Citing the need to prevent or mitigate the spread of COVID-19, California Governor Newsom acknowledged that California employers have had to close rapidly without providing their employees the advance notice required under California law. Generally, the California WARN Act requires employers to give a 60-day notice to affected employees and both state and local representatives prior to a plant closing or mass layoff.

By Executive Order (see https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/3.17.20-EO-motor.pdf), California is suspending the 60-day notice requirement for an employer that orders a mass layoff, relocation, or termination at a covered establishment on the condition that the employer:

1. 1. provides the affected employees with a notice as described by the California WARN Act;
   2. provides as much notice as is practicable, including a brief statement of the basis for the reduced notice;
   3. undertakes the mass layoff, relocation, or termination because of COVID-19-related business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable; and
   4. includes specified language in the notice advising affected employees that they may be eligible for unemployment insurance.

The Labor and Workforce Development Agency will be providing guidance regarding implementation of the Order by March 23, 2020.