AB2530 - Employment: Cal/WARN Act: plant closings and mass layoffs.

Amended IN Assembly April 13, 2026 Amended IN Assembly March 19, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 2530 Introduced by Assembly Member Caloza February 20, 2026 An act to amend and renumber Section 1400.5 of, to add Article 4 (commencing with Section 1415) to Chapter 4 of Part 4 of Division 2 of, and to repeal Section 1409 of, Sections 1400.5 and 1401 of the Labor Code, relating to employment. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2530, as amended, Caloza. Employment: Cal/WARN Act: plant closings and mass layoffs. Existing law, the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (Cal/WARN Act), among other things, prohibits an employer from ordering 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 employees affected by the order and to the Employment Development Department and certain local officials. Existing law requires the notice to contain specified information and makes an employer who fails to give the required notice liable to each employee entitled to notice who lost their employment for back pay and the value of the cost of any benefits to which the employee would have been entitled had their employment not been lost, as provided. Existing law also makes an employer subject to civil penalties, as provided, for each day of the employer’s violation. Existing law defines “employer” for these purposes to mean any person, as defined, who directly or indirectly owns and operates a covered establishment and defines “covered establishment” to mean any industrial or commercial facility or part thereof that employs, or has employed within the preceding 12 months, 75 or more persons. This bill would add “public agency” to the definitions of employer and covered establishment, thereby making the Cal/WARN Act applicable to public agencies. The bill would, in the case of a sale of part or all of an employer’s business, make the seller responsible for providing the notice for any mass layoff, relocation, or termination up to and including the effective date of the sale, and make the purchaser responsible for providing the notice following the effective date of the sale. The bill would make other technical and conforming changes. Existing law, the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (Cal/WARN Act), prohibits a call center employer from ordering a relocation of its call center, or one or more of its facilities or operating units within a call center, unless notice of the relocation is provided, as described. This bill would additionally prohibit, under the Cal/WARN Act, an employer, as defined, from ordering a plant closing or mass layoff, as defined, until the end of a 60-day period after the employer serves written notice of such an order to specified persons, including affected employees, as described and except as provided. The bill would require a noncompliant employer to provide each aggrieved employee, as described, specified backpay for each day of the violation and benefits under an employee benefit plan, including medical expense costs, as described. The bill also impose, if an employer fails to provide notice to a unit of local government, as defined, a civil penalty of not more than $500 each day, except as provided. The would provide methods for reducing a noncompliant employer’s liability and for enforcing the employer’s liability in court. This bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to adopt rules and regulations necessary to implement the bill’s provisions, as described, and to submit to the labor committees of the Assembly and Senate a report containing a detailed and objective analysis of the effect of this article on employers, the economy, and employees, as described. The bill would encourage employers that are not required to comply to provide notice pursuant to the bill’s provisions. The bill would make related technical changes. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 1400.5 of the Labor Code is amended to read: 1400.5. (a) The definitions set forth in this section shall govern the construction and meaning of the terms used in this chapter: (a) (1 ) “Covered establishment” means any public agency or industrial or commercial facility faci lity, or part thereof thereof, that employs, or has employed within the preceding 12 months, 75 or more persons. (2) “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. (b) (3 ) “Employer” means any public agency or 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. (c) (4 ) “Layoff” means a separation from a position for lack of funds or lack of work. (d) (5 ) “Mass layoff” means a layoff during any 30-day period of 50 or more employees at a covered establishment. (6) “Public agency” means any state agency, department, board, or commission, any county, city and county, city, regional agency, district, or other political subdivision. (e) (7 ) “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) (8 ) “Termination” means the cessation or substantial cessation of industrial or commercial operations in a covered establishment. (g) (b) (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. SEC. 2 . Section 1401 of the Labor Code is amended to read: 1401. (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. (g) In the case of a sale of part or all of an employer’s business, the seller shall be responsible for providing notice for any mass layoff, relocation, or termination under this chapter in accordance with this section up to and including the effective date of the sale. Following the effective date of the sale, the purchaser shall be responsible for providing the notice. SECTION 1. Section 1400.5 of the Labor Code is amended and renumbered to read: 1409. (a) This article shall apply to an employer’s relocation of a call center, as defined in this article. (b) The following definitions shall apply to this article: (1) “Call center” means a facility or other operation where employees, as their primary function, receive telephone calls or other electronic communication for the purpose of providing customer service or other related functions. (2) “Call center employer” means an employer of a covered establishment, as those terms are defined, who operates a call center. (3) “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. (4) “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. (5) “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. (6) “Layoff” means a separation from a position for lack of funds or lack of work. (7) “Mass layoff” means a layoff during any 30-day period of 50 or more employees at a covered establishment. (8) “Relocation of a call center” includes when the employer intends to move its call center, or one or more facilities or operating units within a call center comprising at least 30 percent of the call center’s or operating unit’s total volume when measured against the average call volume for the previous 12 months, or substantially similar operations to a foreign country. (9) “Termination” means the cessation or substantial cessation of industrial or commercial operations in a covered establishment. (c) (1) This article 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 article 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. SEC. 2. Section 1409 of the Labor Code is repealed. SEC. 3. Article 4 (commencing with Section 1415) is added to Chapter 4 of Part 4 of Division 2 of the Labor Code , to read: 4. Plant Closings and Mass Layoffs 1415. The following definitions shall apply to this article: (a) “Affected employee” means an employee who may reasonably be expected to experience an employment loss as a consequence of a proposed plant closing or mass layoff by their employer. (b) “Aggrieved employee” means an employee who has worked for the employer ordering the plant closing or mass layoff and who, as a result of the failure by the employer to comply with the notice requirement of this article, did not receive timely notice either directly or through their representative. (c) “Department” means the Employment Development Department. (d) Subject to Section 1415.1, “employment loss” means any of the following: (1) An employment termination, other than a discharge for cause, voluntary departure, or retirement. (2) A layoff exceeding six months. (3) A reduction in hours of work of more than 50 percent during each month of any six-month period. (e) (1) “Employer” means any public agency, person, as defined in Section 18, or any other entity that satisfies either of the following: (A) Employs 100 or more employees, excluding part-time employees. (B) Employs 100 or more employees who, in the aggregate, work at least 4,000 hours per week, excluding hours of overtime. (2) A parent corporation shall be an “employer” as to any facility, operating unit, or site of employment directly owned and operated by its corporate subsidiary. (f) “Mass layoff” means a reduction in force that is not the result of a plant closing and that results in an employment loss at the single site of employment during any 30-day period satisfying either of the following criteria: (1) At least 33 percent of employees, totaling at least 50 employees, experience employment loss. This number shall exclude part-time employees. (2) At least 500 employees, excluding part-time employees, experience employment loss. (g) “Part-time employee” means an employee who is employed for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week or who has been employed for fewer than 6 of the 12 months preceding the date on which notice is required by this article. (h) “Plant closing” means the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment, or one or more facilities or operating units within a [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]