The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (the "WARN Act") is a U.S. labor law that protects employees, their families, and communities by requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60 calendar-day advance notification of planned closings and mass layoffs of employees. In 2001, there were about 2,000 mass layoffs and plant closures that were subject to WARN advance notice requirements and that affected about 660,000 employees. Employees entitled to notice under the WARN Act include managers and supervisors, hourly wage, and salaried workers. The WARN Act requires that notice also be given to employees' representatives (e.g., a labor union), the local chief elected official (e.g. the mayor), and the state dislocated worker unit. The advance notice is intended to give workers and their families transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and to obtain other employment, and if necessary, to enter skill training or retraining programs that would allow these workers to successfully compete in the job market. Covered workers Generally, the WARN Act covers employers with 100 or more employees, not counting those who have worked fewer than six months in the last twelve-month work period, or those who work an average of less than 20 hours a week. Employees entitled to advance notice under the WARN Act include managers, supervisors, hourly wage, and salaried workers. Often, WARN Act problems arise when employers are acquired by other companies. Employees unprotected by the WARN Act include: workers participating in strike actions, or workers who have been locked out in a labor dispute; workers employed on temporary projects or the work facilities of the business who clearly understand the temporary nature of the work when hired; business partners, consultants, and contract employees assigned to the closing business, but who have a separate employment relationship with another, second employer and who are paid by that other, second employer, and those business partners, consultants, and contract employees who are self-employed; and regular federal, state, and local government employees. Exceptions to the WARN Act The WARN Act is not activated when a covered employer: closes a temporary facility or completes a temporary project, and the employees working in the facility or temporary project were hired with the clear understanding that their employment would end with the closing of the work facility or the completion of the project; or closes a facility or operating