The Layoff Club

Laid off from T-Mobile.

T-Mobile cut about 5,000 positions in 2023 and booked $462 million in severance and related costs. A second program started in late 2025 and has cost more, $531 million through June 2026, with the cuts arriving in rolling waves through call centers, IT, and retail.

At a glance

What's known about T-Mobile severance and layoffs

  • About 5,000 positions, just under 7% · August 2023 reduction
  • 10, covering 1,494 jobs · WARN filings since 2025, our tracker
  • $462M · 2023 severance and related costs, as filed
  • $531M · 2025-2026 program severance, through June 2026
  • 70,036 down to 65,365 · US headcount, December 2025 to June 2026
  • Rolling waves, hundreds at a time · The 2025-2026 pattern
  • Call centers, IT, and retail stores · Where the 2026 cuts landed
  • Began in the second quarter of 2026 · Retail store closings
  • None recorded at those sites · Bumping rights, three 2026 notices

Recent T-Mobile layoffs

T-Mobile's fall 2026 Washington notice covers 77 separations

T-Mobile told Washington's Employment Security Department in August 2026 that 77 separations would run between September 21 and November 18, 63 of them newly affected and 14 carried over from an earlier notice whose separation dates had slipped. The same filing covers engineering directors and systems architects alongside retail store managers and mobile associates, and it follows the quarter in which the company started closing dealer and corporate owned stores.

Previous rounds

T-Mobile layoff history

T-Mobile's 2023 cut removed about 5,000 positions, just under 7% of its total employee base, from corporate, back-office, and technology roles. Its filings booked $462 million in severance and related costs for that reduction, which divides out to roughly $90,000 a position in accounting terms. That number is what the reduction cost the company's books, not what any individual was handed.

Gopalan became chief executive on November 1, 2025, and T-Mobile began the restructuring it now calls the 2025-2026 Workforce Transformation in the fourth quarter of that year. The filings record both facts and draw no line between them. What followed arrived as several hundred roles at a time rather than one announcement, in Chattanooga, Austin, Denver, and Washington, the kind of cadence that surfaces in state WARN feeds rather than headlines.

The headcount tells a stranger story than the rounds do. T-Mobile employed about 67,000 people at the end of 2023 and about 75,000 at the end of 2025, having bought UScellular's wireless business in between. Deutsche Telekom, which owns the company, then reported the US workforce falling from 70,036 to 65,365 over the first half of 2026 and put that down mainly to the Workforce Transformation, though a headcount change also absorbs people who simply left. A company can cut hard and still be larger than it was two years earlier, so a cut here doesn't mean the company is shrinking.

The 2023 round is no longer the largest severance charge on T-Mobile's books. Through June 30, 2026 the company had booked $531 million of severance against the 2025-2026 Workforce Transformation, against $462 million for the whole 2023 reduction, and had already paid $346 million of it out in cash during the first half of the year. What the filings don't carry this time is a headcount. In 2023 the company published the money and the roughly 5,000 positions, which is what makes the per-position figure above possible; for the current program it has published the money alone, so there's no honest way to run the same arithmetic.

The 2026 state filings describe function-level wind-downs more often than closings. In Austin, T-Mobile ended accessibility relay work and moved it to an outside partner while the call center itself stayed open. In Denver it wound down business sales care in an office that kept running. In Chattanooga it cut 200 roles at a customer care center local reporting puts at around 900 people. Washington's August notice reads the same way, closing a Bothell office while the Bellevue headquarters buildings and the Bellingham call center were expected to stay open. A site that keeps its lights on can still lose an entire department.

Three of those 2026 filings carry the same two lines, no union at the affected locations and no bumping rights, so nothing in the notices gave a longer-serving worker a claim on a junior colleague's job. Austin and Washington both recorded that affected staff could apply for other T-Mobile openings, which is an invitation rather than a placement, and Washington added that some of the cuts were tied to relocations. If you want to read how your own state's notice was written, T-Mobile's filings sit in our WARN tracker, which holds nine of them for 2026 covering 1,363 jobs, a total that rests on the eight filings carrying a job count. All-time it holds 24 T-Mobile filings, 10 of them covering 1,494 jobs since the start of 2025, the largest a 637-job Washington filing from April.

Reporting on previous T-Mobile layoff rounds

How T-Mobile's layoffs compare to other companies

T-Mobile's $462 million charge covered severance and related costs for roughly 5,000 eliminated positions in 2023, which works out to about $90,000 a position in accounting terms. That's a bookkeeping average rather than a package anyone was paid, and it's the closest the company has come to putting a public number on what cutting a job costs it.

What to do after being laid off from T-Mobile

  1. File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. T-Mobile's biggest hubs: Washington, Texas, Tennessee. 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 T-Mobile's hub states run: Washington, Texas, Tennessee, 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.

T-Mobile layoff and severance questions

What severance does T-Mobile pay?

No formula covering ordinary staff appears in any T-Mobile filing we reviewed. The 2023 round's $462 million covered severance and related costs for about 5,000 eliminated positions, which works out to roughly $90,000 a position as an accounting average rather than a package anyone received. Recent waves came with severance, transition support, and internal redeployment offers, and individual agreements control. The one severance formula T-Mobile has actually filed belongs to a single employee, the chief executive's own agreement, which sets his cash severance at twice base salary plus target bonus with company-paid medical continuation. Nothing on record extends that to anyone else.

Is T-Mobile still cutting jobs?

Filings reviewed through September 5, 2026 recorded separations scheduled into November, and the company said in its July 2026 quarterly report that it expected substantially all remaining separations under its current program to happen during 2026. The cuts have come as rolling waves rather than big rounds, several hundred at a time across call centers and IT, disclosed mostly through state WARN filings in places like Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, with retail joining in 2026.

What's T-Mobile's 2025-2026 Workforce Transformation?

It's the name T-Mobile gives the restructuring it began in the fourth quarter of 2025, described in its filings as centralizing leaders and teams, reducing organizational layers, and eliminating duplicative roles. Through June 30, 2026 it carried $531 million of severance costs, more than the 2023 round cost. If you're being separated and want to know whether you sit inside it, ask which program your separation is booked under and check how your own notice and agreement are worded.

How many jobs has T-Mobile cut in 2026?

The company hasn't published a figure for the current program. Deutsche Telekom, which owns T-Mobile, reported US headcount falling from 70,036 at the end of 2025 to 65,365 at June 30, 2026 and attributed the drop mainly to the Workforce Transformation, though a headcount change also absorbs resignations and retirements. Our own tracker holds nine T-Mobile filings for 2026 covering 1,363 jobs, a total drawn from the eight of them that carry a job count.

Is T-Mobile closing stores?

Yes. The company said it started closing certain dealer and corporate owned stores in the second quarter of 2026, booking a $108 million charge that covers contract terminations, severance, and ended leases, and said it was evaluating further retail restructuring. Washington's August 2026 notice named store managers and mobile associates among the roles going.

Can laid-off T-Mobile workers take another job inside the company?

They can apply. The Austin filing recorded that affected employees were encouraged to apply for other T-Mobile positions, and the Washington notice said some cuts were tied to relocations with relocation opportunities possibly offered. Neither one promises a placement, and both recorded that the affected sites had no union and no bumping rights.

Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from T-Mobile?

In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. T-Mobile's biggest U.S. hubs are Washington, Texas, Tennessee. 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 T-Mobile?

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 T-Mobile?

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 T-Mobile?

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.