Laid off from Target.
Target's first big layoff in a decade took 1,800 corporate roles in October 2025, and stores and supply chain were spared. Less than four months later a second round took about 500 more, most of them in distribution and the district offices that run the stores.
At a glance
What's known about Target severance and layoffs
- 1,800 roles, about 8% of corporate · October 2025 action
- About 1,000 layoffs, about 800 unfilled openings · Split
- January 3, plus severance · Paid through
- Stores and supply chain · Exempt in October 2025
- About 500 roles, mostly distribution · February 2026 action
- $129 million · Severance costs, fiscal 2025
- About 415,000, from 440,000 a year earlier · Team members, January 2026
- 4 filings, 414 jobs, 4 states · Our tracker since 2025
Recent Target layoffs
Target cut about 500 more roles in February 2026
A memo dated February 10, 2026, signed by the chief stores officer and the chief supply chain and logistics officer, announced about 500 role eliminations, roughly 400 across distribution and about 100 at the store district level. It reached our tracker in New Jersey, where Target told the state it expected to cut 107 positions by May 17, 2026 across Burlington, Gloucester, Middlesex and Monmouth counties. No severance terms for that round are on record.
Previous rounds
Target layoff history
The cut that reached Target's headquarters arrived as a memo. On October 23, 2025, Target said it was cutting 1,800 corporate roles, about 8% of its corporate workforce, in what reporting called the company's first major layoff round in about a decade. A company spokesman put that figure at roughly 1,000 actual layoffs plus about 800 open positions that would go unfilled, and said the change hit leadership roles at about three times the rate of individual contributors. In Minnesota, Target told the state it would permanently cut 528 people at its downtown Minneapolis offices and 287 at Brooklyn Park, effective January 3, 2026, across levels running from associates and assistants to managers and directors.
What the announcement left out, the annual report priced. Target's Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 records $129 million of severance and related costs, primarily related to the headquarters workforce reduction, with the majority paid by January 31, 2026. The filing books that severance inside a multi-year initiative announced in May 2025 to transform the company's organizational structure, processes and technology, next to $57 million of lease termination costs for vacant office space. The headcount lines move further than the announced rounds do on their own. Target reported about 415,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal team members as of January 31, 2026 against about 440,000 a year earlier, roughly 25,000 fewer by arithmetic across the two endpoints. That gap isn't a layoff count. It sets two rounded snapshots against each other, and both of them include seasonal staff.
The filings in our tracker describe a different Target from the one in the October coverage. That round spared stores and supply chain, and a company spokesman said so plainly. Yet all 4 filings covering 414 jobs across 4 states since the start of 2025 are distribution center or store events. The biggest, 201 jobs in Indianapolis, is Target's own July 2025 notice of the total closure of its Indianapolis fulfillment operation, with every termination set for September 19, 2025 and an opportunity to transfer to another Target location, while the regional replenishment work in the same building kept running. 62 jobs in Savannah and 44 in Washington D.C. fill out the year. The Minnesota corporate notices sit outside those four rows, so the window counts the supply chain closures and misses the headquarters cut entirely, while 82 filings sit in the all-time record.
February came for the areas October had protected. A memo dated February 10, 2026, signed by the chief stores officer and the chief supply chain and logistics officer, announced about 500 role eliminations, roughly 400 across distribution and about 100 at the store district level, with the number of store districts to be reduced. The memo said the move would let Target put significantly more payroll in its stores, primarily in additional labor and hours where needed most. That round is what our tracker's single 2026 filing holds, 107 positions in New Jersey by May 17, 2026, spread across Burlington, Gloucester, Middlesex and Monmouth counties with no sites named and no severance terms on record.
If you're reading a Target severance agreement, the only published benchmark is a decade old. In March 2015 Target notified about 1,700 employees and told the SEC it expected roughly $100 million in severance costs, and reporting at the time described that package as more than 15 weeks of pay plus additional severance based on years of service. Nothing comparable is on record for 2025 or 2026. What the company put on the record this time was pay and benefits through January 3 plus severance packages, with no formula attached, which leaves your own agreement as the document that controls. Read it against the termination date your state holds, since Target's Minnesota notice gives that as January 3, 2026 and records that no bumping rights exist. Its Indiana notice pointed affected employees toward reemployment assistance through the state workforce agency, and our tracker holds what states published.
Reporting on previous Target layoff rounds
February 2026 · About 500 role eliminations, roughly 400 across distribution and about 100 at the store district level, announced in a memo signed by the chief stores officer and the chief supply chain and logistics officer, with the number of store districts to be reduced. In our tracker it shows up as 107 New Jersey positions effective May 17, 2026
October 2025 · 1,800 corporate roles, about 8% of the corporate workforce, announced in a memo from incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke and split by a company spokesman into about 1,000 layoffs and about 800 openings that would go unfilled. Minnesota filings covered 528 people downtown and 287 at Brooklyn Park
Pay and benefits until January 3 plus severance packages, per a company spokesman. Formula not published.
August 2025 · Supply chain, months before the corporate round. Target's own notice covers the total closure of its Indianapolis fulfillment operation, 201 jobs with every termination set for September 19, 2025, and our tracker holds 62 more in Savannah
The Indiana notice offered an opportunity to transfer to another Target location. Terms not published.
March 2015 · About 1,700 employees notified, with severance costs the company put at roughly $100 million, alongside 1,400 openings left unfilled
Reported at the time as more than 15 weeks of pay plus additional severance based on years of service.
How Target's layoffs compare to other companies
Counting unfilled openings in the announced number is a softening move worth noticing, 1,800 sounds like the cut, but about 1,000 people actually lost jobs. Both numbers are true; only one of them got a severance package.
What to do after being laid off from Target
- File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Target's biggest hubs: Minnesota, Texas, Indiana. 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 Target's hub states run: Minnesota, Texas, Indiana, 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.
Target layoff and severance questions
What severance did Target offer in the 2025 layoffs?
Affected corporate employees kept pay and benefits through January 3, 2026, with severance packages on top, according to a company spokesman. Target didn't publish the formula, so the public record doesn't establish individual amounts. The one Target round with reported terms is March 2015, described at the time as more than 15 weeks of pay plus additional severance based on years of service, against roughly $100 million in severance costs the company reported to the SEC.
Were Target store workers affected by the layoffs?
Not in October 2025. A company spokesman said no roles in stores or in the supply chain were touched by that round, which ran about 8% of headquarters. February 2026 went the other way. A memo that month announced about 500 eliminations, roughly 400 across distribution and about 100 at the store district level, which covers corporate staff who oversee stores rather than the people working in them.
Did Target have layoffs in 2026?
Yes. A memo on February 10, 2026 announced about 500 role eliminations, roughly 400 across distribution and about 100 at the store district level, and said the number of store districts would be reduced. Our tracker holds one 2026 filing from it, 107 positions in New Jersey effective May 17, 2026 across four counties, with no sites named. No severance terms for that round are on record.
How many people has Target laid off since 2025?
The October 2025 announcement of 1,800 roles blended about 1,000 layoffs with about 800 openings that would go unfilled, and Minnesota filings put 528 of those people at the downtown Minneapolis offices and 287 at Brooklyn Park. February 2026 added about 500 more. Target's own filings hold the aggregate, about 415,000 team members at the end of January 2026 against about 440,000 a year earlier.
Does Target file WARN notices?
Yes. Our tracker holds 82 all-time and 4 covering 414 jobs across four states since the start of 2025. All four of those are distribution center or store events rather than the corporate round. Target filed separately with Minnesota for the headquarters cut, and those letters aren't among the four rows in our tracker's window, so a state that looks empty in the tracker isn't proof that nothing was filed there.
Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from Target?
In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. Target's biggest U.S. hubs are Minnesota, Texas, Indiana. 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 Target?
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 Target?
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 Target?
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.