies must give notice to employees and local government before a “mass layoff” of 50 full-time workers who constitutes one-third of the staff (over three months) at a single location or a layoff of 500 employees. It applies to companies with over 100 people.
Exemptions
From the company’s standpoint there’s exemptions:
- Companies that are deemed as “faltering” where an announcement would hamper their efforts to raise new capital-regarding plant closings.
- Unforeseeable business circumstances (reasonable)
- Natural disaster such as flood, earthquake, drought or storm.
In Arizona, mortgage companies have challenged abrupt terminations in federal court. "In court the companies bear the burden of proving they correctly invoked exceptions to WARN. Cases have demonstrated that this must be demonstrated specifically." Wall Street Journal. As such many cases settle before going to trial. Only one-third of qualifying companies filed notice in their states, to date there’s no national database.
Human resource director Kristee Neuman said, “From the human perspective it’s nice to have a 60-day notice. From the business standpoint…to provide a 60-day notice when your ship is sinking is a pretty difficult request.”
Last month Sen. Sherrod Brown introduced a bill that gives teeth to WARN. It empowers "the Labor Department to enforce WARN, double its maximum penalties and apply the law to smaller worker groups and raise the notice to 90 days." WSJ
DOT Jobs
In my last entry I mentioned that Arizona received stimulus money for the highways. The Federal Highway Administration and Arizona Department of Transportation have open enrollment for free classes on construction trades. Students participate in hands-on-activities in training for OSHA 10, flagging certification and Red cross/CPR.
Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and although a high school diploma or GED is not required it may hinder employment. Apply at AZDOT
One can also contact Arizona workforce connection (link on right panel) for addition assistance.
Photo AP/M.Spencer Green
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