WARN and EDWAA: Use 'em or Lose 'em: An Interview with Greg LeRoy, Research Director, MCLR

Abstract

[Editor's Note] The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is the federal law that requires companies with 100 or more workers to provide 60 days notice of a plant closing or mass layoff. It took effect in February 1989. The Economic Dislocation and Worker Adjustment Assistance (EDWAA) Act is basically what used to be Title III of the Jobs Training Partnership Act (JTPA); it is the federal funding source for direct assistance to dislocated workers. EDWAA, which took effect in July 1989, is not just a funding pool; it includes significant but virtually unknown regulations that unions can use for job retention. WARN and EDWAA overlap. When a company gives a WARN notice, EDWAA requires the states to respond rapidly to start the delivery of "adjustment" services to affected workers. For the inside skivvy on the two laws, LRR Contributing Editor Greg LeRoy interviewed MCLR Research Director Greg LeRoy, who has been hawking the two laws (and their predecessors) for eight years.