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New Hampshire Enacts "Mini-WARN" Law

Effective January 1, 2010, employers in New Hampshire contemplating a reduction-in-force (RIF) not only will have to comply with the Federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) but also with New Hampshire's new "mini-WARN" statute. This new law highlights the need for careful RIF planning.

In general, WARN requires employers with 100 or more workers to give at least 60 calendar days of notice of (1) plant closings affecting at least 50 workers or (2) "mass layoffs" at a single site (i) of at least 33% of the workforce and 50 workers or (ii) at least 500 workers.

New Hampshire (joining, among others, California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey) recently enacted a "mini-WARN" Act that is more expansive than WARN. Key differences between the New Hampshire York law and WARN include:

  Federal Warn New Hampshire "Mini-Warn"
Employer Applicability 100 employees 75 employees
Events Covered Plant closings and mass layoffs Plant closings, mass layoffs
Notice Required 60 days 60 days
Definition of Plant Closing 50 workers affected 50 workers affected
Definition of Mass Layoff 50 employees representing at least 33% of the workforce 250 employees or at least 25 employees if they represent at least 33% of the workforce
To Whom Must Notice Be Provided Each affected employee (or his/her union representative); the State Dislocated Workers Unit; and the chief elected official within the unit of the local government where the closing or layoff is to occur. Each affected employee (or his/her union representative); the New Hampshire Commissioner of Labor; the New Hampshire Attorney General; and the chief elected official within the unit of the local government where the closing or layoff is to occur.

The New Hampshire law generally adopts the enforcement and penalty scheme of WARN with one key difference -- the New Hampshire Department of Labor is empowered to place a lien on business revenues and all real and personal property of the employer.