Plant Closings and Advance-Notice Laws: Putting the Pieces Together

In 1988, the federal government passed the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Previous to this action, several states approved their own laws requiring advance notice of plant closings and mass layoffs. Implementation and enforcement of advance-notice laws have been weak and limited, due primarily to a policy design that includes numerous criteria for legal exclusion, as well as reliance on adjudication as the primary means of such implementation and enforcement. Advance-notice laws have had limited impact in averting plant closings and mass layoffs, but appear more successful in assisting displaced workers find new employment. For employers, advance notice entails some costs, although they do not appear excessive; less is known about costs in the larger economy.