Counsel applies the statute to the facts. Jason Taken is a business broker. He will not write your notice.
What headcounts does the federal statute actually use?
Covered employer: typically 100 or more full-time employees (part-time counting rules are statutory — do not invent them from a blog). Covered plant closing: employment loss for 50 or more at a single site in the statute’s definitions. Covered mass layoff: generally 500 or more employment losses, or 50–499 if at least 33% of the employees at the site. Read the DOL materials, then counsel (Source: DOL WARN).
Census CBP 2023 counted 284,452 manufacturing establishments, 68.4% under twenty employees (Source: Census CBP). Most small shops never meet the federal 100 full-time threshold. That does not mean they can ignore state mini-WARN. It also does not mean a 120-person plant can treat a sale-week layoff as a rumor.
| Federal test | Usual threshold | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| Covered employer | 100+ full-time employees | A reason to ignore state mini-WARN |
| Notice clock | 60 days before a covered event | A hallway rumor on the floor |
| Plant closing | 50+ employment losses at a site (statutory defs) | “We only moved the work next door” without counsel |
| Mass layoff | 500+, or 50–499 if ≥33% at the site | A teaser adjective |
| Sale structure | Does not create a holiday | “It’s a stock deal, so no notice” |
Employee transfer, benefits, and PTO is the HR sibling. LOI to close is the calendar sibling. Sell a manufacturer is the pillar.
How does a 223-day median close collide with a 60-day notice?
BizBuySell’s 2025 manufacturing median close ran 223 days (Source: BizBuySell). The WARN clock is shorter and starts from the employment loss, not from the teaser. Do not discover a covered layoff in week eleven of exclusivity.
SBA 7(a) still sits in a $5 million / 10% box (Source: SBA). A lender who underwrites a going-concern workforce will want to know if you already planned a mass layoff.
What federal WARN refuses to do
It refuses to replace a state statute with a longer clock or a lower headcount. It refuses to disappear because the buyer promised to keep everyone “if numbers work.” It refuses to be satisfied by a town-hall. Written notice to the people the statute names is the instrument.
The FAQ index splits federal WARN and mini-WARN so one H1 cannot swallow both.
Who receives the notice, and what does “written” mean?
The statute names the people and units who must receive written notice. A town-hall is not that instrument. An all-hands Slack is not that instrument. Counsel drafts the notice. HR does not invent it from a template they used at a warehouse in 2014.
Part-time counting rules are statutory. Do not decide you are under 100 because the badge board “feels like 90.” Do not decide a site is not a site because two buildings share a parking lot. Those are counsel facts.
If the buyer has promised to keep everyone “if numbers work,” you still have an employment-loss question. Contingent promises are not notice. Retention bonuses are not notice. A CIM sentence about culture is not notice.
Unions and successorship sit on a sibling page. Federal WARN still has to be read next to the CBA. This FAQ will not collapse those nouns.
What should you bring if the only question is “does federal WARN even apply?”
A current headcount by full-time and part-time. Whether a site closing or a layoff is already planned. Whether the buyer has promised retention. The closing state. Employment counsel’s name if you have one.
A sale that keeps the same people in the same seats is a different fact pattern than a sale that funds a shutdown. Federal WARN cares about employment loss, not about the CIM’s tone. If the buyer will run the same shift on Tuesday, you may still have officer and benefit work, but you may not have a covered closing. If the buyer will idle the bay, start the headcount math before the teaser, not after the first town-hall rumor.
Part-time and temporary workers have statutory counting rules. Seasonal spikes have statutory counting rules. Do not decide coverage from a Friday badge photo. Pull the payroll register. Pull the site list. Then call employment counsel. The FAQ index will not do that arithmetic for you. Mini-WARN may still reach a shop that never meets the federal 100 full-time line.
Pull the payroll register before you decide the statute is “for bigger plants.” Coverage is a headcount fact, not a feeling about the badge board.
A town-hall is not written notice. Counsel drafts the letter to the people the statute actually names. Structure does not create a holiday.
Educational information only. Not an employment-law opinion. Confirm with counsel. After the owner URL, the path is a confidential intro call if you want the sale calendar staged around the notice rather than surprised by it.