SB 321 — An Act relating to transfers of operations, terminations of operations, mass layoffs and changes in control.

PRINTER'S NO.   275

                   THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                       SENATE BILL
                       No. 321
                                                  Session of
                                                    2025

     INTRODUCED BY KANE, KEARNEY, CAPPELLETTI, A. WILLIAMS, SAVAL,
        COLLETT AND COSTA, FEBRUARY 26, 2025

     REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, FEBRUARY 26, 2025


                                      AN ACT
 1   Relating to transfers of operations, terminations of
 2      operations, mass layoffs and changes in control.
 3      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 4   hereby enacts as follows:
 5   Section 1.   Short title.
 6      This act shall be known and may be cited as the Mandatory
 7   Severance for Mass Layoffs Act.
 8   Section 2.   Definitions.
 9      The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
10   have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
11   context clearly indicates otherwise:
12      "Business."    An individual, partnership, association,
13   corporation or any person or group of persons that employs 50 or
14   more employees.
15      "Change of control."     A material change in ownership of an
16   employer or a filing seeking bankruptcy protection.
17      "Covered employee."      The following:
18          (1)   An individual who has been employed by an employer
 1      for at least 90 days immediately before a change of control
 2      affecting that individual's principal place of employment. A
 3      change of control affects a covered employee's principal
 4      place of employment if the change of control results in the
 5      predecessor employer transferring control of the place of
 6      employment to the successor employer.
 7          (2)   The term does not include:
 8                (i)     a managerial, supervisory or confidential
 9          employee;
10                (ii)     a temporary employee; or
11                (iii)     a part-time employee who has worked less than
12          20 hours per week for the predecessor employer for at
13          least 90 days immediately before the change of control.
14      "Department."      The Department of Labor and Industry of the
15   Commonwealth.
16      "Employer."      An individual, partnership, association,
17   corporation or a person or group of persons acting directly or
18   indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an
19   employee, including a person who, directly or indirectly, owns
20   and operates the nominal employer or owns a corporate subsidiary
21   that, directly or indirectly, owns and operates the nominal
22   employer or makes the decision responsible for the employment
23   action that gives rise to a mass layoff subject to notification.
24      "Establishment."      A single place of employment that has been
25   operated by an employer for more than three years, including a
26   single location or a group of locations in this Commonwealth.
27   The term does not include a temporary construction site.
28      "Facility."      A building.
29      "Mass layoff."      A reduction in force that is not the result
30   of a transfer of operations or termination of operations and

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 1   that results in the termination of employment at an
 2   establishment during any 30-day period for 50 or more
 3   employees at or reporting to the establishment.
 4      "Operating unit."     An organizationally distinct product,
 5   operation or specific work function within or across facilities
 6   at a single establishment.
 7      "Predecessor employer."     The person who controls a business
 8   before a change of control.
 9      "Principal place of employment."        An office or other facility
10   where an employee is principally assigned to work by a
11   predecessor employer.
12      "Successor employer."     A person who controls a business after
13   a change of control.
14      "Termination of employment."        The following:
15          (1)   The layoff of an employee without a commitment to
16      reinstate the employee to the employee's previous employment
17      within six months of the layoff.
18          (2)   The term does not mean:
19                (i)    voluntary departure;
20                (ii)    retirement;
21                (iii)    discharge;
22                (iv)    suspension for misconduct connected with
23          employment;
24                (v)    layoff of a seasonal employee; or
25                (vi)    a situation in which an employer offers to an
26          employee, at a location inside this Commonwealth and not
27          more than 50 miles from the previous place of employment,
28          the same employment or a position with equivalent status,
29          benefits, pay and other terms and conditions of
30          employment.

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 1        (3)   A layoff under paragraph (1) of more than six months
 2    which, at its outset, was announced to be a layoff of six
 3    months or less, shall not be treated as a termination of
 4    employment if the extension beyond six months is caused by
 5    business circumstances not reasonably foreseeable at the time
 6    of the initial layoff and notice is given at the time it
 7    becomes reasonably foreseeable that the extension beyond six
 8    months will be required.
 9    "Termination of operations."    The following:
10        (1)   The permanent or temporary shutdown of a single
11    establishment or of one or more facilities or operating units
12    within a single establishment.
13        (2)   The term does not include a termination of
14    operations made necessary because of a fire, flood, natural
15    disaster, national emergency, act of war, civil disorder or
16    industrial sabotage, decertification from participation in
17    the Medicare and Medicaid programs as provided under 42
18    U.S.C. Ch. 7 (relating to Social Security) or license
19    revocation under the laws of this Commonwealth.
20    "Total compensation."   The following:
21        (1)   The combined value of a covered employee's wages and
22    benefits immediately before a change of control. Total
23    compensation may be paid entirely as wages or in any
24    combination of wages and fringe benefits, to be determined by
25    the successor employer.
26        (2)   The term includes a covered employee's hourly wage
27    rate or the per diem value of the covered employee's monthly
28    salary and the employer payments toward the covered
29    employee's health and welfare and pension benefits.
30    "Transfer of operations."   The permanent or temporary

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 1   transfer of a single establishment or one or more facilities or
 2   operating units within a single establishment to another
 3   location within or outside this Commonwealth.
 4      "Transition period."       A period of 180 days immediately
 5   following the effective date of a change of control.
 6   Section 3.     Transfer of operations, termination of operations or
 7                  mass layoff.
 8      (a)   Notification.--If an establishment is subject to a
 9   transfer of operations or termination of operations which
10   results, during any continuous period of not more than 30 days,
11   in the termination of employment of 50 or more employees, or if
12   an employer conducts a mass layoff, the employer who operates
13   the establishment or conducts the mass layoff shall provide not
14   less than 90 days, or the period of time required under 29
15   U.S.C. Ch. 23 (relating to worker adjustment and retraining
16   notification), whichever is longer, before the first termination
17   of employment occurs in connection with the transfer of
18   operations, termination of operations or mass layoff,
19   notification of the transfer of operations, termination of
20   operations or mass layoff to:
21            (1)   the department;
22            (2)   the chief elected official of the municipality where
23      the establishment is located;
24            (3)   each employee whose employment is to be terminated;
25      and
26            (4)   any collective bargaining units of employees at the
27      establishment.
28      (b)   Severance.--An employer subject to subsection (a) shall
29   provide severance pay as follows:
30            (1)   The employer shall provide to each employee whose

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 1    employment is terminated severance pay equal to one week of
 2    pay for each full year of employment.
 3        (2)   If the employer provides an employee with less than
 4    the number of days of notification required under subsection
 5    (a), the employer shall provide that employee with an
 6    additional four weeks of severance pay.
 7        (3)   The rate of severance pay provided by the employer
 8    under this subsection shall be the average regular rate of
 9    compensation received during the employee's last three years
10    of employment with the employer or the final regular rate of
11    compensation paid to the employee, whichever rate is higher.
12        (4)   Severance pay under this subsection shall be
13    regarded as compensation due to an employee for back pay and
14    losses associated with the termination of the employment
15    relationship, and earned in full upon the termination of the
16    employment relationship, notwithstanding the calculation of
17    the amount of the payment with reference to the employee's
18    length of service.
19        (5)   Severance pay provided by the employer under this
20    subsection shall be in addition to any severance pay provided
21    by the employer under a collective bargaining agreement or
22    for any other reason, except that any back pay provided by
23    the employer to the employee under 29 U.S.C. § 2104 (relating
24    to administration and enforcement of requirements) because of
25    a violation of 29 U.S.C. § 2102 (relating to notice required
26    before plant closings and mass layoffs) shall be credited
27    toward meeting the severance pay requirements of this
28    subsection.
29        (6)   Severance pay under this subsection shall not be
30    subject to section 404(d) of the act of December 5, 1936 (2nd

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 1      Sp.Sess., 1937 P.L.2897, No.1), known as the Unemployment
 2      Compensation Law.
 3      (c)   Qualification for notification.--In determining whether
 4   a transfer of operations, termination of operations or mass
 5   layoff is subject to the notification requirements of this
 6   section, any terminations of employment for two or more groups
 7   at a single establishment occurring within any 90-day period
 8   when each group has less than the number of terminations that
 9   would trigger the notification requirements of this section
10   however the aggregate for all of the groups exceeds that number
11   shall be regarded as subject to the notification requirements,
12   unless the employer demonstrates that the cause of the
13   terminations for each group is separate and distinct from the
14   causes of the terminations for the other group or groups.
15      (d)   Approval of waiver.--A waiver of the right to severance
16   provided under subsection (b) shall not be effective without
17   approval of the waiver by the department or a court of competent
18   jurisdiction.
19   Section 4.     Change of control.
20      (a)   Retention of employees.--
21            (1)   Except as otherwise provided in this section, a
22      successor employer shall retain all covered employees for at
23      least the transition period following a change of control,
24      unless the department approves a reduction in the workforce
25      under subsection (e). During the transition period, the
26      successor employer may not terminate a covered employee
27      without cause and may not reduce the total compensation of a
28      covered employee.
29            (2)   A successor employer and a labor organization
30      representing covered employees may, in a collective

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 1      bargaining agreement, provide that the agreement supersedes
 2      the requirements of this section.
 3      (b)   Public notice.--
 4            (1)   No later than 15 days before the effective date of a
 5      change of control, the predecessor employer shall:
 6                  (i)    Post public notice of the change of control at
 7            each principal place of employment.
 8                  (ii)    Send notice of the change of control to any
 9            labor organization that represents covered employees.
10            (2)   The notice shall include the name and contact
11      information of the predecessor employer, the name and contact
12      information of the successor employer and the effective date
13      of the change of control.
14            (3)   The notice shall be posted at each principal place
15      of business of the predecessor employer in a conspicuous
16      place and in a manner that is readily viewable by covered
17      employees.
18      (c)   Employee information.--No later than 15 days before the
19   effective date of a change of control, a predecessor employer
20   shall provide to the successor employer the name, address, date
21   of hire, total compensation and classification of each covered
22   employee.
23      (d)   Retention of records.--A successor employer shall retain
24   the following written or electronic records for at least three
25   years:
26            (1)   The information provided to the successor employer
27      under subsection (c).
28            (2)   Any offer of employment made to a covered employee.
29            (3)   Any termination of a covered employee during a
30      transition period, including the reasons for the termination.

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 1            (4)   Any written evaluation of a covered employee.
 2      (e)   Reduction of employees.--
 3            (1)   For two years after the transition period, a
 4      successor employer may reduce the total number of employees
 5      who would have qualified as covered employees during the 90-
 6      day period immediately before a change of control only if
 7      approved by the department.
 8            (2)   The department may not authorize a successor
 9      employer to reduce the number of employees under paragraph
10      (1) except upon a showing by a preponderance of the evidence
11      that the employer has conducted a study of the nature and
12      scope of the work performed by those employees proposed to be
13      eliminated, and the study shows that the elimination of the
14      employees is necessary for the continued solvency of the
15      business.
16            (3)   A successor employer may terminate an employee with
17      cause consistent with any applicable collective bargaining
18      agreement during the period specified in paragraph (1).
19      (f)   Construction.--This section may not be construed to
20   limit the right of covered employees to bring legal action for
21   wrongful termination.
22      (g)   Rights and remedies.--The rights and remedies provided
23   under this section are in addition to, and are not intended to
24   supplant, any existing rights or remedies.
25   Section 5.     Effective date.
26      This act shall take effect immediately.




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