There is Warning When it Comes to Layoffs in the Texas Panhandle

The way the economy has been there has been a lot of worries about job security. Will you have a job? Are there layoffs in your future? That is enough to make anyone worry. I mean we can't afford eggs now, how will we if we lose our jobs?

Unemployment is nice to have but we all know that is not enough to make it. It is a real worry. Heck, I just went through a massive layoff. I saw the writing on the wall when our company told us about us merging with another one. I knew a lot of us were losing our jobs. I was correct.

I was fortunate that I already had another job I was working anyway but it has still really hurt me financially. It's a scary time. We did get plenty of notice. I knew, officially, that I would not have a job past June. I found out early in the year. I thought they were doing all this because they cared and they wanted us to have plenty of warning.

Part of that is true but the other part is that they had to legally let us know in plenty of time. I did not know that.

Have You Heard of the WARN Act?

I will be honest I had no idea that this was a thing. The WARN Act is there to protect and help us. According to the Texas Workforce Commission:

Under certain circumstances, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires you to provide notice 60 days in advance of plant closures or mass layoffs.  The WARN Act is intended to offer protection to workers, their families and communities.

So you have to have a sixty-day notice if there is going to be a mass layoff. That is a little bit of comfort in this uncertain time. Having two months to look for a new job is nice. Having two months to know not to use any more of your vacation time so you can hopefully be paid out for that is nice.

Those are all a way to give us a little bit of security. It's still a scary time but one that we will make it out of.