[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 20, Volume 3]
[Revised as of April 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 20CFR639.4]

[Page 357]
 
                      TITLE 20--EMPLOYEES' BENEFITS
 
 CHAPTER V--EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 639--WORKER ADJUSTMENT AND RETRAINING NOTIFICATION--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 639.4  Who must give notice?

    Section 3(a) of WARN states that ``an employer shall not order a 
plant closing or mass layoff until the end of a 60-day period after the 
employer serves written notice of such an order * * *.'' Therefore, an 
employer who is anticipating carrying out a plant closing or mass layoff 
is required to give notice to affected employees or their 
representative(s), the State dislocated worker unit and the chief 
elected official of a unit of local government. (See definitions in 
Sec. 639.3 of this part.)
    (a) It is the responsibility of the employer to decide the most 
appropriate person within the employer's organization to prepare and 
deliver the notice to affected employees or their representative(s), the 
State dislocated worker unit and the chief elected official of a unit of 
local government. In most instances, this may be the local site plant 
manager, the local personnel director or a labor relations officer.
    (b) An employer who has previously announced and carried out a 
short-term layoff (6 months or less) which is being extended beyond 6 
months due to business circumstances (including unforeseeable changes in 
price or cost) not reasonably foreseeable at the time of the initial 
layoff is required to give notice when it becomes reasonably foreseeable 
that the extension is required. A layoff extending beyond 6 months from 
the date the layoff commenced for any other reason shall be treated as 
an employment loss from the date of its commencement.
    (c) In the case of the sale of part or all of a business, section 
2(b)(1) of WARN defines who the ``employer'' is. The seller is 
responsible for providing notice of any plant closing or mass layoff 
which takes place up to and including the effective date (time) of the 
sale, and the buyer is responsible for providing notice of any plant 
closing or mass layoff that takes place thereafter. Affected employees 
are always entitled to notice; at all times the employer is responsible 
for providing notice.
    (1) If the seller is made aware of any definite plans on the part of 
the buyer to carry out a plant closing or mass layoff within 60 days of 
purchase, the seller may give notice to affected employees as an agent 
of the buyer, if so empowered. If the seller does not give notice, the 
buyer is, nevertheless, responsible to give notice. If the seller gives 
notice as the buyer's agent, the responsibility for notice still remains 
with the buyer.
    (2) It may be prudent for the buyer and seller to determine the 
impacts of the sale on workers, and to arrange between them for advance 
notice to be given to affected employees or their representative(s), if 
a mass layoff or plant closing is planned.