A federal trial court in Florida will allow a limited preliminary appeal for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to answer the question of whether the “natural disaster” exception in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act – the federal law requiring covered companies to provide advance notice to affected employees before conducting a “mass layoff” or “plant closure” – applies in the case of a mass layoff caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The trial court had ruled earlier in Benson v. Enterprise Leasing Co., 6:20-cv-891 (M.D. Fla. January 4, 2021), that a WARN Act lawsuit brought by two affected employees could proceed, rejecting the employer’s motion to dismiss the case on grounds that two of the Act’s exceptions – the “natural disaster” exception and the “unforeseen business circumstances” exception – relieved it of any obligation to provide advance notice.
At the employer’s request, and while the underlying case continues, the trial court will allow a preliminary appeal to the Eleventh Circuit to rule solely on the question of whether the COVID-19 pandemic qualifies as a “natural disaster” under the WARN Act’s exception.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.