Home » For Employers » Rapid Response and Plant Closure Rapid Response and Plant Closure

When notification has been received that a local company has experienced a layoff, or will experience a plant closure, the local rapid response team will meet to determine the best cooperative effort to address those issues. The rapid response team consists of a representative of the One-Stop Career Center, the local Employment Development Department, and the Director of the Economic Development Corporation.

The representatives from the three agencies provide reciprocal notification of local employment trends. Events requiring immediate notification are: communication that there may be mass layoffs, business closures, or potential growth or downsizing trends.

When a plant closure has been announced, and/or a layoff has occurred, the rapid response team contacts the employer to request employee information. Employees are contacted by the rapid response team, through a scheduled meeting at the employer's work site or by letter, to advise them of the services they may be eligible to receive to enhance their employment and training opportunities. The employer benefits by working with the rapid response team. The cost for unemployment insurance benefits, and other employer's costs for post-employment services, may be reduced significantly.
Employers and/or employees requiring further information regarding rapid response activities should call or stop by the San Benito County One-Stop Career Center, 1111 San Felipe Road Suite 107, Hollister, CA 95023 (831) 637-JOBS (5627) (831) 637-0254.

Notifying the State of Plant Closures or Mass Layoffs

If you are an employer in California with 50 or more employees and are planning a mass layoff or closure, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act may apply to you.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), Public Law 100-379, enacted August 4, 1988, requires employers with 50 or more employees to give 60 days advance notice in the event of a plant closure or mass layoff.

Definition of Plant Closure and Mass Layoff:

Plant closure
A covered employer must give notice if an employment site (or one or more facilities or operating units, within an employment site) will be shut down, and the shutdown will result in an employment loss for 50 or more employees during any 30-day period. This does not count employees who have worked less than 6 months in the last 12 months, or employees who work an average of less than 20 hours a week for the employer.

Mass Layoff
A covered employer must give notice if there is a mass layoff which does not result from a plant closing, but which will result in an employment loss at the employment site during any 30-day period for 500 or more employees, or for 50-499 employees if they make up at least 33 percent of the employer's active workforce. This does not count employees who have worked less than 6 months in the last 12 months or employees who work an average of less than 20 hours a week for the employer.

If the WARN act applies to you, written notice 60 days in advance of any plant closure or mass layoff must be given to the following:

• Representatives of affected employees or to each employee
• Job Training Partnership Division, Data Analysis Unit
• The chief elected official of the unit of local government in the area where the closure or layoff will occur. In our area, this would be the Chair of the Board of Supervisors, County of San Benito, 481 4th Street, Hollister, CA 95023.

The notice must include the following:

• Name of company
• Address of the facility
• If the action is a closure or layoff,
• Date of closure or layoff
• Number of employees affected
• Company contact person

Advanced notice to the Data Analysis Unit should be addressed as follows:

Job Training Partnership Division
Data Analysis Unit
P.O. Box 826880 - MIC 69
Sacramento, CA 94280-0001