I was laid off in a group. Am I signing away a WARN Act claim?
Possibly. New York’s WARN Act requires 90 days’ written notice before a covered mass layoff, and an employer that fails to give it owes back pay and benefits for the period of the violation, up to 60 days. A general release will extinguish that claim, and there is a strong argument that severance conditioned on signing does not reduce what the employer owes. Value the WARN claim before you sign.
Who does this apply to?
Employers with 50 or more employees, for a mass layoff of at least 25 employees amounting to a third of the workforce at a site, or of 250 employees regardless of proportion (Labor Law § 860-a(3)–(4)).
What you can recover
Back pay at your regular rate plus the value of your benefits, for the period of the violation, capped at 60 days (§ 860-g(1)–(2)). You have six years to bring the claim, and a prevailing plaintiff may be awarded attorney’s fees (§ 860-g(7)). WARN payments do not reduce your unemployment benefits (§ 860-g(3)).
Does my severance count against it?
The employer’s liability is reduced by “any voluntary and unconditional payments made by the employer to the employee that were not required to satisfy any legal obligation” (§ 860-g(4)(b)). Severance conditioned on signing a release is not unconditional, and severance owed under a plan or contract is required by a legal obligation. So there is a strong argument that release-conditioned severance does not offset WARN liability at all.
What is unsettled?
No New York court has decided the offset question. See the open questions for the argument each way.
What should I gather?
- Any notice you received, and its date.
- The group-layoff disclosure listing job titles and ages.
- How many people were let go at your site, and when.
- Your pay rate and the value of your benefits.
Before you sign: what are your claims worth?
A release trades your claims for the severance. If you think you may have a claim, the New York employment case evaluator reviews your answers and documents the way I review a new matter and gives you a realistic pre-suit estimate, so you can compare what you would be giving up with what the agreement pays. It charges only the actual cost of running the analysis, never more than $5. Afterwards you can choose whether to send it to me for review.
New York severance agreements: the full guide
This page is general information about New York and federal law, last reviewed September 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Dollar figures, deadlines and pending legislation change. If you are holding an agreement with a deadline on it, speak with a lawyer now.