Layoffs are ongoing; each week people are being shown the door, that is a fact! Whether or not the 17th is going to be a day for a large layoff or just a handful of people is unknown. Walmart HR has been very calculating in avoiding tipping people off to their layoff intentions.
There is a federal law requiring advanced notification for mass layoffs, the WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) . With regard to the WARN Act, the law does not require advanced notice when only a handful of employees are being let go and when the layoffs are spaced out, such as ongoing layoffs, which we have all seen happening. Also, recall when the layoff numbers were large at the HO, such as in October, 2015 when 450 were let go, Walmart avoided advanced notification because the number laid off fell just under the 500 person threshold that would have required WARN notice be given.
The following is an excerpt on how WARN works. Covered employers may need to give WARN notices (to employees, their unions where applicable, and certain government officials) in the following circumstances:
“Plant Closing”: where 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.
“Mass Layoff”: where there is to be a mass layoff which does not result from a plant closing or employment site, but which will result in an employment loss at the employment site during any 30-day period for: (a) 500 or more employees, or (b) for 50-499 employees if they make up at least 33% of the employer’s active workforce.
Despite the reference to a 30-day period in the definitions of plant closing and mass layoff above, there are additional provisions that allow for the aggregating of employment losses for up to a 90-day period in some cases in determining whether WARN notices must be provided.
Special previsions prevent the employer from avoiding these requirements by spacing out layoffs. There are also provisions which protect the employer in cases of unavoidable circumstances such as natural disasters.
Originally posted by @Ofw8cOV-2xkp, bumped to a thread for good info.