Laid off from Clearwater Paper.

What Clearwater Paper layoffs have meant for employees

Clearwater's last two percentages counted positions, and a position isn't always a person. Only a little over half of the jobs in the 10% cut of 2025 had anyone in them, the Lewiston Tribune reported, and at Lewiston more vacant positions went than filled ones. Cypress Bend's 20% also took in open jobs, Packaging Dive reported. If you're trying to judge how deep a cut ran at your site, the count of people let go is the better measure, and both times it came from a spokesperson talking to reporters.

Clearwater tied the 2025 cut partly to what the tissue sale left behind. A spokesperson called overhead "too high for our new business," and the 2025 annual report says the plan was to "right-size our operations after the sale of our tissue operations." Chief executive Arsen Kitch's letter in that report says more than 25% of salaried roles went, a steeper cut than the 10% across the company, as Clearwater worked to "reduce our corporate overhead." If you're salaried, that's the figure that describes your side of the business.

Clearwater's stated reasons have moved from a site's own costs to the market. In the tissue years it pointed at the plant, shutting two of its "highest-cost" machines at Neenah, per the November 2016 release, and calling the whole mill "a high-cost facility" in the June 2021 8-K. At Cypress Bend, Kitch called the mill "well invested and cost competitive" and blamed "a supply driven downturn," after citing forecasts in February 2026 for demand to grow. His annual letter describes 2025 the same way, a down cycle "driven by supply exceeding demand." If you were let go at Cypress Bend, the company's own telling doesn't put it on how that mill ran.

Hourly and salaried cuts have run on separate tracks. At Lewiston in 2025, salaried staff were told that week, while the hourly positions were left for the company to settle with the union, and at Cypress Bend Clearwater said it would work through effects bargaining. On December 31, 2025, about 1,263 of roughly 1,900 employees were under union contracts, with unions representing hourly staff at the manufacturing sites. So if you're hourly, what salaried colleagues were offered may not tell you what your own terms will be.

Clearwater has used different words for a closing and a slowdown. Its board approved an "indefinite closure" at Neenah, and its June 1 letter to Wisconsin said "The closing will be permanent" and that no bumping rights applied, for union or salaried staff. Cypress Bend was announced as a curtailment, with a stated intent to return to full production. That intent is about what the mill makes, and it isn't a recall promise for any employee. If you were let go there, a future restart and your own next job are separate questions.

Staying with Clearwater after a closing has taken an application. Displaced staff at Thomaston could apply for open positions elsewhere, Lesprom's Thomaston report said, as could Long Island's, per Lesprom's Long Island report, and the division president spoke of jobs for those "willing to relocate." The destinations shifted too. Most of Thomaston's equipment was to go to Oklahoma City and Shelby, N.C., then Oklahoma City was marked for closing in 2016 and Shelby went to Sofidel in 2024, the Tribune's November 2024 report said. If a transfer ever comes up, you could weigh how settled the receiving site is along with the pay and the move.

A sourced history of Clearwater Paper layoffs

• April 2026, Cypress Bend restructuring

  Clearwater planned to halve the Arkansas mill's production and cut about 20% of salaried and hourly roles, about 50 people of 320 plus 20 open positions, a spokesperson told Packaging Dive. Departing employees were to get severance packages, healthcare subsidies and outplacement.

• January 2025, company-wide cut after the tissue sale

  The 10% reduction covered 250 positions, only about 135 of them occupied, a spokesperson told the Lewiston Tribune. Lewiston's share was 23 people, eight salaried and 15 hourly, plus about 50 unoccupied positions. Salaried staff let go were offered severance packages, health care subsidies and outplacement.

• June 2021, Neenah tissue mill closing announced

  The mill's indefinite closure was expected to bring $6 to $8 million of severance and related benefits charges, the June 2021 8-K said. A June 1 letter to Wisconsin called the closing permanent, with approximately 285 employees affected and first separations expected July 2 or within 14 days after.

• November 2016, Oklahoma City closing, Neenah machine shutdowns

  The Oklahoma City plant was set to close March 31, 2017, affecting all 131 employees, and two of the highest-cost tissue machines at Neenah were to stop, affecting about 85 of about 400, the November 2016 release said.

• February 2014, Long Island tissue plant closing

  Clearwater announced the permanent and immediate closure of the New York plant, with 155 employees affected, Lesprom reported. They were to be offered separation pay and could seek open jobs at other Clearwater facilities.

• 2013, Thomaston tissue plant closing announced

  A gradual shutdown of the Georgia plant was to run into early 2014, affecting 150 employees, Lesprom reported. Clearwater offered separation and incentive pay to employees who stayed until their established final day.

• October 2011, Lewiston sawmill sale agreed

  Clearwater agreed to sell the sawmill to Idaho Forest Group. About 250 affected workers were to receive severance and WARN Act provisions including up to 60 days' worth of pay and benefits, the Coeur d'Alene Press reported.

What to do if you're laid off from Clearwater Paper

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Clearwater Paper's biggest hubs: Idaho, Arkansas, Georgia, Wisconsin. 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 Clearwater Paper's hub states run: Idaho, Arkansas, Georgia, Wisconsin, 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.