Justice for Local Communities and Workers Act

HR 9963 amends the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act to expand protections for workers and local communities facing plant closures or mass layoffs. It lowers the employee threshold triggering WARN requirements from 50 to 25 full-time or 75 total employees (including part-time), and adds coverage for shutdowns affecting multiple employers at a single site. The bill requires employers planning such closures to cover the cost of an economic impact study by local governments, assess financial viability, and pay affected communities for losses (via state funds or workforce systems) if the employer isn’t facing economic hardship. Local governments can also sue employers who fail to comply with these requirements. The law creates a new process for establishing "Impacted Workers Funds" to support workforce training and income assistance in affected areas.