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B. Advance notice. The worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), a federal law that aims advance notice to employees in situations of large plant closings or mass layoffs, does NOT apply to local goverrnaent entities. Even though stag and federal law are silent about providing local govenunent employees with an advance notice of pending layoff, the city should consult its own personnel policies, civil service rules and/or union contracts. These documents may require that the city provide an advance notice to employees. In addition, there may be other benefits to providing advance notice. For example, employees who feel the city is doing what it can to treat them fairly and humanely may be less inclined to file lawsuits, grievances or contest the layoff. C. Return to work 1 recall rights. There are no state or federal requirements addressing the recall of city employees who were laid off. However, the laws that govern state agencies seem to require that a systematic method be used, perhaps in accordance with a union contract provision. Alon g dose lines, it is a good idea for the city to determine its `'call- bank" Mersa in advance and have it approved by the City Council so the city can show that the method used was systematic and consistent. Again, a city needs to be sure to review it's personnel policies, civil service rrdes and/or contracts as these documents may outline a procedure to follow when calling employees back to work. By using a systematic method, the city can ensure that any protected status employees (e.g., vegans, minorities, disabled employees) are tmted fairly. D. Using volunteers after the layoff. For some cities, volunteers are a way to get work done after an employee layoff has occurred. It i y s important that the city ensure, however, that any volunteer doing work previously y by an employee, is qualified to do such work. In other words, the volunteer should have the same gmMicat ions that would be required of an employee in that position (backgmund, trasn,ng, education, certifications, etc.) If an employee who does Snowplowing is required - � g to have a commercial drivers license, then a volunteer doing the same function (even if the volunteer is doing it on a very occasional and sporadic basis ) should have a commercial driver }s license. Cities need to be aware of the potential liabilities created when using volunteers to re p lace employees. Most volunteers will not be covered by the city's workers compensation i insurance because they are not G`employe'es" of the city. It ImPortant to note that rovidin F g volunteers with a nominal payment for their services does not snake then, employees i.e. eligible for workers compensation coverage). If the city intends to use volunteers extensively ensily to replace laid off employees, t may wish to consider volunteer accident coverage, Such coverage provides a "no-fault" type benefit to volunteers insured while conducting ork for r the city. More information about such coverage is available in the LM IT Risk Management Information: Covering the City's Volunteers. _9_