{"id":2684,"date":"2008-12-16T14:33:02","date_gmt":"2008-12-16T19:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=2684"},"modified":"2008-12-16T14:34:04","modified_gmt":"2008-12-16T19:34:04","slug":"krueger-on-lessons-from-the-chicago-sit-in-and-the-warn-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2008\/12\/krueger-on-lessons-from-the-chicago-sit-in-and-the-warn-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Krueger on Lessons From the Chicago Sit-In and the WARN Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kreuger\"<\/a> Alan Krueger<\/a>, the Princeton economist, has this commentary in the New York Times on the recent sit-down strike<\/a> at the Republic Windows plant in Chicago and the WARN Act:<\/p>\n

The sit-in at the Republic Windows & Doors factory in Chicago last week brought the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 \u2014 or WARN Act for short \u2013 to the forefront of attention. This law requires large employers (those with 100 or more employees) to provide 60 days of written advance notice prior to a plant closing or mass layoff.<\/p>\n

The WARN Act was passed after a long-running, rancorous debate. President Ronald Reagan vetoed a trade bill because it included provisions of the WARN Act. The WARN Act was later reintroduced as a stand-alone measure and passed by Congress with enough votes to override a presidential veto in July 1988. The WARN Act became law without President Reagan\u2019s signature, and he issued a statement calling the law \u201ccounterproductive.”\u00a0. . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

The economics of the WARN Act are relatively straightforward. More information usually makes markets work more efficiently. If employees are notified that they will lose their jobs in the future, they can start searching and preparing for a new job sooner. Communities and social-service providers can also prepare for a wave of unemployed workers sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

From a company\u2019s perspective, however, advance notice of a pending shutdown can cause it to lose valued employees and customers before it shutters its doors . . . .<\/p>\n

But the bigger picture of this saga should not be missed: companies frequently close without giving their employees the required 60 days of advance notice.<\/p>\n

A seminal study by John Addison and McKinley Blackburn found that displaced workers were hardly more likely to receive 60 days\u2019 advance notice of a layoff after the WARN Act took effect than they were before it went into effect . . . . .<\/p>\n

Like so much in the labor area, as a practical matter the heated battle over the WARN Act became much ado about nothing. Relatively few additional workers were warned about pending layoffs and plant closings as a result of WARN. Indeed, the available evidence makes one wonder why so many employer groups fought so hard to oppose the law if it ultimately turned out to hardly affect the way employers operated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This commentary made me somewhat miffed.\u00a0 I have three preliminary thoughts in reply:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 If it is true that WARN is either not applicable to most plant closings and mass layoffs and is violated frequently, does that mean the law was “much ado about nothing.”\u00a0 I more likely conclude that the employee threshold of 100 employees should be reduced to somewhere between 25-50 employees and perhaps the definition of “mass layoff” should be less restrictive.\u00a0 Also, there might be more enforcement actions if there were better remedies available, including the right to compensatory and punitive damages in appropriate cases.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Like most economists (I feel comfortable making this generalization since he feels comfortable lumping all labor laws together), Kreuger puts most of his emphasis on “efficiency,” without thinking much about non-quantifiable matters like justice and fairness.\u00a0 In a plant closing\/mass layoff situation, I tend to be much more concerned about the economic well-being of the workers, as opposed to whether the company in question will lose some additional quantum of profit or productivity in the interim.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 And finally, the fact that President Reagan found the law enacted over his veto “counterproductive” (of course, he felt that way strongly about the entire labor movement and crushed the PATCO air traffic controllers strike for good measure), seems alone to recommend its bona fides as a law concerning social justice and one which was rightly fought over.<\/p>\n

If Professor Kreuger wishes to explain his dismissive comment that much labor law legislation is “much ado about nothing,” I would be happy to have that debate with him.<\/p>\n

Cross posted at Workplace Prof Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alan Krueger, the Princeton economist, has this commentary in the New York Times on the recent sit-down strike at the Republic Windows plant in Chicago and the WARN Act: The sit-in at the Republic Windows & Doors factory in Chicago last week brought the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 \u2014 or WARN […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-labor-employment-law","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2684\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}