TikTok is all about providing life hacks — some not as useful as others. However, one TikToker provided a useful tool to track when major companies are about to do layoffs.
TikTok user @ddumemma, real name Emma, shared a video that has quickly gone viral with over half a million views for her disclosure of the Department of Labor’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. She explained just how people can use the public information to discover if your company is about to lay workers off.
“So, we’re definitely about to go into a recession,” Emma speculated. “And if you are nervous about getting laid off and you work for a big employer, I just want to let you know that a WARN notice is something that exists in every state and you can look it up by state through the Department of Labor if you just Google it.”
Emma pulled up an image of the website where large companies have to disclose via a WARN notice when they're going to do a decent size layoff.
"So, like we can see that on January 18, Microsoft filed a WARN notice that in Redmond, Bellevue, and Issaquah, Washington, they’re going to start laying people off starting March 20. And it’s going to be 878 workers," she said as an example.
She added, “So just thought I’d put that out there like you might want to look up if you might be getting laid off… capitalism sucks.”
She interacted with commenters since posting the video to field questions and give more insights about the WARN Act, including creating a separate video for people in Illinois who might have trouble reaching the page showing pending layoffs.
It’s important to note that companies have to file the WARN Act only if they’re laying off 50 or more employees.
“One major note, the other option instead of a WARN is providing compensation for those that were laid off,” a person alleged in the comments.
Emma responded, “Yes! My understanding is the way around it is paying workers out for 60 days including benefits.”

source