Laid off from Packaging Corporation of America.

What Packaging Corporation of America layoffs have meant for employees

As of January 2025, PCA had largely stayed out of the fiber industry's run of plant closures and layoffs, and its headcount had held relatively steady for a decade, Packaging Dive noted. The explanations it has given since then are site by site. Executives called Allentown and Salisbury underperforming assets on an October 2025 call, according to a December 2025 report, and when PCA announced San Lorenzo's closing in 2020, its 8-K filing said most of that plant's equipment would go to other PCA facilities. If your plant's work or equipment is moving rather than disappearing, you can ask which PCA site is taking it and whether that site has openings in your job.

Middletown's closing letter said PCA planned to keep everyone through the notice period and to pay anyone released early until it ended. If you're released early from Middletown, your last day at the plant and your last day of pay are different dates, and the letter's pay runs to the later one. Gas City's letter to city officials said only that an early release would be "compensated accordingly," so if you were at Gas City and let go early, you can ask what that covers. Middletown's letter also said a few people might be asked to stay past December 1. If you're asked to stay on, you can ask how long the extra time would run, what it pays and, if you're on PCA's health plan, when that coverage would end. If it ends with your job, it may help to read up on how COBRA works.

Both letters also named the public offices PCA said it would work with on dislocated worker assistance, Indiana's Department of Workforce Development and the Region 3 WorkOne board for Gas City and Ohio's Department of Job & Family Services for Middletown. For Richmond, a spokesperson told Virginia Business that PCA would coordinate with the union and with state and local officials on the same kind of help. At Middletown, the union local's representative told WKRC it would help members file for unemployment and look for work. If you worked at Gas City or Middletown, the state rules are at Indiana unemployment benefits and Ohio unemployment benefits, and you can ask those offices about the dislocated worker help PCA's letters mention.

The letters handle hourly and office staff separately. Hourly production and maintenance workers at Middletown and Gas City were represented by Steelworkers locals, and their office colleagues were told individually in writing; Richmond's hourly workers had a Steelworkers local too, Virginia Business reported, and if you worked there, the state rules are at Virginia unemployment benefits. In December 2025, a spokesperson said PCA was scheduling talks at Wallula with the union that represents many of the mill's employees. If a union represents you, it may be worth asking your local what it has negotiated for people leaving and when it expects an answer. If you're salaried and handed a separation agreement, there's more on negotiating severance worth reading before you sign it.

Idling at Wallula has gone two ways. PCA announced in 2023 that it would idle the whole mill, and that October executives said restarts would begin within days; the No. 2 machine, idle since May 2025, was instead among the equipment PCA decided that December to shut for good. PCA's December 2025 release said other PCA mills would replace the lost capacity starting late in 2026, with new linerboard capacity at Jackson, Alabama, and improvements at its Counce mill and the acquired Greif facilities. If a machine you work on is idled, you can ask PCA, and your union if you have one, whether the idling has an end date and how your pay and benefits work in the meantime. Washington's rules for anyone filing there are at Washington unemployment benefits.

A sourced history of Packaging Corporation of America layoffs

• October 2026, Middletown, Ohio converting plant closing

  PCA's October 1 letter put the closing at an estimated 91 employees, most to be released December 1, and said PCA planned to keep all of them through a 60-day notice window, paying anyone let go earlier for the full 60 days.

• August 2026, Gas City, Indiana converting plant closing

  PCA's August 27 letter estimated 78 affected employees, to be released the week of October 26, and said PCA would compensate anyone released sooner and help those interested in another PCA job with openings.

• March 2026, Richmond, Virginia converting plant closing

  A March 31 notice put the Richmond closing at 110 jobs, most ending the first week of June, Virginia Business reported; a six-person North Chesterfield warehouse was to keep operating, and a spokesperson said PCA would help those interested in transferring.

• December 2025, Wallula, Washington paper machine and pulping shutdown

  PCA's December 3 release said it would permanently shut the mill's No. 2 paper machine and kraft pulping, keep the No. 3 machine and cut about 200 positions; its annual report for 2025 said that was done early in 2026.

• October 2025, Allentown and Salisbury full-line plant closings

  PCA's October notices set an Allentown, Pennsylvania closing for December 1, affecting 60 employees, and a Salisbury, North Carolina closing for December 19, affecting 108, Packaging Dive reported.

• January 2025, East Point, Georgia corrugated plant closing

  PCA said it would close its East Point plant near Atlanta, affecting 103 employees whose last days would fall in March, and a spokesperson told Packaging Dive the plant would run normally through the notice period.

• Spring 2023, PCA announces Wallula, Washington mill idling

  PCA announced it would idle the Wallula mill, affecting an estimated 300 employees, and executives said on an October earnings call that they would begin restarting operations within days, Packaging Dive later reported.

• April 2020, San Lorenzo, California box plant closing

  PCA's 8-K filing said it had told employees it would close the San Lorenzo plant, a Tharco box plant acquired with Boise in 2013, with production expected to end in June 2020 and about 20% of its customer business going to other PCA plants.

What to do if you're laid off from Packaging Corporation of America

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Packaging Corporation of America's biggest hubs: Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Washington. 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 Packaging Corporation of America's hub states run: Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Washington, 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.