How to read a Washington WARN notice
A WARN notice tells you a layoff or closure was announced. It doesn't tell you much on its own, though, so it's worth knowing which parts to read first.
The two dates mean different things
Every notice carries a filing date and an effective date. The filing date is when the employer told the state. The effective date is when they say the action actually happens.
That gap matters for reading our monthly reports, because we group notices by filing date. A notice filed in August with an October effective date lands in the August report. Nobody lost a job in August because of it.
What the worker count does and doesn't cover
Look at the employer name, the location, the type of action, and the number of workers. If a count is missing, that means the record didn't include one, not that the number is zero.
Some filings cover more than one site, and related businesses often file under different names. So the same layoff can look like several notices, or one notice can cover more ground than you'd guess from the name.
Where we show a position table, read the coverage note above it. Those tables sometimes account for only part of the reported total, and a title pulled from a filing can be wrong.
Plans change after the filing
Employers revise dates, shrink layoffs, and occasionally call them off. If you're acting on a notice that's a few weeks old, check the current ESD record first.
One thing worth being careful about: two filings under the same employer name don't necessarily mean one replaced the other. They might be separate actions at separate sites.
WARN also only covers actions that meet specific thresholds, with exceptions. So this archive can't tell you how many layoffs happened in Washington overall, and it can't tell you whether you qualify for benefits.
If your job is in one of these notices
Your employer is the right first call about your own dates and paperwork. For unemployment questions, start with ESD. WorkSource handles job search and retraining.
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Prepared with AI assistance.
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