By Robert Lewis (August 22, 2017, 12:37 PM EDT) -- The Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued a significant decision on Aug. 4, 2017, Varela v. AE Liquidation Inc. (In re AE Liquidation Inc.), No. 16-2203 (3rd Cir. Aug. 4, 2017), that highlighted the interplay between the federal Bankruptcy Code and the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Charged with determining the correct standard for the "unforeseeable business circumstances" exception to a bankrupt employer's obligation under the WARN Act to provide 60 days' prior notice of a mass layoff, the Third Circuit adopted, for the first time, the standard used by the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and 10th Circuits: an employer's WARN obligations are triggered only when the mass layoff was probable, i.e., more likely than not, when WARN Act notice would otherwise have been required, rather than merely foreseeable....