Ohio legislators evidently don’t think this is stringent enough. They’re now eyeing a measure, House Bill 434, that requires 90 days’ advance warning–and 120 days if 250 or more employees are affected.

The state WARN measure also would limit a firm’s ability to pay up front and get rid of the employees or shut the place down immediately.

New York has a similar law on the books, but where Ohio goes even further is in assessing penalties, which is the real killer aspect of House Bill 434.

For violating the advance-warning requirement, a firm would be on the hook for liquidated (double) back pay for each calendar day of the violation, remuneration for all benefits plus reimbursement for any out-of-pocket medical expenses during the period, $500 a day times the number of affected employees as a civil penalty, and (natch) "reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs."

If this puppy passes, it’s hard to imagine many entrepreneurs or established companies opening shop in Ohio. In fact, many of the current businesses may opt to cross the border to friendlier climes.

However–and there are a lot of howevers in WARN–the window extends to 90 days when the layoffs are staggered but reach those same thresholds in combination. (“Caught you trying to cheat!” is the emphasis here.)

Here’s another however: WARN defines full-time employees as those who have averaged at least 20 hours per week in six of the past 12 months, or another definition–if the entire workforce averages 4,000 hours per week excluding overtime.

I bring this up for a couple of reasons. One is that the incoming Obama administration has been loud about extending the 60-day notification to 90 days. The other is that just this week one union at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago (remember the showdown over WARN during that factory shutdown?) filed suit to force the owners to return equipment to the Chicago site that was reportedly relocated before closing.

Now, here’s the interesting part: The union alleges that Republic’s owners ferreted away the machinery in the middle of the night to a location in Indiana, where they intended to set up new, non-union operations, and then told the workers that the Chicago firm was shutting down because Bank of America wouldn’t extend them a line of credit.

If this is true, it brings to light a fascinating new wrinkle and shows that Republic did indeed scheme to avoid WARN.

In the end, to avoid a public relations nightmare, BofA forked over about $1.5 million to Republic, and the workers received 60 days of pay and benefits.

Which brings up the final point: There’s no way an employer would want dozens of laid-off workers sitting around the workplace for 60 days while knowing they’re getting the axe. It’s doubtful they’d do much constructive work, and it’s likely that pilferage and sabotage would take place. Pay them 60 days’ worth and see them off.

So, if the Obama team manages to up the WARN stakes, many companies will face paying three months of wages and benefits just to downsize in an effort to survive in tough economic times.

Better to gid rid of them now! LOL Just kidding, of course.