Are there any laws that protect you during a layoff?
The law gives you extra time to consider any severance waiver your employer offers and a week to change your mind after signing a waiver. If your employer is large, The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which sets rules for notifying workers about large layoffs and plant closures, may cover you.
Is it illegal to discriminate in a layoff?
For example, if a layoff rids a company of most of its female employees or all of its workers over the age of 60, that could well be illegal discrimination. There are a few ways this might happen. If an employer intends to discriminate, it might include one or many protected employees in the layoff group.
Are there any employment rights for offshore workers?
Additionally, a large number of offshore workers are engaged as self-employed contractors and/or supplied to the operators of offshore installations by agencies. This, in turn, means that they are unlikely to have direct employment law rights against the organisation they are doing work for on a day-to-day basis.
Can a company lay off an employee without cause?
Employers also may not lay off an employee if it would violate an employment contract. And, larger employers may have to give employees notice of a layoff in advance. Most employees in this country work at will, which means they can quit or be fired at any time, with or without cause, as long as the employer doesn’t fire them for an illegal reason.
For example, if a layoff rids a company of most of its female employees or all of its workers over the age of 60, that could well be illegal discrimination. There are a few ways this might happen. If an employer intends to discriminate, it might include one or many protected employees in the layoff group.
Additionally, a large number of offshore workers are engaged as self-employed contractors and/or supplied to the operators of offshore installations by agencies. This, in turn, means that they are unlikely to have direct employment law rights against the organisation they are doing work for on a day-to-day basis.
Employers also may not lay off an employee if it would violate an employment contract. And, larger employers may have to give employees notice of a layoff in advance. Most employees in this country work at will, which means they can quit or be fired at any time, with or without cause, as long as the employer doesn’t fire them for an illegal reason.
How long does a layoff have to last under the WARN Act?
The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires employers with 100 or more employees to give at least 60 days’ notice before conducting a mass layoff that will last for more than six months.