Laid off from Avery Dennison.

What Avery Dennison layoffs have meant for employees

Fort Wayne and Fletcher both offered a way to stay at Avery Dennison, each with limits. Announcing the Fort Wayne closing, the company said most of the jobs would shift to Greenfield, Indiana, about 100 miles away, with transfers offered as possible, according to Business Weekly's 2020 report, while its letter to Indiana said affected employees couldn't bump or displace anyone else. The Fletcher employees, WLOS reported, could put in for other company jobs. If a transfer offer comes with separation pay as the alternative, the commute or relocation, the shift pattern and the pay rate at the new site are the pieces worth weighing against what leaving would bring.

The Fort Wayne letter also shows what a closing notice records. Dated December 18, 2020, it said Avery Dennison planned to shut the plant for good, with separations expected in waves from about March 1, 2021 through December 31, calling that timetable the best information available and warning that various factors could still affect it. The company later decided to keep the plant, and the head of its Label and Graphic Materials business said, as Business Weekly reported, that a transition plan with training and recruiting for new roles was in development and that "Right now, nothing changes." If a closing notice reaches your site, it's worth keeping it alongside every announcement that follows, because at Fort Wayne a later announcement changed the plan to close the plant.

Away from those two plants, Avery Dennison's recent cuts show up as yearly totals. Its 10-K for 2025 and the second-quarter 10-Q count positions at numerous or various locations across the company and tie them to actions taken to optimize its operational footprint, a phrase that took on workforce headcount in 2026. Those are company-wide numbers for a workforce of about 35,000, so they say little about any one American plant, and the site-level record of recent years has come from layoff letters, state lists like North Carolina's 2015 WARN list and local reporting.

Which of the company's two businesses carries the charges has shifted from year to year. The Materials Group took $52.4 million of 2023's restructuring charges and the Solutions Group $35.8 million of 2024's, while 2025 split almost evenly, $22.9 million in Materials and $23.4 million in Solutions, by the 10-K's segment table. The 10-Q puts the Solutions Group at $24.8 million for the first half of 2026, against $9.4 million in the Materials Group. Those figures are restructuring charges booked by reportable segment, net of reversals, and the filings give no count of positions by group.

Part of Avery Dennison's older layoff record comes from a business it sold in 2013. CCL Industries bought its Office and Consumer Products and Designed and Engineered Solutions businesses on July 1, 2013, Avery Dennison's July 2013 8-K shows, and its January 2005 8-K called the Gainesville plant it planned that year to close an office products facility. All but one of Avery Dennison's filings in our WARN tracker predate the sale, the exception being the 2020 Fort Wayne notice from a label materials plant. If your job was in the Office and Consumer Products business after July 1, 2013, that business belonged to CCL from that day.

Severance at Avery Dennison runs through plans, by the company's own description. The company's 10-K for 2025 describes plans that give eligible employees severance benefits in an involuntary termination and says it calculates severance using the benefit formulas under those plans, so a person's amount turns on whether a plan covers them and what its formula works out to, and past closings don't set it. If severance comes with your notice, the plan's eligibility rules and formula are what the number is worth checking against, and negotiating severance covers what else can be weighed alongside it.

A sourced history of Avery Dennison layoffs

• July 2026, Fletcher site set to become a development lab

  High-volume manufacturing was to move to other facilities, affecting about 30 jobs, and the employees affected were offered assistance, severance and the option to apply for other jobs within the company, a spokesperson told WLOS.

• First half of 2026, about 600 positions in new actions

  The 2026 actions drew $34.7 million in charges in the first six months, covering severance and related costs plus asset impairments at various locations, the company's second-quarter 10-Q shows.

• 2025, about 1,200 positions in the 2025 actions

  The 2025 actions drew $48.8 million in charges, covering severance for about 1,200 positions plus asset impairments at numerous locations, according to the company's 10-K for 2025, after about 90 positions in late 2024.

• 2023 and 2024, the 2023 actions and a Belgian plan

  The 2023 actions covered about 1,450 positions in 2023 and about 1,280 in 2024 at numerous locations, by the count in Avery Dennison's 10-K for 2024, and a separate plan from 2023's third quarter covered about 210 at a Belgian factory.

• October 2020, Fort Wayne closing announced and later reversed

  Avery Dennison announced on October 14, 2020 that it would close its Fort Wayne plant, where about 170 people worked, and the Business Weekly later reported its decision to keep the plant open to make shipping labels.

• April 2015, Lenoir and Greensboro closing in North Carolina

  An Avery Dennison notice dated April 23 covered 143 employees in Lenoir and 82 in Greensboro, effective August 30, and North Carolina's 2015 WARN list logs it as a permanent closure.

• January 2005, Gainesville office products plant set to close

  Avery Dennison told employees on January 19 that it would close its office products facility in Gainesville, Georgia, shifting production to other locations, with the closure due to finish in the third quarter, its January 2005 8-K said.

• January 1999, realignment set to close eight plants

  Avery Dennison announced on January 26 a realignment that would close eight manufacturing facilities, including Rochelle, Illinois, and eliminate about 1,500 positions, about 9% of its workforce, its 10-K for 1998 said.

What to do if you're laid off from Avery Dennison

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Avery Dennison's biggest hubs: Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Kansas. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Avery Dennison's hub states run: Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Kansas, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.