Laid off from Vistra.

What Vistra layoffs have meant for employees

If you work at Kincaid, Baldwin or Newton, the notices the Peoria Journal Star reported on follow a retirement plan Vistra first set out in its September 2020 release, when it scheduled seven coal plants in Illinois and Ohio to retire by 2027. Retirement dates have moved before. That release set Baldwin to retire by year-end 2025, and Vistra's February 2026 10-K lists it for the end of 2027, with a note that expected retirement dates can change if economic or other conditions dictate. The same filing shows Vistra wrote down Kincaid by $49 million in 2023 after a significant decrease in the plant's projected operating margins. The 10-K also said Vistra was evaluating whether its other coal plants due to retire in 2027 could be converted to natural gas, and Capitol News Illinois reported in October 2026 that Kincaid and Baldwin had both been evaluated for it, an option that could affect staffing. The notices give the layoff months Vistra planned as of May 2026, which is a separate record from the retirement dates the 10-K says could change.

Most of the workers at Kincaid and Baldwin are union members, in IBEW Local 15 and Local 51, and Vistra counted about 1,860 employees under collective bargaining agreements company-wide as 2025 ended. Baldwin and Newton filed WARN notices as Dynegy plants in 2016, and when Vistra took over Dynegy in 2018, the merger agreement required it to honor Dynegy's union contracts until they expired or the parties changed them. Union officers described two limits on transfers. Openings inside Illinois are running out, Local 15's Ben Busser said, and a transfer may mean another state, which Local 51's Ryan Watson called "totally different than just moving an hour or two away to the next plant." Anyone offered a transfer can weigh its location and terms against work closer to home.

Not every Vistra closing has come with that much warning. The four Illinois plants slated to close in 2019 were announced in an August 2019 release for shutdown by year's end, and their notices, filed under each plant's own name, reached the state that September. Mine crews were part of the Texas plant closings too, and when the state logged notices in November 2017 for the closings of 2018, one covered the Three Oaks Mine near Elgin.

Two of Vistra's deals were followed by cuts at the other company's offices. Before the Dynegy merger closed, Vistra told its own employees in an October 2017 Q&A that the merger's savings were "mostly focused in areas where there is overlap." The same Q&A said the three coal plant closings announced that October would have happened regardless of the merger. The merger agreement gave Vistra until April 15, 2018 to tell Dynegy whether each of its corporate employees in Houston, Cincinnati, Collinsville and Springfield was expected to stay after closing. Houston, where Dynegy had its headquarters, is where the merger cuts landed, Connect CRE reported, and the Crius purchase the next year was followed by layoffs at its Norwalk office, according to Patch. If you're in a corporate job at a company Vistra is buying, those two deals are the record, and both times the cuts were announced after the deal closed.

All but one of Vistra's tracked filings come from Texas or Illinois, as our WARN tracker shows, and the exception is the 2022 Ohio notice at Moscow, home of the Zimmer plant. Jobless claims run on each state's own rules, set out on our Illinois, Texas and Ohio unemployment pages. Crius's 2019 Norwalk notice predates our Connecticut archive, which starts in August 2025, so it isn't one of the tracker's filings.

A sourced history of Vistra layoffs

• May 2026, Newton, Kincaid and Baldwin closing notices

  Notices Vistra sent Illinois on May 4 set layoffs of 83 workers at Newton in October 2027, 99 at Kincaid in January 2028 and 122 at Baldwin in February 2028, the Peoria Journal Star reported.

• September 2020, Illinois and Ohio coal retirement plan

  Vistra's September 2020 release set seven Illinois and Ohio coal plants to retire by 2027, all but Edwards on dates that could come "sooner should economic or other conditions dictate." Its operating chief said the advance notice left "ample time" to work with employees.

• September 2019, Crius Energy layoffs in Norwalk

  74 Crius Energy employees in Norwalk, Connecticut, were due for layoffs from mid-September, Patch reported in August, after Vistra's July 15 purchase of Crius, quoting a letter to the state that said Crius was redesigned "to create efficiencies and reduce costs."

• August 2019, four Illinois coal plant retirements

  Vistra's August 2019 release said it expected to close Coffeen, Duck Creek, Havana and Hennepin by year's end to meet a revised state emissions rule, eliminating about 300 jobs, and was offering outplacement services and state workforce help.

• April 2018, Dynegy headquarters cuts after the merger

  After the Dynegy merger closed April 9, Vistra said it would cut more than 300 jobs in Houston, where Dynegy had been based, Connect CRE reported. Texas logged a 308-job notice for the Dynegy headquarters dated April 11.

• October 2017, three coal plant closings announced

  Vistra's October 2017 employee Q&A said it had just announced the closure of three coal plants, with about 850 jobs expected to go. Its 2020 release lists Vistra's Texas coal closings of 2018 as Big Brown, Monticello and Sandow.

• October 2016, Martin Lake area mine layoffs

  Luminant planned to lay off 132 mine workers in Rusk and Panola counties on December 16, KETK reported, after announcing in September that it was idling the mining for its Martin Lake plant over "sustained low wholesale power prices."

What to do if you're laid off from Vistra

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Vistra's biggest hubs: Illinois, Texas, Ohio. 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 Vistra's hub states run: Illinois, Texas, Ohio, 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.