I assume your friend lives in Minnesota? Either way, find out if his state of residence is a "right to work" state. If it is then his employer doesn't "owe" him ANY kind of severence and anything they do offer is just out of generosity. That is, unless he had a contract spelling out specific options.
Last March my employer of 18 years decided to close my distribution center and move operations to LA to accomodate Chinese imports instead of U.S. manufactured product.
Since I had no intention of moving to Ca. I was ' excessed'. I was offered a package and informed that if I chose not to sign the "agreement" I would get nothing. They offered some pretty good money and benefits so I decided to take it. Standard language in the agreement, no compete or litigation etc, but one thing I thought was funny as hell. There was a clause that I "would not say anything substantially negative" about the company!