Laid off from Stanley Black & Decker.

What Stanley Black & Decker layoffs have meant for employees

Stanley Black & Decker tied its 2023 plant closings to a savings plan that included shrinking a network of 120 plants, Manufacturing Dive reported, and its February 2026 results release said that program had achieved its original savings target. The Gallatin and Hampstead closings were announced after that, so for anyone in a plant or warehouse, reaching the target didn't bring the closings to a stop. Hourly staff at manufacturing and distribution sites make up most of the company's workforce, and those are the sites the closings have hit.

The stretch between hearing the news and a last day has run from weeks to more than a year depending on the site, and the layoffs have come in waves, so two people from the same plant can leave months apart. New Britain's were spread over five waves into 2027, according to WTNH, and Concord's phases ran past a year, the Charlotte Observer reported. In Verona, employees told the Daily Journal they were sent home with pay on the day they heard. If you were offered severance and your notice puts you in a later wave, it's worth asking HR in writing whether taking another job before your scheduled date would change it.

Offers of work at other sites have appeared in the company's closing statements since 2023, with limits worth reading closely. Hampstead's was a chance for some employees to apply for jobs elsewhere, per a citybiz report, Concord's letter raised transfers only as a possibility for some, and the company said its Gallatin workers had no bumping rights, per WSMV. Both Tennessee towns that took on Cheraw's work in 2023 have since seen cuts of their own, a Jackson facility's in 2024, as the Charlotte Observer relayed from WBBJ, and a Gallatin closing in 2026. If you're offered a spot at another site and severance is also on the table, it's worth asking whether turning the spot down changes the severance, and whether the answer can be put in writing.

The reasons the company has given have been about products and volume. In New Britain it pointed to single-sided tape measures losing their market, per WFSB, in Verona to dropping several gas-powered products, and in Hampstead to years of falling volume. If you left in one of these closings and a recruiter asks why, the reason the company gave for closing your site is a fair answer to repeat, and explaining a layoff to a recruiter has more on how that conversation tends to go.

For people in salaried and support roles, retirement has twice been part of the company's cuts, through the early retirement package it announced with the 2022 layoffs and the 2025 voluntary program described in its 2025 annual report. In 2022 it said eligible employees who had already been let go would be notified about that package too, per the statement WMAR carried, so being cut first didn't take someone outside the eligibility it described. If you're salaried and near retirement age, you can ask whether any retirement offer is open to you, and retirement withdrawals while unemployed covers what tapping savings early can cost.

Older filings in our WARN tracker sit under earlier names, like The Stanley Works, or under units the company bought later, like Irwin Tools, so a site's older filings may carry one of those names rather than today's. The tracker can also trail the news, since Verona's closing was reported months before its Mississippi filing was dated. Unemployment information for workers in the four 2026 filing states is on our Mississippi, Connecticut, Tennessee and Maryland pages.

A sourced history of Stanley Black & Decker layoffs

• August 2026, Stanley Black & Decker's Hampstead plant to close

  The plant's manufacturing volume had declined steadily for several years, company representatives said in a citybiz report. Eligible workers were to get severance and job-placement help, and some were to be offered chances to apply for jobs at the company's other US sites.

• June 2026, Stanley Black & Decker's Gallatin facility to close

  The notice for 241 Commerce Way listed 116 workers and a closing effective August 28, and the company said the workforce wasn't unionized, WSMV reported.

• February 2026, Stanley Black & Decker's New Britain plant closing

  The company offered severance, job placement help and options at other facilities, WFSB reported. Its notice put 287 of about 300 layoffs between May 4 and 18, with small waves running to April 2027, per WTNH.

• November 2025, Stanley Black & Decker to close Verona plant

  The company said it would drop several gas-powered products to focus on ride-on mowers and commercial equipment, the Daily Journal reported. The former MTD plant had 574 workers and 183 temporary workers, and a February 2026 Lee County closing filing in our tracker listed 441 jobs.

• June 2025, Stanley Black & Decker voluntary retirement program

  The company's 2025 annual report says the program set out to right-size corporate and support functions after recent divestitures, paying separation benefits to eligible employees who chose to retire.

• June 2024, Stanley Black & Decker's Concord distribution center closing

  The notice listed 224 jobs in phases from August 5 through October 2025, and a supply chain vice president wrote that some employees might be offered transfers, the Charlotte Observer reported.

• March 2024, Stanley Black & Decker's Fort Mill, Mission closings

  Layoffs of 192 at the Fort Mill, South Carolina plant began May 10 ahead of a year-end closing, and the Mission, Texas plant was set to close by the end of August with 127, the Charlotte Observer reported in June.

• March 2023, Stanley Black & Decker's Fort Worth, Cheraw closings

  The company said 175 employees in Fort Worth and 182 in Cheraw, South Carolina would be affected as Cheraw's work moved to Jackson and Gallatin in Tennessee, adding 80 jobs there, with options at other sites and job placement help, per Manufacturing Dive.

• January 2022, Stanley Black & Decker salaried cuts, retirement offer

  A small percentage of employees, primarily salaried, were let go as the company aligned costs with inflation and supply chain pressures, Hartford Business Journal reported. Its statement, as WMAR carried it, said eligible employees, including those already let go, would be offered an early retirement package.

What to do if you're laid off from Stanley Black & Decker

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Stanley Black & Decker's biggest hubs: Connecticut, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee. 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 Stanley Black & Decker's hub states run: Connecticut, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, 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.