
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 29USC2102]

 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
        CHAPTER 23--WORKER ADJUSTMENT AND RETRAINING NOTIFICATION
 
Sec. 2102. Notice required before plant closings and mass 
        layoffs
        

(a) Notice to employees, State dislocated worker units, and local 
        governments

    An employer shall not order a plant closing or mass layoff until the 
end of a 60-day period after the employer serves written notice of such 
an order--
        (1) to each representative of the affected employees as of the 
    time of the notice or, if there is no such representative at that 
    time, to each affected employee; and
        (2) to the State or entity designated by the State to carry out 
    rapid response activities under section 2864(a)(2)(A) of this title, 
    and the chief elected official of the unit of local government 
    within which such closing or layoff is to occur.

If there is more than one such unit, the unit of local government which 
the employer shall notify is the unit of local government to which the 
employer pays the highest taxes for the year preceding the year for 
which the determination is made.

(b) Reduction of notification period

    (1) An employer may order the shutdown of a single site of 
employment before the conclusion of the 60-day period if as of the time 
that notice would have been required the employer was actively seeking 
capital or business which, if obtained, would have enabled the employer 
to avoid or postpone the shutdown and the employer reasonably and in 
good faith believed that giving the notice required would have precluded 
the employer from obtaining the needed capital or business.
    (2)(A) An employer may order a plant closing or mass layoff before 
the conclusion of the 60-day period if the closing or mass layoff is 
caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable as 
of the time that notice would have been required.
    (B) No notice under this chapter shall be required if the plant 
closing or mass layoff is due to any form of natural disaster, such as a 
flood, earthquake, or the drought currently ravaging the farmlands of 
the United States.
    (3) An employer relying on this subsection shall give as much notice 
as is practicable and at that time shall give a brief statement of the 
basis for reducing the notification period.

(c) Extension of layoff period

    A layoff of more than 6 months which, at its outset, was announced 
to be a layoff of 6 months or less, shall be treated as an employment 
loss under this chapter unless--
        (1) the extension beyond 6 months is caused by business 
    circumstances (including unforeseeable changes in price or cost) not 
    reasonably foreseeable at the time of the initial layoff; and
        (2) notice is given at the time it becomes reasonably 
    foreseeable that the extension beyond 6 months will be required.

(d) Determinations with respect to employment loss

    For purposes of this section, in determining whether a plant closing 
or mass layoff has occurred or will occur, employment losses for 2 or 
more groups at a single site of employment, each of which is less than 
the minimum number of employees specified in section 2101(a)(2) or (3) 
of this title but which in the aggregate exceed that minimum number, and 
which occur within any 90-day period shall be considered to be a plant 
closing or mass layoff unless the employer demonstrates that the 
employment losses are the result of separate and distinct actions and 
causes and are not an attempt by the employer to evade the requirements 
of this chapter.

(Pub. L. 100-379, Sec. 3, Aug. 4, 1988, 102 Stat. 891; Pub. L. 105-277, 
div. A, Sec. 101(f) [title VIII, Sec. 405(d)(26), (f)(18)], Oct. 21, 
1998, 112 Stat. 2681-337, 2681-424, 2681-432.)


                               Amendments

    1998--Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 105-277, Sec. 101(f) [title VIII, 
Sec. 405(f)(18)], struck out ``the State dislocated worker unit or 
office (referred to in section 1661(b)(2) of this title), or'' before 
``the State or entity''.
    Pub. L. 105-277, Sec. 101(f) [title VIII, Sec. 405(d)(26)], 
substituted ``to the State dislocated worker unit or office (referred to 
in section 1661(b)(2) of this title), or the State or entity designated 
by the State to carry out rapid response activities under section 
2864(a)(2)(A) of this title, and the chief'' for ``to the State 
dislocated worker unit (designated or created under title III of the Job 
Training Partnership Act) and the chief''.


                    Effective Date of 1998 Amendment

    Amendment by section 101(f) [title VIII, Sec. 405(d)(26)] of Pub. L. 
105-277 effective Oct. 21, 1998, and amendment by section 101(f) [title 
VIII, Sec. 405(f)(18)] of Pub. L. 105-277 effective July 1, 2000, see 
section 101(f) [title VIII, Sec. 405(g)(1), (2)(B)] of Pub. L. 105-277, 
set out as a note under section 3502 of Title 5, Government Organization 
and Employees.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 2101, 2103, 2104, 2106 of 
this title; title 2 section 1315; title 3 section 415.
