Fair Warning Act of 2025, H.R. 5761

Current federal WARN protections generally apply to employers meeting requirements involving at least 100 employees. H.R. 5761 would lower that threshold to 50 employees, including part-time workers. A company could also be covered if it has at least $2 million in annual payroll.

The bill also includes rules that could hold a parent company, affiliate or contracting company responsible when it exercises enough control over the employer or the layoff decision.

Under the current WARN Act, a plant closing generally must affect at least 50 countable employees at one site. Mass-layoff coverage also depends on employee totals and, in some cases, the percentage of the workforce affected.

H.R. 5761 would lower those thresholds substantially:

• A site closing affecting at least five employees during a 30-day period could qualify.
• A layoff affecting at least 10 employees at one site during a 90-day period could qualify.
• A company-wide layoff affecting at least 250 employees could qualify even when those workers are spread across multiple locations.

Smaller rounds of layoffs could also be combined when they occur within 90 days, unless the employer can show they resulted from separate causes and were not divided to avoid the law.

Part-time employees would count toward the bill’s employer-size and layoff thresholds.

Remote workers could be connected to a worksite based on where they receive assignments or training, where their manager is based, or whether their job loss resulted from a reduction at that location.

The company-wide threshold for layoffs affecting at least 250 employees could also help address large remote layoffs that do not fit neatly within the current law’s single-site rules.

Covered employers would generally have to provide at least 90 calendar days of written notice before a qualifying site closing or mass layoff. Current federal law generally requires 60 days.

The notice would have to include information such as:

• why the layoff or closing is happening;
• whether the job losses are permanent or temporary;
• how many employees are affected;
• whether other jobs are available within the company;
• information about wages, severance and benefits; and
• available employment, training and workforce services.

The bill would still allow shortened notice in certain limited circumstances. Employers using an exception would have to provide as much notice as practical and explain why the full notice period was not given.

An employer that failed to provide required notice could owe affected workers up to 90 days of back pay and certain benefits, compared with up to 60 days under current law.

The bill could also add 30 days of liquidated damages in many cases.

Workers, employee representatives and certain state or local entities could bring enforcement actions. The bill would establish a four-year filing deadline and restrict the use of predispute arbitration agreements and waivers to block WARN claims.

These damages would apply when an employer violated the law. They would not create automatic severance pay for every layoff.

The Department of Labor would have to create a public, searchable and downloadable national database of WARN notices.

Right now, WARN notices are scattered among state agencies, posted in different formats and sometimes difficult to locate. A national database would make it easier for workers, journalists, researchers and the public to track large layoffs.