According to Reuters, military contract giant Northrop Grumman has issued potential lay off notices to 330 of its Virginia based employees.  The employees provide transportation and other services to military installation there.

The issuance of the notices coincides with the June 30 expiration of the logistics contract Northrop currently holds, but Northrop has stated that it hopes to renegotiate that contract and obviate the need for the layoffs.

What exactly is a layoff notice?

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act or WARN, came into effect February 4, 1989 and according to a Department of Labor fact sheet, requires that “employers … provide notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs.”  A covered employer is one that employs over 100 employees and a covered layoff is any termination not due to cause, any layoff for over a period exceeding six months, or any reduction in employee hours that exceed 50 percent in each month of any six month period.