California Labor Code, the contractor sections

General Cal/WARN Requirements

Article 1 of Chapter 4, Part 4 of Division 2, sections 1400 to 1408, is California's WARN Act: section 1400.5 says what a covered establishment and a mass layoff are, section 1401 sets the 60 days of written notice and who receives it, and sections 1402 and 1403 the back pay and the civil penalty for failing to give it. No free question cites this chapter yet.

Sections

s. 1400
s. 1400.5
s. 1401
s. 1402
s. 1402.5
s. 1403
s. 1404
s. 1405
s. 1406
s. 1407
s. 1408

Cited as: Labor Code, declared subset
This chapter: Division 2, Part 4, Chapter 4, Article 1. General Cal/WARN Requirements
Sections: 11
Official copy: The chapter on the publisher site

Only part of this instrument is here

The site's copy of this instrument is sections 200-273, 500-558.1, 1171-1207, 1285-1312, 1390-1399, 1400-1408, 1720-1861, 2750-2810.5, 3070-3098, 3200-3760, 3800, 4650-4653, 4658.7, 5402, 6300-6413.5. Everything outside those boundaries was not ingested and is not searchable here. Read it on the official copy linked above.

In scope: Division 2, Part 1, Chapter 1 (Payment of Wages, ss. 200 to 273: what wages are, when they are due, final pay on discharge and on quitting, waiting-time penalties, itemized statements, deductions); Division 2, Part 2, Chapter 1 (Working Hours, ss. 500 to 558.1: the workday and workweek, overtime, alternative workweeks, meal and rest periods, and the penalties for missing them); Division 2, Part 4, Chapter 1 (Wages, Hours and Working Conditions, ss. 1171 to 1207: who the wage and hour law covers, the Industrial Welfare Commission and its wage orders, and the minimum wage and its scheduled increases in s. 1182.12); Division 2, Part 4, Chapter 2 (Occupational Privileges and Restrictions, ss. 1285 to 1312: the employment of minors, the permit to employ and to work, the ages and hours a minor may be worked, and the penalties for employing one against those rules); Division 2, Part 4, Chapter 3 (Working Hours, ss. 1390 to 1399: the daily, weekly and time-of-day limits on the hours a minor of 15 or under, and of 16 or 17, may be worked, on schooldays and otherwise, and the penalty for working one past them); Division 2, Part 4, Chapter 4, Article 1 (General Cal/WARN Requirements, ss. 1400 to 1408: what a covered establishment, a mass layoff, a relocation and a termination are, the 60 days' written notice an employer gives before ordering one and to whom, and the back pay and penalty for failing to); Division 2, Part 7, Chapter 1 (Public Works, ss. 1720 to 1861: what a public work is, prevailing wage, apprentices, certified payroll, DIR registration, working hours on public work, and the workers' compensation certificate a public works contractor signs); Division 3, Chapter 2 (Employer and Employee, ss. 2750 to 2810.5: the contract of employment, the employee-or-independent-contractor test, and an employer's obligations, including the rules on contracting for labor); Division 3, Chapter 4, Articles 1 to 3 (Apprenticeship, ss. 3070 to 3098: the Division of Apprenticeship Standards and its administrator, the apprentice agreement, how a program is approved, the ratio of apprentices to journeypersons, and other on-the-job training); Division 4, Part 1, Chapters 1 to 4 (Workers' Compensation, ss. 3200 to 3760: definitions, who is an employer and who is an employee, the conditions of compensation liability, and the duty to secure payment by insurance or self-insurance); Division 4, Part 1, Chapter 4, Article 4 (Construction Permit, s. 3800: the workers' compensation certificate, or the signed exemption in its place, that an applicant for a building permit files, and what the permit issuer does with it); Division 4, Part 2, Chapter 2, Article 3 (Disability Payments), ss. 4650 to 4653 and s. 4658.7 (when the first temporary disability payment is due and the 10 percent increase on a late one, the three-day waiting period, the two-thirds rate for temporary total disability, and the supplemental job displacement voucher an employee with a permanent partial disability receives unless offered regular, modified or alternative work); Division 4, Part 4, Chapter 2 (Limitations of Proceedings), s. 5402 (knowledge of an injury as notice, the 90-day presumption of compensability, and the one working day to authorize treatment up to $10,000 while a claim is pending); Division 5, Part 1, Chapters 1 to 3 (Occupational Safety and Health, ss. 6300 to 6413.5: what a safe place of employment is and who enforces it, the right to refuse dangerous work and the bar on retaliation in ss. 6310 to 6312, hazardous substance information and training, the employer's duties from s. 6400 on including the injury and illness prevention program in s. 6401.7, and the report of a serious injury or death in s. 6409.1). Out: the rest of the Labor Code, which runs from s. 50 to s. 11005 across thirteen divisions, including the rest of Division 4, Parts 2 and 4 (the other disability payment sections of Article 3 and the other limitation periods of Part 4, Chapter 2, which the two pages fetched for this subset carry and this ingest does not claim), Article 2 of Division 2, Part 4, Chapter 4 (relocation of call centers, ss. 1409 to 1413); and, inside the chapters fetched for this subset, Division 3, Chapter 4, Articles 4 to 6 (preapprenticeship, apprenticeship innovation funding and youth apprenticeship, ss. 3100 to 3122.4) and Division 4, Part 1, Chapter 4 above s. 3760 apart from s. 3800 (insurance rights and privileges, and workers' compensation misrepresentations). Sections 3801 to 3803 are declared by nothing here because the code prints no such sections: Article 4 of that chapter is the single section 3800. Why: the Law and Business examination outline reaches the Labor Code in four of its seven sections, Employment Requirements, Public Works, Insurance and Liens, and Safety, and these are the chapters those four draw on. Everything left out is law, and none of it is authority this corpus carries: a claim that needs it is unverifiable here, not verified against a silence.

Reproduced from the official code text. The official version is the one linked above. Nothing has been added to the text, and nothing inside this chapter has been left out.

Section 1400§Sections

This chapter may be cited as the “California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act” or “Cal/WARN Act.”

(Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 752, Sec. 1. (AB 1601) Effective January 1, 2023.)

Section 1400.5§Sections

The definitions set forth in this section shall govern the construction and meaning of the terms used in this chapter:

(a) “Covered establishment” means any industrial or commercial facility or part thereof that employs, or has employed within the preceding 12 months, 75 or more persons.

(b) “Employer” means any person, as defined by Section 18, who directly or indirectly owns and operates a covered establishment. A parent corporation is an employer as to any covered establishment directly owned and operated by its corporate subsidiary.

(d) “Mass layoff” means a layoff during any 30-day period of 50 or more employees at a covered establishment.

(e) “Relocation” means the removal of all or substantially all of the industrial or commercial operations in a covered establishment to a different location 100 miles or more away.

(f) “Termination” means the cessation or substantial cessation of industrial or commercial operations in a covered establishment.

(g) (1) This chapter does not apply where the closing or layoff is the result of the completion of a particular project or undertaking of an employer subject to Wage Order 11, regulating the Broadcasting Industry, Wage Order 12, regulating the Motion Picture Industry, or Wage Order 16, regulating Certain On-Site Occupations in the Construction, Drilling, Logging and Mining Industries, of the Industrial Welfare Commission, and the employees were hired with the understanding that their employment was limited to the duration of that project or undertaking.

(2) This chapter does not apply to employees who are employed in seasonal employment where the employees were hired with the understanding that their employment was seasonal and temporary.

(h) “Employee” means a person employed by an employer for at least 6 months of the 12 months preceding the date on which notice is required.

(Added by renumbering Section 1400 by Stats. 2022, Ch. 752, Sec. 2. (AB 1601) Effective January 1, 2023.)

Section 1401§Sections

(a) An employer may not order a mass layoff, relocation, or termination at a covered establishment unless, 60 days before the order takes effect, the employer gives written notice of the order to the following:

(1) The employees of the covered establishment affected by the order.

(2) The Employment Development Department, the local workforce development board, and the chief elected official of each city and county government within which the termination, relocation, or mass layoff occurs.

(b) An employer required to give notice of any mass layoff, relocation, or termination under this chapter shall include in its notice the elements required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. Sec. 2101 et seq.).

(c) An employer required to give notice of any mass layoff, relocation, or termination under this chapter shall include in the notice whether the employer plans to coordinate services, such as a rapid response orientation, through the local workforce development board, the employer plans to coordinate services through a different entity, or the employer does not plan to coordinate services with any entity.

(1) Regardless of whether the employer chooses to coordinate services with the local workforce development board or another entity, the employer shall include in the notice a functioning email and telephone number of the board and the following description of the rapid response activities offered by the local workforce development board in accordance with Chapter 32 (commencing with Section 3102) of Title 29 of the United States Code:

“Local Workforce Development Boards and their partners help laid off workers find new jobs. Visit an America’s Job Center of California location near you. You can get help with your resume, practice interviewing, search for jobs, and more. You can also learn about training programs to help start a new career.”

(2) If the employer chooses to coordinate services with the local workforce development board or another entity, the employer shall arrange services within 30 days from the date of the notice.

(d) An employer required to give notice of any mass layoff, relocation, or termination under this chapter shall include in the notice a description of the statewide food assistance program known as CalFresh (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 18900) of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code), the CalFresh benefits helpline, and a link to the CalFresh internet website.

(e) An employer required to give notice of any mass layoff, relocation, or termination under this chapter shall include in the notice a functioning email and telephone number of the employer for contact.

(f) Notwithstanding the requirements of subdivision (a), an employer is not required to provide notice if a mass layoff, relocation, or termination is necessitated by a physical calamity or act of war.

(Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 229, Sec. 1. (SB 617) Effective January 1, 2026.)

Section 1402§Sections

(a) An employer who fails to give notice as required by paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 1401 before ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination is liable to each employee entitled to notice who lost his or her employment for:

(1) Back pay at the average regular rate of compensation received by the employee during the last three years of his or her employment, or the employee’s final rate of compensation, whichever is higher.

(2) The value of the cost of any benefits to which the employee would have been entitled had his or her employment not been lost, including the cost of any medical expenses incurred by the employee that would have been covered under an employee benefit plan.

(b) Liability under this section is calculated for the period of the employer’s violation, up to a maximum of 60 days, or one-half the number of days that the employee was employed by the employer, whichever period is smaller.

(1) Any wages, except vacation moneys accrued prior to the period of the employer’s violation, paid by the employer to the employee during the period of the employer’s violation.

(2) Any voluntary and unconditional payments made by the employer to the employee that were not required to satisfy any legal obligation.

(3) Any payments by the employer to a third party or trustee, such as premiums for health benefits or payments to a defined contribution pension plan, on behalf of and attributable to the employee for the period of the violation.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 780, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)

Section 1402.5§Sections

(a) An employer is not required to comply with the notice requirement contained in subdivision (a) of Section 1401 if the department determines that all of the following conditions exist:

(1) As of the time that notice would have been required, the employer was actively seeking capital or business.

(2) The capital or business sought, if obtained, would have enabled the employer to avoid or postpone the relocation or termination.

(3) The employer reasonably and in good faith believed that giving the notice required by subdivision (a) of Section 1401 would have precluded the employer from obtaining the needed capital or business.

(b) The department may not determine that the employer was actively seeking capital or business under subdivision (a) unless the employer provides the department with both of the following:

(1) A written record consisting of all documents relevant to the determination of whether the employer was actively seeking capital or business, as specified by the department.

(2) An affidavit verifying the contents of the documents contained in the record.

(c) The affidavit provided to the department pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) shall contain a declaration signed under penalty of perjury stating that the affidavit and the contents of the documents contained in the record submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) are true and correct.

(d) This section does not apply to notice of a mass layoff as defined by subdivision (d) of Section 1400.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 780, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)

Section 1403§Sections

An employer who fails to give notice as required by paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 1401 is subject to a civil penalty of not more than five hundred dollars ($500) for each day of the employer’s violation. The employer is not subject to a civil penalty under this section, however, if the employer pays to all applicable employees the amounts for which the employer is liable under Section 1402 within three weeks from the date the employer orders the mass layoff, relocation, or termination.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 780, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)

Section 1404§Sections

A person, including a local government or an employee representative, seeking to establish liability against an employer may bring a civil action on behalf of the person, other persons similarly situated, or both, in any court of competent jurisdiction. The court may award reasonable attorney’s fees as part of costs to any plaintiff who prevails in a civil action brought under this chapter.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 780, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)

Section 1405§Sections

If the court determines that an employer conducted a reasonable investigation in good faith, and had reasonable grounds to believe that its conduct was not a violation of this chapter, the court may reduce the amount of any penalty imposed against the employer under this chapter.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 780, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)

Section 1406§Sections

(a) In any investigation or proceeding under this chapter, the Labor Commissioner has, in addition to all other powers granted by law, the authority to examine the books and records of an employer.

(b) The Labor Commissioner may enforce the notice requirements in Section 1401 and subdivision (a) of Section 1410, including investigating an alleged violation and ordering appropriate temporary relief to mitigate the violation pending the completion of a full investigation or hearing, through the procedures set forth in Section 98.3 or 1197.1, including by issuance of a citation against an employer who violates this chapter. If a citation is issued, the procedures for issuing, contesting, and enforcing judgments for citations and civil penalties issued by the commissioner shall be the same as those set forth in Section 1197.1, as appropriate.

(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 752, Sec. 3. (AB 1601) Effective January 1, 2023.)

Section 1407§Sections

(a) Payments to a person under subdivision (a) of Section 1402 by an employer who has failed to provide the advance notice of facility closure required by this chapter or the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. Sec. 2101 et seq.) may not be construed as wages or compensation for personal services under Article 2 (commencing with Section 926) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Unemployment Insurance Code.

(b) Benefits payable under Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 1251) of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Unemployment Insurance Code may not be denied or reduced because of the receipt of payments related to an employer’s violation of this chapter or the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. Sec. 2101 et seq.).

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 780, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)

Section 1408§Sections

The provisions of this chapter are severable. If any provision of this chapter or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 780, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)