Complete Home & Office Legal Guide/Complete Home and Office Legal Guide (Chestnut) (1993).ISO/tut/plant.sta

Text File | 1993-08-01 | 15KB | 323 lines

/* The famous "Plant Closing Act" follows in full text. It is
officially known as the "Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act, and is found at 29 United States Code 2101. */

Section 2101. Definitions, exclusions from definition of loss of
employment

/* In this section the minimum size of employers and minimum
length of service are described. */

     (a) Definitions. As used in this Act--

          (1) the term "employer" means any business enterprise
that employs--

               (A) 100 or more employees, excluding part-time
employees; or

               (B) 100 or more employees who in the aggregate
work at least 4,000 hours per week (exclusive of hours of
overtime);

/* Next the act also defines a plant closing or mass layoff. */

          (2) the term "plant closing" means the permanent or
temporary shutdown of a single site of employment, or one of more
facilities or operating units within a single site of employment,
if the shutdown of a single site of employment, or one or more
facilities or operating units within a single site of employment,
of the shutdown results in an employment loss at the single site
of employment during any 30 day period for 50 or more employees
excluding any part-time employees;

          (3) the term "mass layoff" means a reduction in force
which--

     (A) is not the result of a plant closing; and

     (B) results in an employment loss at the single site of
employment during any 30 day period for--

          (i)(I) at least 33 percent of the employees (excluding
any part-time employees); or

          (ii) at least 500 employees (excluding any part-time
employees);

     (4) the term "representative" means an exclusive bargaining
representative of employees within the meaning of section 9(a) or
8(f) of the National Labor Relations Act, or section 2 of the
Railway Labor Act;

     (5) the term "affected employees: means employees who may be
reasonably expected to experience an employment loss as a
consequence of a proposed plant closing or mass layoff by their
employer;

     (6) subject to subsection (b), the term "employment loss"
means (A) an employment termination, other than a discharge for
cause, voluntary departure, or retirement, (B) a layoff exceeding
6 months or (C) a reduction in hours of work of more than 50 per
cent during each month of any 6-month period;

     (7) the term "unit of local government" means any general
purpose political subdivision of a State which has the power to
levy taxes and spend funds, as well as general corporate and
police powers; and

     (8) the term "part-time employee" means an employee who is
employed for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week or who
has been employed for fewer than 6 of the 12 months preceding the
date on which a notice is required.

     (b) Exclusions from definition of employment loss. (1) In
the case of a sale of part or all of an employer's business, the
seller shall be responsible for providing notice of any plant
closing or mass layoff in accordance with section 3 of this Act,
up to and including the effective date of the sale. After the
effective date of the sale of part or all of an employer's
business, the purchaser shall be responsible for providing notice
of any plant closing or mass layoff in accordance with section 3
of this Act. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act,
any person who is an employee of the seller (other than a part-
time employee) as of the effective date of the sale shall be
considered an employee of the purchaser immediately after the
effective date of the sale.

     (2) Notwithstanding subsection (a)(6) an employee may not be
considered to have considered to have experienced an employment
loss if the closing or layoff is the result of the relocation or
consolidation of part or all of the employer's business and,
prior to the closing or layoff--

               (A) the employer offers to transfer the employee
to a different site of employment within a reasonable commuting
distance with no more than a 6-month break in employment; or

               (B) the employer offers to transfer the employee
to any other site of employment regardless of distance with no
more than a 6-month break in employment, and the employee accepts
within 30 days of the offer or the closing of the plant,
whichever is later.

Section 2102. Notice required before plant closing and mass
layoffs

/* Here is the general rule regarding the 60 day notice
that must be given before a plant closing- but watch out--
there are many exceptions. */

(a) Notice to employees, state dislocated worker units, and local
governments. An employer shall not order a plant closing or mass
layoff until the end of a 60-day period after the employer serves
written notice of such an order--

     (1) to each representative of the affected employees as of
the time of the notice or, if there is no such representative at
that time, to each affected employee; and

     (2) to the State dislocated worker unit and the chief
elected official of the unit of local government within which the
determination is made.

(b) Reduction of notification period. (1) An employer may order
the shutdown of a single site of employment before the conclusion
of the 60-day period if as of the time that notice would have
been required the employer was actively seeking capital or
business, which, if obtained, would have enabled the employer to
avoid or postpone the shutdown and the employer reasonably and in
good faith believed that giving the notice would have precluded
the employer from obtaining the needed capital or business.

     (2)(A) An employer may order a plant closing or mass layoff
before the conclusion of the 60-day period if the closing or mass
layoff is caused by business circumstances that were not
reasonably foreseeable as of the time that notice would have been
required.

     (B) No notice under this Act shall be required if the plant
closing or mass layoff is due to any form of natural disaster,
such as a flood, earthquake, or the drought currently ravaging
the farmlands of the United States.

     (3) An employer relying on this subsection shall give as
much notice as is practicable and at that time shall give a brief
statement of the basis for reducing the notice period.

(c) Extension of layoff period. A layoff of more than 6 months
which, at its outset, was announced to be a layoff of 6 months or
less, shall be treated as an employment loss under this Act
unless--

     (1) the extension beyond 6 months is caused by business
circumstances (including unforeseeable changes in price or cost)
not reasonable foreseeable at the time of the initial layoff; and

     (2) notice is given at the time it becomes reasonably
foreseeable that the extension beyond 6 months will be required.

(d) Determination with respect to employment loss. For purposes
of this section, in determining whether a plant closing or mass
layoff has occurred or will occur, employment losses for 2 or
more groups at a single site of employment, each of which is less
than the minimum number of employees specified in section 2(a)(2)
or (3) [section 29 USC 2101(a)(2) or (3)] but which in the
aggregate exceed that minimum or mass layoff unless the employer
demonstrates that the employment losses are the result of
separate and distinct action and causes and are not an attempt
by the employer to evade to evade the requirements of this Act.

Section 2103. Exemption.

This Act shall not apply to a plant closing or mass layoff if--

     (1) the closing is of a temporary facility or the closing or
layoff is the result of the completion of a particular project or
undertaking, and the affected employees were hired with the
understanding that their employment was limited to the duration
or the facility or project or undertaking; or

     (2) the closing or layoff constitutes a strike or
constit