Minnesota has a law similar to the federal Worker’s Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. The law encourages Minnesota businesses “considering a decision to effect a plant closing, substantial layoff, or relocation of operations . . . to give notice of that decision as early as possible to” the following:
- The Minnesota Commissioner of Employment and Economic Development;
- The employees of the affected establishment;
- Any employee organization representing the employees; and
- The local government unit in which the affected establishment is located.
See Minn. Stat. § 116L.976. This notice is in addition to any notice required under the federal WARN Act.
In addition, the law requires that any employer who provides notice of a plant closing, substantial layoff, or relocation of operations under the federal WARN Act or under Minnesota’s mini-WARN Act must report to the Minnesota Commissioner of Employment and Economic Development “the names, addresses, and occupations of the employees who will be or have been terminated.”
For purposes of the Minnesota mini-WARN Act, the term “plant closing” is defined to mean “the announced or actual permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment, or one or more facilities or operating units within a single site of employment, if the shutdown results in an employment loss at the single site of employment during any 30-day period for 50 or more employees excluding employees who work less than 20 hours per week.”