Laid off from Merck.
Merck has filed its U.S. severance formula with the SEC, weeks of base pay by job band and years of service, so the number in a separation letter can be checked against the company's own table. Its New Jersey cuts have come in batches, four Rahway notices from August 2025 to September 2026.
At a glance
What's known about Merck severance and layoffs
- 5, covering 520 jobs · WARN filings since 2025, our tracker
- 27 · All-time filings, our tracker
- 54 jobs at Rahway, New Jersey · Newest notice, posted September 2026
- About 6,000, around 8% of staff · Positions reported cut company-wide, 2025
- About $3.0 billion, roughly 60% cash · 2025 program's estimated pretax cost
- About $1.7 billion, mostly realized by 2027's end · Annual savings the program targets
- About 75,000, level with 2024 · Worldwide employees at year-end 2025
- 10 to 78 weeks of base salary · U.S. separation pay in the filed plan
Recent Merck layoffs
Merck filed a 54-job Rahway layoff notice in September 2026
The notice sits in New Jersey's 2026 archive, posted in September for 54 workers at Rahway, with separations dated December 11, 2026 and January 4, 2027. A company spokesperson told NJBIZ the cuts were related to Merck's multiyear optimization. It's the fourth Rahway notice since August 2025.
Previous rounds
Merck layoff history
If you worked for Merck in Rahway, the cuts reached you as separate state notices, each with its own dates, which is a rough way to learn where you stand. New Jersey's archives list four since August 2025, for 58, 204, 88 and 54 workers. Our tracker counts 5 Merck filings covering 520 jobs since the start of 2025, spread over New Jersey, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, and 27 all-time. Those counts miss two pieces of the state record, the September 2026 Rahway notice and a 147-worker line on North Carolina's Durham notice, where the tracker carries just the seven-worker line.
Merck's filings describe the program running alongside those notices. In July 2025 it approved the 2025 Restructuring Program, saying it expected to eliminate some sales, administrative and research and development positions while still hiring into new roles, shrinking its real estate and reworking manufacturing, most of it by the end of 2027 and some manufacturing work by 2029. It put the pretax cost near $3.0 billion, roughly 60% of it cash for separations and contract terminations, against about $1.7 billion a year in savings. In 2025 it booked $2.0 billion, including $548 million in separation costs, $502 million of it still reserved at year end, and $910 million of accelerated depreciation on lines at two unnamed manufacturing sites. BioSpace, citing Fierce Pharma and Endpoints News, reported the cut at about 6,000 jobs. CEO Rob Davis called it reallocating resources from slower-growth areas to fund launches, and a spokesperson told NJBIZ the September notice was related to the multiyear optimization.
The most useful thing on Merck's record for someone holding a separation letter is its U.S. Separation Benefits Plan, an SEC exhibit still listed in the 2025 annual report. Its pay table runs from 10 to 78 weeks of base salary, and it also lets you keep medical and dental coverage at the contribution active employees pay for 26 to 78 weeks by service, continues basic life insurance for that stretch at no cost, and gives three to twelve months of outplacement by band. It excludes anyone whose job falls under a union contract unless the contract brings them in, and about 21% of Merck's workforce worldwide had collective bargaining coverage when 2025 closed, so if that's you, read your contract first. The company's accounting says separation costs were estimated under existing severance programs, and it said it planned severance benefits at the Cherokee plant, but there are no terms on record for any specific round.
Start with dates. Find the notice your last day belongs to, then check your letter's weeks against Schedule B-1 for your band and years of service before you sign, since the plan pays only after the release, and for a layoff its WARN law covers, New Jersey says no waiver of the statutory severance takes effect without the labor commissioner or a court approving it. If another Merck job is offered first, get its pay and work location in writing before answering, because declining a qualifying one ends your eligibility. Our tracker lists the Merck filings it holds, state by state.
Reporting on previous Merck layoff rounds
September 2026, 54 jobs at Rahway, New Jersey · New Jersey's 2026 archive shows two separation dates for it, December 11, 2026 and January 4, 2027. A spokesperson tied it to the multiyear optimization.
June 2026, 88 jobs at Rahway, New Jersey · Posted in June 2026 for 88 workers, all effective September 4, 2026.
February 2026, 154 jobs at two Durham, North Carolina sites · North Carolina's listing for a notice dated February 24, 2026 shows 147 workers at the Old Oxford Road plant and 7 on Rodolphe Street, all effective May 1. Merck cited a worldwide drop in demand for Gardasil and Gardasil 9 as it wound down their production, Spectrum News reported. Our tracker holds only the seven-worker line.
November 2025, 204 jobs at Rahway, New Jersey · Posted in November 2025 for 204 workers, separating on February 20, March 6, March 13 and May 11, 2026. It's the largest single Merck notice our tracker holds for the period.
August 2025, 58 jobs at Rahway, New Jersey · Posted in August 2025 for 58 workers, effective November 14, 2025.
July 2025, about 6,000 positions reported company-wide · Merck approved its 2025 Restructuring Program that month, naming sales, administrative and research and development positions. BioSpace, citing Fierce Pharma and Endpoints News, reported about 6,000 people, around 8% of the global workforce.
March 2025, 163 jobs at the Cherokee plant in Riverside, Pennsylvania · Manufacturing Dive reported a state notice setting rounds for May 16 to 30 and June 23 to July 7, 2025, and a last one in 2026, ahead of the plant's closure. A spokesperson said the site's performance wasn't a factor. Our tracker dates the filing May 16, 2025.
Terms not published. The company told Manufacturing Dive it planned to provide severance benefits and support employees through the transition.
What to do after being laid off from Merck
- File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Merck's biggest hubs: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina. 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 Merck's hub states run: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, 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.
Merck layoff and severance questions
How much severance does Merck give laid-off employees?
The formula on file is Merck's U.S. Separation Benefits Plan, still listed in its 2025 annual report's exhibits. Schedule B-1 pays weeks of annual base salary by band and completed years of service. The lowest band gets 10 weeks under five years, every band climbs two weeks a year from year five, and all stop at 78. At ten years that's 22 weeks in Band 200 and 30 in Band 400. Base salary excludes bonuses, commissions and overtime. With no terms on record for any single round, use the schedule to test your letter's number.
Does New Jersey's severance law add to what Merck pays?
Going by both texts, they don't stack. For a layoff New Jersey's WARN law covers, 50 or more people at or reporting to one site within 30 days, the statute requires a week's pay for each full year worked, four weeks more if notice fell short of 90 days, and gives you that or the employer's severance, whichever is greater. Merck's plan cuts its own pay by any severance the law requires and can offset WARN notice pay, though not below $500. On weeks alone, ten years in Band 200 earns 22 under the plan against the statute's 10.
What happens if I turn down another job at Merck?
Under the plan on file, turning down a qualified alternative position offered before your separation date means you haven't had a qualifying termination, and so does accepting another Merck job and backing out. Outside sales roles, a position qualifies if it keeps your base pay and doesn't move your work more than 50 miles farther from home, or over 75 miles away and no closer, with the company measuring the distance and naming your principal work location. Leaving before your set separation date can forfeit the benefit too, unless the company expressly waived that.
When does Merck pay severance, and can it take the money back?
The plan pays one lump sum, less taxes, after your last day and after the window to consider, sign and, where it applies, revoke the release closes, and no later than March 15 of the next year. No signed release, no payment, and the release can carry non-disparagement, non-solicitation or non-competition terms. If Merck or an affiliate rehires you, benefits stop and you repay what weekly installments wouldn't have reached yet. The company can also cancel benefits and seek repayment for conduct it deems detrimental, breaking the release included.
Did Merck's workforce shrink after the 2025 cuts?
Not by the company's year-end count. Merck counted about 75,000 people worldwide in both its 2024 and 2025 annual reports, while its U.S. figure, Puerto Rico included, went from about 31,000 to about 30,000, roughly 1,000 fewer on the two reports' own numbers. It hired about 6,800 people in 2025 after about 7,300 in 2024. Headcount also moves with attrition and acquisitions, so none of those figures counts layoffs.
Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from Merck?
In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. Merck's biggest U.S. hubs are New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina. 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 Merck?
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 Merck?
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 Merck?
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.