The Layoff Club

Laid off from Macy's.

Macy's is executing a planned shrink, a target of about 150 store closures with the lists published in batches, warehouses consolidated, management delayered. If you work there, the plan is public and your location's fate may already be on a list.

At a glance

What's known about Macy's severance and layoffs

  • About 150 store closures announced through 2026 · The program
  • 55 in 2024, 66 in 2025 · Closed so far
  • 14 more Macy's stores · Announced for 2026
  • 993 in Cheshire, 57 and 106 in South Windsor · Connecticut warehouse closures
  • About 2,350 roles, 3.5% · January 2024 corporate cut
  • 90,134 as of January 31, 2026 · US employees
  • 20 filings, 2,477 jobs, 9 states · In our tracker since 2025

Recent Macy's layoffs

Macy's newest filings on record landed in New Jersey in March 2026

New Jersey's WARN archive lists 89 store jobs in Paramus, Livingston and Ramsey, effective March 31 and April 30, a few weeks after a statewide notice covering 79 roles whose positions and locations the filing didn't identify. In Connecticut the Cheshire fulfillment center's terminations ran in phases through August 29, 2026.

Previous rounds

Macy's layoff history

Macy's has been shrinking on a published schedule since early 2024, and which version of it reaches you depends on where you worked. Store staff learn their location's fate from an annual announcement, supply chain colleagues learn theirs when a whole building draws a WARN notice, and corporate roles come out in filings that name a number and no addresses. The company closed 55 stores in 2024 and 66 in 2025, and said in January 2026 it would close 14 more, inside a plan it announced in 2024 anticipating roughly 150 closures by the end of 2026.

In 2026 the heaviest cuts have been in the warehouses. Macy's told Connecticut's labor department and the mayors of South Windsor and Cheshire it would permanently close three facilities, the two Cheshire buildings holding its fulfillment center and a South Windsor site, all three closings falling in March 2026. The Cheshire notice covers 993 permanent job eliminations, phased by shift and classification, with no reason given for the closure, and Newsweek counted 485 of them fulfillment associates and 193 power equipment operators. South Windsor lost 57 jobs at its store delivery and customer returns operations, 20 of them warehouse associates, three months after a separate notice took 106 from the same site's Backstage unit. Oklahoma went the same way, and there Macy's said in January 2026 that it would close its Tulsa County fulfillment center that spring, without saying how many people worked there. Cheshire alone accounts for 993 of the 1,295 jobs in the 6 filings our tracker holds for 2026 across 4 states.

Corporate cuts arrive with far less on the page. In February 2026 Macy's told New Jersey it expected to let go 79 employees statewide by March 7, without naming a position or a location. The biggest corporate round on record is still January 2024, when about 2,350 positions went across the corporate office and stores, 3.5% of the workforce, alongside five mall closures, and the company said at the time it had made the difficult decision to reduce its workforce by 3.5% to become a more streamlined company.

The annual reports put numbers on what the announcements leave out. Macy's reported approximately 90,134 full-time and part-time US employees as of January 31, 2026 against approximately 94,189 a year earlier, about 4,055 fewer across the two annual endpoints. Over that year the company recorded $230 million of impairment, restructuring and other costs and said the restructuring charges related primarily to employee termination and severance, and its property table still listed both Connecticut sites among 25 logistics facilities at year end, Cheshire as a direct-to-customer building and South Windsor as a store-support one. Reporting those results that March, chairman and chief executive Tony Spring said the company had wrapped up year two of the Bold New Chapter and was ready to build on its progress.

If you're holding a notice, read the calendar first and the severance language second. At Cheshire the terminations ran by shift and classification from mid-March into late August 2026, so the date on the letter and the last day of work can sit five months apart. Both Connecticut notices promised information about severance and other benefits, and about transfers to open positions in nearby Macy's locations, and the South Windsor filing added that workers there had no bumping rights and no union. New Jersey was more conditional, transfers where available, or severance and outplacement resources where applicable. None of it carries an amount, and there are no terms on record, so your own separation paperwork is the thing to read closely, and to read before you sign it. Our WARN filing tracker holds 142 all-time filings under the company's name and 20 filings covering 2,477 jobs since the start of 2025, with each state's rules linked beside them.

Reporting on previous Macy's layoff rounds

How Macy's's layoffs compare to other companies

Macy's put a number on its own shrink before it started, roughly 150 closures by the end of 2026, and it names the stores in batches rather than one at a time. That gives the people who work there a concrete question to ask, whether this year's batch has their location on it.

What to do after being laid off from Macy's

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

Macy's layoff and severance questions

How do I know if my Macy's store is closing?

Two records tell you, and only one names your address. Macy's announces the year's list in January, and the 2026 list ran to 14 stores. Your state's WARN filing is the one that names locations and dates, the way New Jersey's archive listed the Livingston, Ramsey and Paramus closures with effective dates of March 31 and April 30. The transfer language on record comes from the supply chain closings, where both Connecticut notices promised information about transfers to open positions in nearby Macy's locations. For store staff there's nothing in the reporting we track that sets out the same offer.

What severance does Macy's pay?

There are no terms on record. The notices promise information about severance and other benefits, and about transfers to open positions in nearby Macy's locations, and Macy's said New Jersey employees were getting severance and outplacement resources where applicable, but no amount, formula or multiplier appears in any of it. The fiscal 2025 annual report does show $230 million of impairment, restructuring and other costs, and says the restructuring charges related primarily to employee termination and severance, but that figure bundles impairment and other costs in with them and discloses no severance amount. Your own agreement holds the terms that actually apply to you.

Which Macy's distribution centers are closing?

Connecticut and Oklahoma are the ones on record. In Connecticut the closings cover both Cheshire buildings and the South Windsor site, and Macy's said the South Windsor Backstage work was moving to its off-price facility in Columbus, Ohio. In Oklahoma it said in January 2026 that it would close the Tulsa County fulfillment center that spring, without saying how many people worked there, though the site was built for roughly 1,500 full-time and part-time employees when it went live in 2015.

When do the Cheshire, Connecticut Macy's layoffs actually happen?

In stages across most of a year. Terminations there started March 14, 2026 with night operations and talent acquisition and ran to August 29 for day full-time operations, maintenance and asset protection, with a few maintenance and asset protection colleagues kept to April 16, 2027 to handle decommissioning. Shift and job classification decide which date belongs to whom, so two people in the same building can be five months apart. The notice your employer filed with the state is where that schedule sits.

Did Macy's cut corporate jobs in 2026?

Yes, though the filing says very little about them. In February 2026 Macy's told New Jersey it expected to let go 79 employees statewide by March 7, without identifying the positions or the locations, and a representative called it a limited number of role adjustments across a small set of functions, with the majority of teams unaffected and some roles being added or realigned. A statewide notice naming no site and no function means the filing itself won't tell a corporate employee whether their team is in it. That confirmation has to come from the company directly.

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

In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. Macy's's biggest U.S. hubs are New York, Connecticut, California. 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 Macy'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 Macy'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 Macy'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.