Abrupt plant closures inspire WARN Act

(NECN: Lauren Collins, Concord, NH) – WARN stands for worker adjustment and retraining notification. The act requires companies with 75 or more employees to give 60 says notice of a mass layoff or plant closing. “All they have to do to obey this law is give a 60 day warning. No extra money, no extra benefits,” says Department of Labor Attorney Martin Jenkins. “Just tell people 60 days in advance that it’s coming and they will have obeyed the law.” If companies break the law, New Hampshire’s Department of Labor can issue liens to recoup the equivalent of 60 days pay for every affected worker. The measure was inspired by the abrupt closure of two companies, Car Components Technology of Bedford in 2005, and Customized Structures of Claremont, right before Christmas 2007. “Workers shouldn’t have to experience getting up in the morning, going to work, counting on a paycheck and having the doors abruptly closed without any notice,” said Governor John Lynch after signing the law. 17 other states have a Warn act,many modeled after the federal law that Jenkins says falls short. “It is a federal law that is enforced by individual workers bringing a lawsuit in federal court.” Some small business owners the federal law goes far enough, and that the new state law only takes a tough situation and makes it worse. Charles Hall is the third generation president of J. Lawrence Hall in Nashua, a mechanical contractor. He’s had to lay off employees in the past and thinks 60 days is far too much notice for many companies to bear. “My employees, my competition, my customers, they (would) know that my company could be struggling,” he says. “And I think it would expedite a downward spiral.” Hall says most business owners lose sleep over layoffs. But Governor Lynch says this new law isn’t designed with those well-intentioned bosses in mind. “This act will apply to those businesses and business leaders who act — and there are only a few — who act irresponsibly and treat workers in a way that they should not be treated.” The Governor also says this bill is important to New Hampshire, because the state is made up of mostly small businesses. However, with the 75 employee minimum for the WARN Act to apply, the new law only applies to about a thousand of the estimated 40,000 companies with employees in the state.