Laid off from Brinker International.

What Brinker International layoffs have meant for employees

If you search for Brinker on a state layoff list, you'll mostly find Maggiano's. Chili's runs the other way. The fiscal 2023 10-K and the fiscal 2024 10-K report dozens of company-owned Chili's closed for good, yet no row in our WARN tracker names Chili's after 2019. A state list can put a single Maggiano's in front of you while the Chili's closings sit in one line of an annual report. If you work at a Chili's, an empty search doesn't show that your restaurant was unaffected.

The filings give two grounds for closing a restaurant. Brinker's fiscal 2023 filing said two Maggiano's closed that year were "performing below our standards" and "near or at the expiration of their lease terms." For Chili's, the fiscal 2024 filing says restaurants were performing below standards or Brinker was "unable to negotiate additional lease terms," and the fiscal 2026 10-K writes of being "unable to reach mutually agreeable terms for an extended lease." On that Chili's wording, a restaurant doesn't have to be a weak performer to close. Brinker's stated reason for Maggiano's in Garden City was "economic expiration of lease," according to News12 Long Island.

What's on record for restaurant staff is a statement about moving to another restaurant. As Maggiano's prepared to close at Arden Fair mall in Sacramento, its president told CBS Sacramento the company was "working closely with impacted teammates to support in finding placements at other locations." That's one statement about one closing. If Brinker offers you shifts elsewhere, the hours, the tips and the drive at the new place are worth setting against what you have now.

The two cuts above the restaurants with a breakdown on record hit field jobs at least as heavily as Dallas jobs. More than 100 of about 155 cuts in early 2009 were field operations roles, according to Nation's Restaurant News, and CFO Tom Edwards described the 2017 cut as "basically equally mix in the field and in the restaurant support center" in NRN's earnings story. He said Brinker "eliminated a level" and widened area directors' span of control, and he expected annual savings of approximately $12 million. If you're an area or regional director, those two cuts are documented comparisons for your role.

After that round the record moves into footnotes. The fiscal 2020 10-K traces fiscal 2019's severance line mainly to "certain Maggiano's back-office positions," and the fiscal 2023 filing ties fiscal 2021's to banquet manager jobs. Those lines name jobs, not restaurants, so a Maggiano's role can go without its restaurant going. Later years carry only dollars, such as $3.7 million in fiscal 2023 and $1.7 million in fiscal 2026, tied to changes in management and organizational structure, which makes them a weak guide to how many jobs went. The roughly 34,000 hourly positions of 2020 are a furlough count rather than a layoff count, and the filing says certain employees came back as dining rooms reopened.

Filings for this company can appear under Brinker International Payroll Company, which is on five of the seven filings in our tracker, under Maggiano's Little Italy or under a name combining the two. California's WARN report shows how the payroll name reads, beside a Woodland Hills street address, and such an address is a useful clue to which site a notice covers. If your restaurant closes and no notice turns up, a text or email from your manager with the last day on it gives you a date you can point to later.

A sourced history of Brinker International layoffs

• June 2026, Maggiano's Garden City closing notice

  Maggiano's filed with New York at the end of June for its restaurant at 600 Garden City Plaza, the chain's only Long Island location. News12 Long Island reported 57 workers and a listed closure date of Sept. 28.

• March 2025, Woodland Hills closure notice

  Brinker's payroll company filed to permanently close 6100 Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Woodland Hills, and California's WARN report shows 115 employees and a May 30, 2025 effective date.

• March 2023, Maggiano's Bellevue closure layoffs

  Our tracker holds Brinker's closure filing for Maggiano's Little Italy in Bellevue, Washington, with 147 jobs and a March 4, 2023 layoff date.

• Fiscal 2021, Maggiano's banquet manager positions eliminated

  Brinker's fiscal 2023 10-K ties that year's $0.5 million severance line to the elimination of "certain Maggiano's banquet manager positions."

• Fiscal 2020 fourth quarter, 44 corporate positions eliminated

  The fiscal 2020 10-K records $2.7 million of expenses for a corporate reorganization that eliminated the 44 positions.

• 2020, COVID-19 furloughs and pay reductions

  About 34,000 hourly positions were furloughed by the end of fiscal 2020's third quarter, with 4,600 employees still out on July 29, the fiscal 2020 10-K says. Base salaries for executives and corporate staff fell 8% to 50% for about two months, and the 401(k) match stopped May 10.

• January 2017, Chili's above-restaurant reorganization

  Chili's told employees the cuts covered nine regional directors, 29 area directors and nearly 50 corporate staff, Nation's Restaurant News reported at the time. CFO Tom Edwards told analysts days later it was 70 head counts and a charge of about $6 million, as NRN's earnings story recorded.

• May 2016, Maggiano's Arden Fair closing notice

  CBS Sacramento reported a state listing of 103 lost jobs, with the Arden Fair mall restaurant planning to close by the beginning of July.

• Early 2009, 155 jobs cut after closure announcement

  Brinker confirmed to Nation's Restaurant News about 155 layoffs, approximately 55 at its Dallas support center and more than 100 in field operations, after saying it would close 35 more restaurants by mid-March.

• 2008, 125 corporate headquarters positions cut

  Nation's Restaurant News later recorded a Chili's cut of 125 positions at its corporate headquarters that year.

What to do if you're laid off from Brinker International

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Brinker International's biggest hubs: California, New York, Texas. 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 Brinker International's hub states run: California, New York, Texas, 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.