From: Staffing
Texas Plant Closings
Texas does not have a state law regarding plant closing. Employers having 100 or more employees (not counting employees who worked less than 6 of the last 12 months and not counting employees who average less than 20 hours a week) are subject to the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act). Employers are required to provide 60 days’ advance notice of covered plant closings and mass layoffs, notifying the affected workers or their representatives, the appropriate unit of local government, and the state Dislocated Worker Unit.
Rapid Response
The Dislocated Worker Services Department (DWSD) receives notices of plant closures and mass layoffs, including those covered under the WARN Act. When the DWSD or the Local Workforce Development Board obtains information about a major layoff, immediate on-site services are provided to assist workers facing job losses. Rapid Response provides early intervention assistance designed to transition workers to their next employment as soon as possible.
Rapid Response was originally designed to offer services as follows:
- When layoffs involved 50 or more workers.
- When plant closings or mass layoffs affected fewer than 50 employees, but occurred in a business or industry that forms the economic base of a small community (population 50,000 or less).
Now it is up to each Local Workforce Development Board to make Rapid Response services available as often as possible to any employer requesting Rapid Response services. In the case of a relatively small lay off which affects only a few workers, it may not be necessary to conduct a grand scale Rapid Response activity.
Shared Work Program
The Shared Work program provides Texas employers with an alternative to layoffs during a period of slowdown in business activity.
When at least 10 percent of the employees in a business unit see a reduction in normal weekly hours of at least 10 percent, employees’ wages may be supplemented by partial unemployment benefits. This program only applies if the reduction in normal weekly hours is less than 40 percent. Employees must qualify for and participate in an approved Shared Work Plan in order to receive wages and unemployment benefits. The program does not supplement seasonal employees during their off season.
Contact Information
Texas Dislocated Worker Unit
www.twc.state.tx.us/svcs/jtpa/dislocat.html
Texas Shared Work Program
www.twc.state.tx.us/businesses/shared-work
