On May 13, 2025, Governor Ferguson signed ESSB 5525, creating significant obligations for Washington employers conducting specific mass layoffs and business closings. Since 1989, the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) has required employers with 100 or more full-time employees to provide advance notice when they’re conducting mass layoffs or plant closings, as defined in the law. Over the years, states like California have passed their own versions of the WARN Act, which are often referred to as “mini-WARN Acts.” Effective July 27, 2025, Washington will also have a mini-WARN Act. Here are the key requirements and major differences from the federal WARN Act:
Covered employers: All private employers with 50 or more employees in Washington (excluding part-time employees). This is a significant departure from the federal WARN Act, which uses 100 or more employees (excluding part-time employees) as the threshold for defining a covered employer.
Affected employees: Notice requirements are triggered for employees who can reasonably expect to experience an employment loss because of a business closing or mass layoff.
Business closing or mass layoff: Mirroring the federal WARN Act’s plant closing standard, Washington law defines a business closing as the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment of one or more facilities or operating units that will result in an employment loss for 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employees.
A mass layoff is defined as a reduction in force resulting in an employment loss during any 30-day period for 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employees. Unlike the federal WARN Act, it’s not required for the 50 or more employees to make up at least 33% of active employees at a single site of employment to trigger an employment loss. This means employers conducting layoffs across the state at multiple locations will need to check that their cumulative layoffs don’t trigger the mass layoff standard.
Also, if a short-term mass layoff happens (defined as 3 months or less), and is subsequently extended due to unexpected business reasons sufficient to trigger the employment loss standard, the employer must give notice as soon as the extension becomes reasonably foreseeable.
The definition of an employment loss is the same as the federal WARN Act (termination that’s not for cause, voluntary separation, or retirement; a layoff exceeding 6 months; or a reduction in hours for an employee of more than 50% during each month of a 6-month period) and doesn’t include some situations involving relocation or consolidation where specific requirements are met.
Part-time employees: Like the federal WARN Act, part-time employees are excluded from both the total used to determine employer coverage and the 50-employee thresholds for a business closing or mass layoff. The law adopts the same definition for part-time employees as the federal WARN Act (those working an average of fewer than 20 hours per week, or who have been employed for fewer than 6 of the 12 months before the date notice would be required), but adds a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) wrinkle by saying that if there’s a definition for part-time employee in an applicable CBA, the CBA’s definition will control.
60-day written notice: Employers must provide written notice 60 days before an employment loss occurs due to a business closing or mass layoff to: (1) Washington’s Employment Security Department (ESD); and (2) the affected employees, or if the employees are represented, to the union. This is different from the federal WARN Act that requires notice to be given to each affected employee even if they’re represented by a union, and to the chief elected official of local government where the mass layoff or business closing is taking place.
Contents of written notice: Most notice requirements mirror the federal WARN Act, but employers now also need to include: (1) a statement about whether the business closing or mass layoff is expected to be temporary (if applicable) and if it’s expected to last longer or shorter than 3 months; (2) a statement that the entire business is to be closed (if applicable); (3) the addresses of the affected employees for notice given to ESD; (4) whether the mass layoff or business closing will result in, or is the result of, the relocation or contracting out of the employer’s operations or the employees’ positions; and (5) additional notices of the date or schedule of dates for any business closing or mass layoff that are extended beyond the timeframes announced in the original notice. Also, unlike the federal WARN Act, the law requires nearly all information to be shared with everyone, not just specific recipients. For example, this law requires job titles and names of affected employees to be given to all affected employees, while the federal WARN Act doesn’t.
Exceptions for specific circumstances: Like the federal WARN Act, no notice is required for specific circumstances that meet the faltering business, unforeseeable business circumstances, or natural disaster exceptions. However, the state law allows the faltering business exception to be applied to a mass layoff (not just a business closing), and it details certain circumstances involving construction projects and sites where no notice would be required. Importantly, ESD will create rules requiring specific documentation for these exceptions, and if the exception ends during the 60-day notice period, notice must still be given.
Special protection for employees on WPFML: Employees who are on Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (WPFML) can’t be included in a mass layoff, unless the unforeseen business circumstances or natural disaster exemptions are met, or in the case of certain construction projects and sites. Employees on WPFML can still be included in a business closing.
Penalties and lawsuits: Employers who fail to provide notice are liable to pay employees for up to 60 days of: (1) back pay for each day notice wasn’t provided (with a specific calculation included in the law); and (2) the value of any benefits the employee would have been entitled to if their employment hadn’t been lost, including medical expenses incurred by the employee that would have been covered under a benefit plan. The law allows the penalty to be reduced for certain things like wages paid during the violation period and payments to third parties like premiums for health benefits. Also, like the federal WARN Act, there are civil penalties, and employers can be sued for these violations, meaning attorney’s fees would also be available.
Seller and purchaser responsibilities: Like the federal WARN Act, the notice obligations triggered by the sale of a business are split between the seller (through the effective date of the sale) and buyer (after the effective date).
Tips: Employers with 50 or more full-time employees in Washington must now carefully consider whether their layoff or closing processes trigger these notice obligations. If they do, 60 days’ notice will need to be provided, and it’s critical to give yourself even more than 60 days to ensure your notices and other compliance steps are covered. The consequences for failing to give notice are steep, and the possibility of lawsuits where attorney’s fees are on the line makes them even steeper. We’ll be updating our existing resources in light of this new law, but if you want to learn more about the federal WARN Act in the meantime, check out our Legal Guide, At a Glance: WARN Act, and connect with your Vigilant Law Group employment attorney about any layoff or closing that you think might trigger notice.
Correction: June 6, 2025
The paragraph on “60-day written notice” initially said that the federal WARN Act required individual employee notice to union-represented employees. Such individual notice is optional, so that statement was removed.
We’ll be covering this topic in Part I of our “Washington’s New Employment Laws” webinar series, on July 16, focusing on laws taking effect this July. Register now, and keep an eye out for an invitation to Part II, coming in October, which will cover laws taking effect on or after January 2026.
