MacIsaac v. Waste Mgmt. Collection & Recycling, Inc., 134 Cal. App. 4th 1076 (2005)

North Bay Disposal Corporation purchased from Empire Waste Management a contract to provide waste disposal services to the City of Santa Rosa. As part of the agreement, Empire Waste transferred to North Bay one mechanic and 41 garbage truck drivers who would drive the same routes for the City, use the same equipment and work the same schedule for the same pay, benefits and seniority rights. After Stanley MacIsaac was laid off (along with 19 other employees) by Empire Waste, he filed a class action lawsuit, claiming the company had violated the California WARN Act by failing to provide him and other similarly situated employees 60 days’ notice of a “layoff.” In its motion for summary judgment, Empire Waste asserted that there had been no “mass layoff” because it had laid off only 20 employees, and the statute applies only to layoffs of 50 or more employees. MacIsaac argued that the 20 laid off Empire Waste employees should be added to the 42 employees who had been transferred to North Bay Disposal for a total of 62 employees affected by the “layoff.” The Court of Appeal affirmed summary judgment in favor of Empire Waste, holding that the 42 transferred employees were not part of a “lay off” within the meaning of the California WARN Act because they continued to perform the same work at the same rates of pay and for the same benefits following the transfer.