A Toothier WARN Act for Workers?

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/4693/a_toothier_warn_act/

Sunday August 2 3:49 pm

The past year’s epidemic of mass lay-offs by businesses ranging from factories to financial services has made many Americans familiar with what was once a little-known and oft-ignored law.

That would be the WARN Act, which mandates employers of more than 100 people give 60 days notice of major (those involving a third of the workforce) lay-offs or a company closing. In lieu of such notice, employers must give 60 days severance pay.

The law, passed in the wake of major de-industrialization and plant closings of the 1980s, theoretically offers workers and their community a chance to prepare for unemployment. But the WARN Act is routinely ignored, thanks to loopholes, lax enforcement and relatively painless penalties for those found guilty of violating it.

The Republic Windows occupation in December 2008 was perhaps the most famous recent case of WARN Act violations, as detailed in this blog post for my recent book on that struggle, The Revolt on Goose Island. (Read an In These Times excerpt from that book here.)

But this fall, the WARN Act could be significantly strengthened thanks to legislation introduced June 25 by U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

The FOREWARN Act, or Federal Oversight, Reform, and Enforcement of the WARN Act, would increase enforcement of the law, expand the number of employers covered by it and extend the notification or severance pay period from 60 to 90 days. Employers with at least 75 (rather than 100) employees would be subject to the law, and the definition of “mass lay-offs” would be lowered.

FULL story at link.