May 19, 2008. In response to the plant closures and mass layoffs of the 1980s, Congress enacted the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. However, the legislation covers only larger businesses, and lacks an enforcement mechanism. Several states (CA, IL, NJ) have adopted their own WARN legislation. This brief argues that such legislation in New York would benefit not only the upstate economy but also the downstate economy now being buffeted by massive layoffs in the financial sector.