Laid off from Tyson Foods.
Tyson closes and reshapes whole plants, so its layoffs land as very large public filings while the corporate framing stays thin. Our tracker holds 63 all-time Tyson filings and 11 since the start of 2025, led by 3,212 jobs at Lexington, Nebraska and 2,495 in Illinois.
At a glance
What's known about Tyson Foods severance and layoffs
- 11, covering 11,426 jobs · WARN filings since 2025, our tracker
- 63 · All-time Tyson filings, our tracker
- 3,212 jobs · Lexington, Nebraska notice, November 2025
- 2,495 jobs · Illinois notice, August 2026
- 1,761 jobs · Amarillo B-shift notice, January 2026
- One to four weeks by service · Joslin severance, signed union agreement
- None, per a worker account · Lexington severance
- $1.135 billion · Beef segment operating loss, fiscal 2025
Recent Tyson Foods layoffs
Two more beef closures announced in August 2026
Tyson said on August 13, 2026 that it would end operations at its Joslin, Illinois beef plant and its Eagle Mountain, Utah case-ready plant, and pursue a sale of its Pasco, Washington plant. Our tracker holds Illinois and Utah filings dated that day covering 2,495 and 723 jobs. Joslin workers were handed letters in the plant cafeteria when they arrived for their shifts the next morning. Five days later the local union signed a plant closing agreement setting severance at one to four weeks by length of service.
Previous rounds
Tyson Foods layoff history
Tyson lays people off by closing or reshaping whole plants, which puts its cuts into public records that quieter corporate rounds slip past entirely. Our tracker holds 63 all-time Tyson filings, and 11 covering 11,426 jobs since the start of 2025, across five states. The volume comes from a handful of enormous notices rather than a long tail of small ones, so the number attached to your layoff is public, large, and already in the local paper.
The November 2025 announcement covered two sites at once. Tyson said it would end operations at Lexington, Nebraska and convert Amarillo, Texas to a single, full-capacity shift, and our tracker holds a November 21 Nebraska filing covering 3,212 jobs and a January 20 Texas filing covering 1,761. The company said then that it was committed to supporting team members through the transition, including helping them apply for open positions at other facilities and providing relocation benefits. No severance terms for either site are on record. What Lexington has instead is a worker account, one man with five years in the plant telling a local station that employees were told they'd get nothing because they weren't managers.
August 2026 repeated the shape at larger scale and with almost no warning. Tyson said on August 13 that it would end operations at Joslin, Illinois and at its Eagle Mountain, Utah case-ready plant while pursuing a sale of Pasco, Washington, and our tracker holds Illinois and Utah filings from that day covering 2,495 and 723 jobs. Joslin workers learned of it in the cafeteria the next morning, handed letters as they came in for their shifts. The local union said it was extremely disappointed in not receiving advance notice, and that it could have looked for an economic solution if it had been asked. This time the company's support sentence stopped at helping team members apply for open positions elsewhere, with no mention of relocation benefits.
What Joslin got is unusually well documented, because it was bargained. The plant closing agreement Tyson and UFCW Local 1546 made on August 18 anticipates the plant closed on or before October 12 and sets severance by service, one week of pay under two years, two weeks from two to five, three weeks from five to ten, and four weeks above ten, each week counted at 36 hours and paid by November 5, with vacation balances due October 29 and earned time off by November 12. Workers told Labor Notes that 36 hours fell well short of what they'd been earning with overtime, one of them setting a $500 week against $925 in rent. The day after the announcement they rallied at the gates asking for six months of severance rather than two. That same agreement carries a mutual release covering claims under the WARN Act and the National Labor Relations Act, which is worth a lawyer's eyes before you sign anything of your own.
The filings carry the numbers the announcements skip. Tyson's beef segment posted a $1.135 billion operating loss in fiscal 2025 against $381 million the year before, and through three quarters of fiscal 2026 the company raised the estimated cost of its network optimization plan by $155 million for beef actions its own note describes as closing a harvesting facility and moving another facility to a single shift, naming no town. Severance and related costs under that plan ran $49 million across every segment for those nine months, $19 million of it inside beef. Over the same nine months, the transitions of the chief executive and chief operating officer carried $73 million in charges, of which $32 million was severance.
If one of these closings reached you, your own dates decide more than the company's press release does. Nebraska's labor department tells workers to file for unemployment when employment actually ends and not before, and warns that quitting ahead of a scheduled layoff generally costs eligibility, which matters when the closing date sits two months out. Nebraska also put a $1.67 million federal dislocated worker grant behind the Lexington workforce, funding training in CNA, medication aide, medical coding, CDL and construction through two community colleges and regional truck-driving schools. Illinois publishes what its own notice law requires and what an employer owes when it falls short. Start with your state's agency, then your paperwork, then a lawyer if the dates look wrong.
Reporting on previous Tyson Foods layoff rounds
August 2026, Joslin Illinois and Eagle Mountain Utah · An August 13 Illinois filing covering 2,495 jobs and a Utah filing covering 723, with production at Joslin ending the following morning
Pay continued at 36 hours a week toward an anticipated October 12 close, then severance of one to four weeks by length of service, paid by November 5, under an agreement UFCW Local 1546 signed on August 18. Vacation and earned time off pay out on their own later dates.
January 2026, the Amarillo Texas B-shift · A January 20 Texas filing covering 1,761 jobs, the plant's whole second shift, after a November announcement that Amarillo would move to a single full-capacity shift
Terms not published. The company's November statement said it would help team members apply for open positions at other facilities and provide relocation benefits.
November 2025 into January 2026, Lexington Nebraska · A November 21 Nebraska filing covering 3,212 jobs, the entire beef plant, which stopped operating in January
Terms not published. A worker with five years there said employees were told they'd get no severance because they weren't managers.
How Tyson Foods's layoffs compare to other companies
Tyson isn't the only meatpacker shrinking. Reporting in September counted nearly 4,000 meatpacking jobs cut over the summer of 2026, including a JBS plant in Memphis that closed in June with 200 jobs, and a 1,500-worker JBS plant in Souderton, Pennsylvania that union and political pressure turned into a smaller operation keeping 400. Anyone job-hunting in the industry is competing with other laid-off crews.
What to do after being laid off from Tyson Foods
- File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Tyson Foods's biggest hubs: Nebraska, Illinois, Texas. 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 Tyson Foods's hub states run: Nebraska, Illinois, Texas, 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.
Tyson Foods layoff and severance questions
Does Tyson pay severance when it closes a plant?
The terms on record differ by site, and no company-wide policy sits among them. At Joslin, Illinois, UFCW Local 1546 signed an agreement on August 18, 2026 setting severance at one week of pay under two years of service, two weeks from two to five years, three weeks from five to ten, and four weeks above ten, each week counted at 36 hours and paid by November 5. At Lexington, Nebraska, a worker said employees were told they'd get none because they weren't managers. Nothing on severance is on record for Amarillo. The offer in your own paperwork is the one that governs.
When should I file for unemployment if my plant has a closing date months away?
File when your employment actually ends rather than when the notice lands. Nebraska's labor department said exactly that for the Lexington closing, and warned that people who quit ahead of an upcoming layoff are generally not eligible for benefits. If you're weighing an early exit for another job, settle the eligibility question with your own state first, because the wording varies.
Can I transfer to another Tyson plant after a closure?
Both announcements said the company would help team members apply for open positions at other facilities. The November 2025 one also named relocation benefits and the August 2026 one didn't. Reporting on Joslin said no formal transfer rights or relocation stipends had been outlined for those workers. Applying falls to you either way, so get in writing what the company covers before you move.
How much notice does the law require before a plant closing?
That depends on the state. Under the Illinois WARN Act, which covers the August filing, an employer of 75 or more full-time people owes 60 days of advance warning to its workers and to state and local government officials before shutting a plant or running a mass layoff. Fall short and the employer is liable to every affected employee for back pay and benefits across the period of the violation, capped at 60 days, and can face a civil penalty reaching $500 for each day of it. Illinois adds that its investigations weigh whether the company sought capital or other means of keeping people employed. Whether that reaches your own separation turns on your dates, which is worth putting in front of a lawyer.
Which Tyson plants closed in 2025 and 2026?
The November 2025 announcement ended operations at Lexington, Nebraska and cut Amarillo, Texas to a single full-capacity shift. The August 2026 announcement ended operations at Joslin, Illinois and at the Eagle Mountain, Utah case-ready plant, and put Pasco, Washington up for sale. Tyson said it would anchor the beef business around Dakota City, Nebraska, Holcomb, Kansas and Amarillo, and bring a second shift back there as cattle become available.
Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from Tyson Foods?
In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. Tyson Foods's biggest U.S. hubs are Nebraska, Illinois, Texas. 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 Tyson Foods?
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 Tyson Foods?
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 Tyson Foods?
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.