Laid off from MetLife.

What MetLife layoffs have meant for employees

Losing a MetLife job, or waiting to learn whether yours is next, is hard, and the money questions come either way. MetLife's 2026 proxy statement, describing its standard severance program as it applies to U.S.-based executive officers, says the program offers severance pay, outplacement services and other benefits when a job is eliminated, and that anyone fired for cause gets none of it. If you're offered severance, it's worth asking for the plan document and the schedule your amount came from. If you're covered by MetLife's officer-level plan and your exit is labeled performance-based instead of a job elimination, the proxy says that plan's payment is halved, so the stated reason matters. If you hold MetLife long-term incentive awards, the proxy's executive-pay section says that, depending on each award's terms, people who meet MetLife's Rule of 65 or other age and service tests keep them, while others who take severance generally get prorated cash for certain forfeited performance shares. Kept awards can still be lost for breaking covenants such as non-disparagement or soliciting MetLife employees, so if you're keeping awards, those terms are worth rereading.

When MetLife has moved work between its own offices, the people behind it haven't all been offered the same thing, even inside one announcement. In the 2013 consolidation, a spokesman told Insurance Journal that most Lowell, Mass., staff would keep their jobs working from home with their office set to close and that some Boston staff would work from home or move to a new Boston office, and MetLife said its Aliso Viejo, Calif., staff would shift to a nearby Irvine office. Being told your desk is headed south, with a choice between moving a household and starting a search, is a rough spot. If your office is closing, it's worth asking whether remote work is one of the options, whether your role is among those moving, and what help comes with relocating.

In the forward mortgage exit, the North Carolina consolidation and the Somerset closing that NJBIZ covered, the offers on record for people whose jobs were going included a chance to apply for another MetLife job, and in Irving CBS Texas put it alongside 60 days' notice. If you're applying inside while you're on notice and you've been offered severance, you can ask whether it still holds if no internal role comes through, and what happens to it if one does. Some work has left the company entirely, as in the 2016 deal for CSC to administer millions of MetLife policies that InvestmentNews described, and for anyone the incoming firm hires, that means a new employer. If a firm taking over your work offers you a job and MetLife has offered severance too, it's worth asking MetLife in writing whether accepting the new job affects that severance.

MetLife's notices have carried more than a head count. The letter for its two Irving offices in the mortgage exit, as HousingWire reported it, set March 30 as the start and May 31 as the point the layoffs would be substantially complete, and said more separations would follow later that year. In 2017 MetLife's human resources director told Connecticut's labor department by letter that the Bloomfield restructuring was expected to be permanent and said no one affected had union representation or bumping rights, according to the Hartford Business Journal. The Somerset notice, as that same NJBIZ report described it, named the kinds of jobs it reached, from managers and engineers to support personnel. If a notice covering your site gives dates or calls the cuts permanent, those exact terms are worth weighing as you plan a search.

A sourced history of MetLife layoffs

• December 2017, 61 jobs cut in Bloomfield, Connecticut

  MetLife was cutting roles serving business it wasn't keeping, claims and case specialists the largest groups, and a spokesperson's email to the Hartford Business Journal said all 61 would be eligible for severance pay and benefits, including outplacement.

• August 2016, $1 billion cost plan with job cuts

  CEO Steve Kandarian said trimming about $1 billion in yearly costs by 2019 would "require us to reduce headcount," and CSC, set to administer almost 7 million policies, said it would offer jobs to more than 1,000 MetLife workers.

• 2015, Somerset, New Jersey, office closing

  A notice put 136 jobs at risk as MetLife was moving retail and technology jobs to North Carolina, saying staff would potentially be eligible for severance; MetLife told NJBIZ those not relocating could apply for other company jobs, with outplacement.

• 2013, a plan to move 2,600 jobs to North Carolina

  MetLife set out to move some 2,600 jobs from five Northeastern states and California to new Charlotte and Cary hubs, and as Insurance Journal reported, many workers in affected offices faced looking elsewhere or applying for the new posts.

• January 2012, exit from forward mortgage origination

  MetLife stopped originating forward mortgages, and most of the unit's 4,300 employees faced losing jobs, per American Banker; HousingWire reported an 804-job notice for two Irving offices, where CBS Texas said staff could apply for other MetLife jobs.

• October 2001, officer cuts and a 401(k) exit

  MetLife eliminated 253 officer and director posts, its October 2001 release said, and set out roughly 1,600 more position cuts across Individual Business, Auto & Home and a 401(k) recordkeeping exit, steps chief executive Robert Benmosche called "difficult but necessary."

What to do if you're laid off from MetLife

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