The Layoff Club

Laid off from Kohl's.

Kohl's biggest recent cuts came from shutting buildings, 27 stores and two e-commerce fulfillment centers in 2025, while the chief executive's job changed hands twice that year. Each closure came with the same stated offer, a severance package or the chance to apply for another open Kohl's role.

At a glance

What's known about Kohl's severance and layoffs

  • 27, across 15 states · Kohl's stores closed in 2025
  • 5 covering 929 jobs, all in California · Kohl's WARN filings in our tracker since 2025
  • 690 jobs, San Bernardino, January 2025 · Largest Kohl's filing in our tracker since 2025
  • 768, last day of employment September 12, 2025 · Kohl's Monroe, Ohio fulfillment center jobs
  • $14 million, then $10 million · Kohl's severance charges, fiscal 2024 and 2025
  • Four, Michael Bender named in November 2025 · Kohl's chief executives in four years
  • About 84,000, 29,000 of them full-time · Kohl's average associates in 2025

Recent Kohl's layoffs

Kohl's eliminated its chief marketing officer role in August 2026

On August 25, 2026, Kohl's eliminated the chief marketing officer position in a realignment around a new chief customer officer role, with Christie Raymond leaving September 9. The filing names no other cuts, and for 2026 there's none in our tracker.

Previous rounds

Kohl's layoff history

In 2025 the biggest Kohl's job losses on record came from shutting buildings. In January the company said it would close 27 underperforming stores by April and its San Bernardino e-commerce fulfillment center when the lease ran out in May, ten of the stores in California. Our WARN tracker shows the California side as 5 filings covering 929 jobs since the start of 2025. San Bernardino accounts for 690 of them, with a March 28 layoff date, and another 239 across stores in San Diego, Sacramento, Westchester and Pleasanton. Everyone affected was offered a severance package or the ability to apply to other open roles at Kohl's. No terms on record say what either option was worth, which is a rough spot to plan from.

San Bernardino is also the one closure where the record shows the handoff. On February 26, 2025 Kohl's halted production and paid associates to spend the day at an on-site event with the county Workforce Development Board's Rapid Response team. More than 300 came, county staff and California's Employment Development Department ran sessions, and 20 employers recruited. The board says it receives WARN notices and sends its Rapid Response team, with help ranging from resumes and training money to answers on unemployment benefits, COBRA, 401(k) options and the Affordable Care Act.

Five months later it was Ohio's turn. On June 5, 2025 Kohl's told the state it was permanently closing its Monroe e-commerce fulfillment center, which it had run since 2001, with the last day of employment September 12 and the building shut by October 31. The notice covered every employee, full-time, part-time and temporary, and its position list adds up to 768 jobs, 664 of them material handlers. It also says no union represented them and no bumping rights applied. The offer matched January's, competitive severance or the chance to apply for other open roles, and Kohl's said newer centers and store fulfillment let it fill orders without Monroe. Kohl's sent the notice to the Rapid Response program in Ohio's Office of Workforce Development, and it isn't among the Kohl's filings in our tracker.

The company's 10-K prices the closures. Kohl's booked $76 million in closing costs and impairments for San Bernardino and the 27 stores in 2024, $14 million of it severance, and $15 million in 2025, including $10 million of severance. The filing describes $6 million of other 2025 costs as primarily related to closing Monroe, and it reversed $12 million of the 2024 exit costs, crediting favorable landlord negotiations. Across 2025 Kohl's averaged about 84,000 associates, 29,000 of them full-time.

The office cuts ran on their own schedule. In late January 2025 CEO Ashley Buchanan emailed staff that Kohl's had cut about 10 percent of the roles reporting into its corporate offices, more than half of them open positions, and a spokesperson put the people affected under 200. Credit and customer service teams had heard in May 2024 that their jobs would change or disappear by February 2025, a shift Kohl's tied to moving back-office card work to Capital One. One employee's unverified account to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had a manager reading the news from a script in a virtual meeting. Buchanan was fired in May 2025 over a vendor founded by someone he had a personal relationship with.

Since then the record has gone quieter. Bender said after the 2025 results that Kohl's had no grand plan to take stores out or add them, the tracker holds nothing for Kohl's in 2026, and the newest change on record is one eliminated executive role, chief marketing officer, in an August 2026 realignment. If you're weighing a Kohl's offer, ask HR in writing whether taking the severance package rules out applying for another open role, since both 2025 closure announcements joined the two with an "or," and ask for the written terms and the deadline to respond before you decide.

Reporting on previous Kohl's layoff rounds

What to do after being laid off from Kohl's

  1. File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Kohl's's biggest hubs: California, Ohio, Wisconsin. 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 Kohl's's hub states run: California, Ohio, Wisconsin, 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.

Kohl's layoff and severance questions

Is Kohl's closing more stores in 2026?

Nothing in the reporting we track points that way. After closing 27 stores in 15 states in 2025, CEO Michael Bender said Kohl's had no "grand plan of saying we're taking stores out or adding stores at this point," and put more than 90% of its roughly 1,150 stores in the profitable column. That's an executive describing intent. The tracker's 2026 count for Kohl's is zero.

What severance did Kohl's give laid-off workers?

It depends on the cut, and only one per-person figure is on record. Store and warehouse associates in the 2025 closures were offered a severance package or the chance to apply for another open role, with no terms on record beyond that. For the January 2025 corporate cut the company described competitive severance packages, and Fortune reported two weeks' pay on top of a package. The 10-K's $14 million of severance in 2024 and $10 million in 2025 are company-wide totals and can't tell you what one person received. Check your separation papers for the terms that apply to you, since nothing in the reporting we track gives a per-person amount for store or warehouse workers.

How many Kohl's corporate employees were laid off?

Fewer than 200 people in the January 2025 cut, by a spokesperson's count. CEO Ashley Buchanan told staff Kohl's had reduced about 10 percent of the roles reporting into its corporate offices, more than half of them open positions. Kohl's wouldn't disclose its corporate headcount, though the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has put the Menomonee Falls headquarters at about 4,000 people. The earlier office cuts on record took 60 corporate employees in 2023 and 15 percent of the corporate workforce in 2020.

Why was Kohl's CEO Ashley Buchanan fired?

Kohl's fired Buchanan in May 2025, less than four months after he replaced Tom Kingsbury, when an internal investigation found he had directed the company to do business with a vendor founded by someone he had a personal relationship with. Michael Bender took over on an interim basis and was named permanent CEO that November, the company's fourth chief executive in four years.

Did Kohl's file WARN notices for its layoffs?

Yes. Our tracker counts 22 Kohl's filings in all, with 5 filings covering 929 jobs since the start of 2025, and California holds every one. The biggest, dated January 8, 2025, lists 690 jobs and matches the San Bernardino center; the other four are store notices of 58 to 62 jobs apiece. The Monroe closure went to Ohio on a notice dated June 5, 2025 whose position list adds up to 768 jobs, and that notice isn't among the filings our tracker holds.

Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from Kohl's?

In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. Kohl's's biggest U.S. hubs are California, Ohio, Wisconsin. 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 Kohl's?

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 Kohl's?

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 Kohl's?

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.