Iowa's Mini-WARN Act — 30 Days' Notice at Just 25 Employees

Iowa has the most inclusive layoff-notice law in the country — and the shortest notice period. Under the Iowa Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, an employer with as few as 25 full-time workers must give 30 days' written notice before a business closing or mass layoff; federal WARN only applies at 100 or more workers, and requires 60 days.

That trade-off — wider coverage, shorter warning — is the whole story of Iowa's law. It protects workers at small and mid-size employers who would get nothing at all under federal law, but it gives them half the time to prepare.

The law in brief

Iowa's WARN Act, Iowa Code chapter 84C, took effect July 1, 2010. It parallels federal WARN while changing the two numbers that matter most: the employer threshold and the notice period.

Federal WARN covers employers with 100 or more full-time employees and requires 60 days' notice. Iowa covers employers with 25 or more full-time employees at a site within the preceding 12 months, and requires 30 days' notice. Iowa Workforce Development administers the law and publishes a WARN log of every notice it receives.

Who counts as covered

The 25-employee threshold counts full-time employees only. Part-time means an average of fewer than 20 hours per week — and a full-time employee who has worked fewer than six of the preceding 12 months is also treated as part-time. A business with 40 people on payroll but only 20 full-timers is not covered.

What triggers a notice

Notice is required for two kinds of events:

• A business closing — the permanent or temporary shutdown of a site, or part of one, that causes an employment loss for at least 25 full-time employees during any 30-day period.
• A mass layoff — a reduction in force, not from a closing, that causes an employment loss at one site during any 30-day period for at least 25 full-time employees who make up at least one-third of the site's full-time workforce, or at least 250 full-time employees regardless of percentage.

The layoff or closure must last more than six months; shorter furloughs and shutdowns do not trigger the law.

Who gets the notice

The employer must give written notice to the affected employees or their representatives, to Iowa Workforce Development, and to the chief elected official of the local government where the site is located. The notice must list the company name and address, a business contact, the event date, and the names and addresses of affected employees.

Iowa also lets an employer pay wages and benefits in lieu of notice: the 30 days shrink day-for-day by any severance or wages paid, so an employer can cut the warning to zero by paying workers for the full 30 days.

The remedy gap

Here Iowa's law is weakest. Federal WARN lets workers sue for back pay and benefits for each day of notice denied. Iowa's law gives workers no back-pay remedy at all.

An employer that fails to notify Iowa Workforce Development faces a civil penalty of at most $100 per day of violation, paid into the state general fund — not to the workers — and the statute makes that penalty the exclusive remedy, so a worker who got no notice has no damages claim under the Iowa act. The usual exceptions apply: faltering companies (closings only), unforeseeable business circumstances, natural disasters, strikes and lockouts, and layoffs tied to the sale of a business.

Iowa in the numbers

The Layoff Atlas registry holds 787 non-cancelled Iowa notices reporting 49,077 workers. In 2026 so far: 92 notices and 3,397 workers, down from 153 notices and 6,350 workers in 2025 and 121 notices and 6,888 workers in 2024. The last 365 days hold 103 official filings reporting 3,826 workers, the newest dated September 30, 2026, and nine notices have future effective dates.

The largest 2026 filings span industries: UnityPoint Health in Dubuque, 229 workers effective February 28, 2027; RTX in Cedar Rapids, 107 workers effective September 20, 2026; Winnebago Industries in Forest City, 67 workers effective March 26, 2027 and 27 workers effective November 30, 2026; and Carry On Trailer in Missouri Valley, a 79-worker closure effective November 29, 2026.

Several of the largest Iowa filings sit just above the 25-worker threshold — layoffs that would draw no federal notice at all. A 27-worker filing is a covered event in Iowa and invisible to federal WARN.

What it means for Iowa workers

If you work in Iowa for an employer with 25 or more full-time employees, you are entitled to 30 days' written notice of a covered closing or mass layoff, even if your employer is too small for federal WARN. Iowa Workforce Development publishes a WARN log of every notice it receives, so you can check whether your employer filed.

But know the limits: 30 days is half the federal warning, the notice can be replaced with pay, and if your employer simply does not file, the state's only tool is a $100-a-day fine to the general fund. Iowa's law catches far more layoffs than federal WARN does — with a lighter touch.

Nationally, the registry tracks 654 notices reporting 60,606 workers in the current 90-day window, led by California (20,789) and Washington (17,387). These are reported plans, not confirmed job losses; coverage and reporting rules vary by state.

Data source: Layoff Atlas