The Layoff Club

Laid off from Cigna.

Cigna said it would cut about 2,000 jobs by the end of February 2026, under 3% of the company, describing the package only as transition services. The year before, its Evernorth arm shed clinic and corporate roles in Arizona and New Jersey.

At a glance

What's known about Cigna severance and layoffs

  • About 2,000 roles, just under 3% · February 2026 announced reduction
  • 67,700, down 5,800 in one year · Workforce at end of 2025
  • $378 million companywide · Severance charged during 2025
  • $238 million of that charge · Severance paid during 2025
  • Transition services, no figures on record · Published severance terms
  • A week's pay per full year worked · New Jersey severance floor
  • 62 roles in 2025, 134 in 2026 · Evernorth filings in our tracker
  • Through 2028, first set at 2026 · Program length the company expects

Recent Cigna layoffs

Cigna Evernorth's April 2026 filing covered 134 New Jersey roles

Cigna Evernorth Services filed a state notice to cut 134 employees at its Morris Plains, New Jersey offices, and our tracker dates that filing to April 2026, the larger of the two New Jersey entries it holds for the company. Separately, the February 2026 announcement of about 2,000 roles companywide named no units at all. For a layoff the New Jersey act covers, the state sets a severance floor of a week's pay per full year of employment.

Previous rounds

Cigna layoff history

Cigna announced about 2,000 job cuts in February 2026 and released almost nothing with them. The figure covered the whole company, just under 3% of the workforce, and the reduction was meant to be finished by the end of that month. The company wouldn't say which roles, units or countries were affected, or how much it expected to save. Executives didn't raise the cuts on the investor call held days earlier either.

The annual report Cigna filed a couple of weeks later carries figures the announcement never did. It describes a companywide effort called the Strategic Optimization Program, an enterprise-wide initiative the company started in the first quarter of 2025 covering severance and other employee costs, asset impairments, accelerated amortization, and small businesses it plans to discontinue. For 2025 that program cost $749 million before tax, including $616 million in selling, general and administrative expenses, mostly severance of $378 million and asset impairments of $101 million. The severance accrual ran from nothing at the end of 2024 to $378 million charged and $238 million paid during 2025, leaving $140 million accrued at year end. Cigna says it expects the program to continue through 2028, having expected at the start that it would end in December 2026, and that it anticipates future charges. The filing breaks none of that out by unit or country, and nothing in it says whether the February announcement or either New Jersey notice sits inside the program.

Underneath the announcements, the company got smaller. Cigna ended 2025 with 67,700 employees against 73,500 a year earlier, a drop of 5,800. A year-end headcount moves for plenty of reasons besides layoffs, so read that as the company changing size rather than a count of people cut. The entity names on the filings are all Evernorth ones. Evernorth handles pharmacy, care and benefits work for insurers, employers, unions, hospitals and government programs, its clinic business Evernorth Care Group is the Arizona medical practice, and Cigna Evernorth Services is the entity named on the New Jersey notices.

Our tracker holds 10 Cigna filings all-time, and 2 filings covering 196 jobs since the start of 2025. Both of the recent ones landed in Morris Plains, New Jersey. The 62-role filing dated to March 2025 hit a building on Tabor Road that Evernorth occupies half of, and the 134-role filing dated to April 2026 is the bigger of the pair. Arizona is the gap in that count. Evernorth Care Group told the state on November 11, 2025 that it was cutting 143 metro Phoenix roles, and HonorHealth had announced that September that it would take over 11 of the 18 Valley locations, saying at the time that it expected to close in January 2026 pending legal and regulatory approvals. That notice went to Arizona and sits outside the state archives our tracker reads, so those 143 roles aren't in the numbers above.

If you were cut in New Jersey, state law puts a floor underneath whatever Cigna offered. The act reaches a reduction that ends 50 or more jobs at or reporting to a single establishment within 30 days, counting part-time staff the same as full-time, so whether it caught your separation turns on facts you may not see from outside. Where it does apply, an employer of 100 or more owes 90 days of notice at minimum and a week's pay per full year of employment, with four extra weeks added where that warning ran short. The statute prices that week at whichever is larger, the average regular rate across your last three years or the final rate you were paid, which matters if your last year was a lean one. Then comes the clause worth rereading, since no waiver of the severance right takes effect unless a court or the state's labor commissioner approves it. If the act covered your separation, count the weeks yourself and hold that number against what the paperwork offers before you sign, and read the state's own summary of the 2023 changes first. No companywide Cigna severance formula is on record, so for anyone outside New Jersey the agreement itself carries the terms.

Reporting on previous Cigna layoff rounds

How Cigna's layoffs compare to other companies

Insurers cut through the same stretch. Healthcare Dive counted Aetna letting more than 300 people go and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey almost 250 alongside Cigna's 2,000. Cigna's announcement named no units. Its annual report, on a separate track, priced a companywide efficiency program at $378 million of severance charged during 2025 without tying that money to any named round.

What to do after being laid off from Cigna

  1. File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Cigna's biggest hubs: Connecticut, Arizona, New Jersey. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
  2. 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 Cigna's hub states run: Connecticut, Arizona, New Jersey, and every other state is here.
  3. 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.
  4. Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
  5. 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.

Cigna layoff and severance questions

How many jobs is Cigna cutting in 2026?

About 2,000 across the company, announced in February 2026 and meant to be finished by the end of that month, just under 3% of the workforce. Cigna wouldn't say which roles or locations were affected, or what it expected to save. Separately, Evernorth filed to cut 134 roles in Morris Plains, New Jersey, a filing our tracker dates to April 2026. Nothing in the reporting we track says whether those 134 sit inside the 2,000.

What severance is Cigna offering in the 2026 layoffs?

Cigna described only transition services and published no terms. Its annual report shows money moving under a companywide program without naming a formula, $378 million of severance charged during 2025 and $238 million of it paid out. If you worked in New Jersey, state law sets a floor of a week's pay per full year of employment for a layoff the act covers. Wherever you worked, the agreement in your hand holds your actual numbers.

Which Cigna units were affected by the layoffs?

Cigna named none of them for the 2,000-role round. The events that do carry an entity name sit under Evernorth, which handles pharmacy, care and benefits work. Evernorth Care Group, the medical practice division, lost 143 Arizona clinic roles in November 2025. Cigna Evernorth Services is the name on the Morris Plains, New Jersey notices, 62 roles in 2025 and 134 in 2026.

Does New Jersey require Cigna to pay severance?

For a layoff the state act covers, yes. Coverage turns on a reduction ending 50 or more jobs at or reporting to one establishment inside 30 days, with part-time staff counted the same as full-time. Where it applies, New Jersey makes an employer of 100 or more pay a week's pay per full year of employment, and four extra weeks where the employer allowed less than the 90 days of warning the law requires. The statute prices that week at whichever is larger, the average regular rate across the last three years or the final rate paid. And no waiver of the severance right takes effect unless a court or the state's labor commissioner approves it. Both Cigna notices our tracker holds since 2025 were filed in New Jersey, which is why this belongs on the page.

Is Cigna still cutting jobs in 2026?

The newest Cigna event in our tracker is the 134-role Evernorth filing dated April 2026 in Morris Plains, and no later round appears in the reporting we track. The 2,000-role announcement came earlier, in February 2026. On the companywide program carrying the charges, Cigna's annual report says it expects that effort to continue through 2028, having expected at the start that it would end in December 2026, and that it anticipates future charges. That's the company's own expectation, not a schedule of rounds.

Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from Cigna?

In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. Cigna's biggest U.S. hubs are Connecticut, Arizona, New Jersey. Severance usually doesn't block you from filing, and benefits run from your filing date, so file the same week.

Is it OK to file for unemployment after a layoff at Cigna?

Yes. Unemployment insurance is funded by payroll taxes employers pay on wages, the claim never appears on credit reports or background checks, and future employers cannot see it. If the hesitation itself is the obstacle, whether filing is OK has its own article.

What happens to my health insurance after a layoff at Cigna?

Your plan sets the end date rather than the law, so the separation packet is where that date actually lives, and it is often the last day of the month rather than your last day of work. After coverage ends, COBRA lets you keep the identical plan by paying the whole premium yourself, up to 102 percent of what the plan really costs, which lands as several times the payroll deduction you were used to. You get 60 days to elect, counted from the later of coverage ending or the election notice arriving, and electing reaches the coverage back to the day the old plan stopped so no gap exists. How continuation coverage works walks the timing, and whether to take it rather than a marketplace plan is a separate decision.

Should I sign the severance agreement right away?

First pin down how much review time you actually have. If you're 40 or older, federal law gives you 21 days to consider an agreement that waives age claims, 45 in a group layoff, and a waiver signed under a shorter deadline can be invalid. If you're under 40, no federal window applies and the deadline in your packet may be real, so confirm it in writing and ask for more time if you need it. Use whatever window you have to read the release terms, especially non-disparagement and no-lawsuit clauses, and don't stall past a real deadline, because offers can be withdrawn.

Can I collect unemployment if I got severance from Cigna?

Usually yes, though some states delay benefits until severance pay periods end, and lump sums are treated differently than salary continuation. Check your state's rules on our state benefit pages, and file immediately either way so your claim date is locked in.