§2101 Definitions; Exclusions From Definition of Loss of Employment

Summary

Defines which employers must give advance notice and which kinds of job cuts count. An employer is a business with 100 or more regular employees, or 100 or more employees who together work at least 4,000 hours per week (not counting overtime). A plant closing is a shutdown at one work site that causes job loss for 50 or more regular employees in any 30-day period. A mass layoff is a cut that is not a plant closing and causes job loss at one site in 30 days either (a) for at least 33% of the staff and at least 50 employees, or (b) for at least 500 employees. A representative is an exclusive employee representative under federal labor law. Affected employees are those likely to lose work because of a planned closing or layoff. Employment loss means a job end (except for firing for cause, quitting, or retiring), a layoff longer than 6 months, or a work-hour cut of more than 50% each month for any 6-month period. A unit of local government is a general-purpose local body that can tax and spend and has basic powers. A part-time employee is someone who averages under 20 hours per week or who worked less than 6 of the last 12 months before notice is needed. If part or all of a business is sold, the seller must give any required notice up to the sale’s effective date, and the buyer must give notice after that date. Any non–part-time worker employed by the seller on the sale date is treated as the buyer’s employee right after the sale. An employee is not counted as having an employment loss when the employer is moving or combining work sites if the employer offers a transfer with no more than a 6-month break in work. If the transfer is farther away, the employee must accept within 30 days of the offer or of the closing/layoff, whichever is later.