california_warn_expanded_2020-03-16: 612

Big Local News is collecting and updating WARN (layoff/furlough) notices from state government sites and is processing the data to make it more useable. So far, we are collecting and updating daily or weekly data from 36 states. A federal law -- the WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) requires companies with more than 100 employees to give 60 days notice of any layoff, closure or furlough and 17 states have their own similar statutes. This data provides much more granularity into the types of jobs being lost and the companies that are furloughing workers, or that plan to close completely. A key note is that "unforeseen business circumstances" can mean that a company doesn't have to provide 60 days notice. For example, California has lifted that level of notice for its state version, or mini-WARN Act. Nonetheless, even though the advance time limit is flexible, companies still have to submit. Please cite the WARN data as collected by Big Local News. California data can be cited as collected and processed by Stanford journalism student Vanessa Ochavillo. This project includes a general README, a more specific README for California and a more specific file layout README that details the fields by state. Some states are missing but we are working to obtain the data or build scrapers. If you are interested in contributing, please let us know at biglocalnews@stanford.edu.