Laid off from Diageo.

What Diageo layoffs have meant for employees

Four of Diageo's five filings in our WARN tracker name one address, 5001 Washington Blvd. in Baltimore County, and Aramark's 2026 notice names it too. In 2015 Diageo told The Spirits Business the Relay site was significantly underutilized, three years after a $50 million renovation. A Guinness brewery opened there in 2018. In 2023 Diageo told Just Drinks that manufacturing would end and taproom hospitality wouldn't be affected, which held until The Banner reported the whole brewery's closing. If a Diageo statement leaves your part of a site out of one round, this address shows how little that says about the next.

The 2026 closing also turned on whose payroll you were on. Aramark, Diageo's hospitality partner at the brewery, filed its own notice for 174 jobs, so they count as Aramark's, and Diageo's spokesperson declined to give exact numbers. If Aramark paid you, Aramark is the company that said it was working to identify opportunities elsewhere in its organization where possible. Baltimore County's executive also pledged the county's workforce development team to connect laid-off employees with resources and new jobs.

Headlines put the 2026 cuts at nearly 2,000 jobs, and that number needs a second look. Diageo's 2026 Form 20-F shows the average workforce down 1,922 in the year to June 30, an average-workforce change and not a layoff count. Africa's average fell 928. Separately, note 3 of the filing records the July 2025 sales of Diageo's stakes in Seychelles Breweries and Guinness Ghana, and the filing doesn't allocate Africa's fall between layoffs, those sales or other causes. North America's average fell 129, and New York's layoffs weren't scheduled to begin until September 30, after that count closed, as Global Drinks Intel reported. For office staff the better signal is the Reuters report in ESM Magazine, which said chief executive Dave Lewis focused the changes on global back-office functions and "massive duplication," and that some teams were cutting around 20% to 30% of their staff.

The severance record comes down to a company total, one union deal and a sentence Diageo has reused. At Amherstburg the union bargained against a deadline, and The Canadian Press reported the vote came one day before a contract expiry that could have left workers with the legal minimum. If a collective agreement covers you at Diageo, that makes its expiry date worth keeping in view beside any closing date. The sentence names severance packages, outplacement assistance, employee assistance resources and information on open roles. It appeared in the Just Drinks report on Relay in 2023, in a statement to WAVE News on Stitzel-Weller in January 2025 and in The Spirits Business that September.

In Scotland the useful line runs between being at risk and losing the job. GMB Scotland's figures, in that Global Drinks Intel report, were 172 people at risk and 38 jobs going, and Just Drinks later had GMB at 30 across the Highlands and Islands. Diageo's own count at Cameronbridge was ten of the 72 staff in grain distilling, eight once two vacant posts came out. If you've been told you're in an at-risk group, GMB's figures show how much larger that group can run than the number of jobs going.

Stitzel-Weller shows how one announcement can hold two timelines. Bottling was the near-term phase-out, while Diageo said it would shift most maturing and warehousing to Shelbyville and Lebanon over two to three years, which put warehouse work in Louisville on a later timeline than bottling. If your site is part of a longer move like that, or you received a notice at the New York office, the first date in the news may not be the one that reaches your job. New York unemployment, Maryland unemployment and Kentucky unemployment lay out the filing steps in those states.

A sourced history of Diageo layoffs

• October 2026, Guinness Open Gate Brewery closing in Halethorpe

  Diageo North America said it would shut the Maryland brewery and taproom, with November 1 the last day open to the public, The Banner reported. Aramark, its hospitality partner, said 174 employees would be affected, and Diageo said most lost jobs were Aramark's.

• September to October 2026, Cameronbridge distillery strike

  Workers at the distillery began strikes on September 28, and Unite suspended three strike days on October 14 for Acas talks, Just Drinks reported. Diageo has said redundancies there would cover ten of 72 grain distilling staff.

• June 2026, New York headquarters notice

  The notice covered 305 permanent jobs, 36.35% of the site's 839 employees, and laid out a period from September 30, 2026 to September 30, 2027, Global Drinks Intel reported. Our WARN tracker dates it June 30.

• June 2026, Irish collective redundancy proposal

  Ireland's Department of Enterprise acknowledged a notification of proposed collective redundancies on June 22, and Irish media estimated about 150 roles of around 1,200, Reuters in ESM Magazine said.

• August 2025 to February 2026, Amherstburg bottling plant closing

  Diageo said it planned to shut the Crown Royal plant in Ontario at the end of February 2026 and shift some bottling volume to the United States. Unifor members voted 89% for a closure agreement, The Canadian Press reported.

• August to September 2025, Balcones pause and Northern Ireland cuts

  Distilling stopped at Balcones in Waco, Texas, with 17 roles affected, and Diageo's Northern Ireland arm planned to cut about 60 roles while outsourcing some commercial work to India, The Spirits Business reported.

• January 2025, Stitzel-Weller bottling phase-out in Louisville

  WAVE News reported in January 2025 that bottling there was slated to phase out by April 2025 and move to other US Diageo facilities, with 33 employees likely to lose their jobs or be affected.

• March 2023, Relay Guinness plant closing

  Diageo's notice, dated March 31 in our WARN tracker, listed up to 108 employees and a shutdown by June 9, while its statement to Just Drinks anticipated around 97 roles. Taproom hospitality was left out.

• June 2015, Relay bottling closing

  Diageo told The Spirits Business it would stop bottling at Relay. Its June notice covered 64 jobs in our WARN tracker.

What to do if you're laid off from Diageo

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