If you were part of a layoff or you anticipate being part of a layoff, please learn about the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN)
This Federal law indicates that your employer must give you 60 days written notice before the layoff , and your employer must paid you for those 60 days.
For example, let's say you are eligible for 4 months severance pay, your employer must pay you for 60 days, as part of WARN, and then your severance pay starts, which means you will be paid for 6 months, not four months.
Since WARN is a Federal law, it applies to everyone, regardless of where you live
Will your employer give you the WARN notice, and pay you for those 60 days? Not necessarily. Since you probably don't know about this law, you can't complain about what you don't know about.
Furthermore, your employer can try to manipulate the facts to avoid giving you the 60 days notice, and avoid paying you for those 60 days. For example, your employer might layoff people in groups to qualify for a loophole in the law dealing with the number of people being laid off at one time.
https://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm
Please review this document to learn how your employer can be penalized if they don't provide 60 days notice before a layoff and don't pay you for those 60 days.
https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/eta/warn/faqs.asp
Certain states have their own WARN law. Why should you care about this? In some cases, your State's WARN law protects you more than the Federal law. To determine whether your state has a WARN law, please type WARN Minnesota in any search engine (replace Minnesota with your state)
You can learn more about the Minnesota-specific WARN law here
https://minnesotaemployer.com/2011/10/17/minnesotas-mini-warn-act/
We don't recommend you discuss WARN with you manager or human resources representatives.
If your employer does not provide you 60 days notice before a layoff, and does not pay you for those 60 days, file a complaint with the Federal Department of Labor (DOL) and / or your State agency