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California layoffs / Five Guys Operations

Five Guys Operations California Layoffs 2026: What Employees Should Know

Five Guys Operations has 5 layoff notices on file with California's Employment Development Department (EDD) under the state's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, covering 71 jobs in Kings County, Los Angeles County, Merced County, Sacramento County. That is what the state has published since July 2025, not an all-time total. If you were one of them, here is what the filing says, how much notice the law asks for, and what to look at before you sign anything.

Updated

What the filing says

These are the details as Five Guys Operationsreported them to the state. The EDD publishes every notice, and these figures come from the state's report as retrieved on Aug 13, 2026.

LocationCountyNotice givenJobs endWorkersType
FolsomSacramento CountyNov 7, 2025Nov 25, 202516Closure Permanent
WhittierLos Angeles CountyMay 3, 2026May 25, 202613Closure Permanent
City of IndustryLos Angeles CountyApr 30, 2026May 26, 202615Closure Permanent
MercedMerced CountyApr 28, 2026Jun 26, 202613Closure Permanent
A HanfordKings CountyMay 3, 2026Jul 2, 202614Closure Permanent

How much notice the law requires

California's WARN Act requires 60 days of advance written notice before a covered mass layoff, and its only statutory exception is a physical calamity or an act of war — far narrower than federal law's three. Who is covered and how the thresholds are counted is in our California WARN Act guide.

What this filing shows

The shortest gap in these filings is 18 calendar days between the notice date and the date the jobs end. That is less than the 60 days the statute describes.

In dates: counting 60 days back from the Nov 25, 2025 last day of work lands on Sep 26, 2025, and that notice is dated Nov 7, 2025.

This is a fact drawn from the public filing, not a conclusion that anyone broke the law. The date an employer records is not always the date workers were told, employers of different sizes are covered differently, and exceptions can apply. Whether it means anything in your case is exactly what a free consultation sorts out.

Five Guys Operations severance: what to check before you sign

A severance offer is not the notice pay the WARN Act describes. Severance you were already promised — in a contract, a handbook, or a union agreement — cannot be used to satisfy that obligation, though Labor Code section 1402 does let an employer reduce a back-pay award by voluntary payments it was never required to make. A release may also give up more than you expect. Justin reviews severance agreements before workers sign. What to check before you decide is in our full guide to the California WARN Act.

Two things worth doing this week either way. File for unemployment now — WARN money does not reduce it, and the filings here run through Jul 2, 2026, so you do not have to wait for your last day. And keep every document, including the notice itself and anything showing when it arrived.

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What your notice was required to include

Timing is only half of what Labor Code section 1401 asks for. The notice itself has to contain specific things, and California added most of this list for notices issued on or after January 1, 2026. 4 of the 5 notices here fall after that date; the earlier ones were not subject to the new content rules. If you kept your copy, read it against the full six-item checklist in our WARN Act guide — everything federal law requires, whether transition help is being coordinated, working contact details for your workforce board and for the employer itself, and CalFresh information.

Source: Labor Code section 1401, as amended by SB 617, effective January 1, 2026. A notice missing something from that list is not automatically a violation with a remedy attached — whether a gap matters depends on the employer, the action, and what else happened.

Questions people are asking

What is the Five Guys Operations severance package?

The WARN notice Five Guys Operations filed with the state does not list severance terms, and we do not publish any employer's package. A WARN notice reports how many jobs end, where, and when. Severance is a separate contract offered at the employer's discretion. California law does not require it, and an employer cannot use contractual severance to satisfy what the WARN Act requires, so being offered a package does not by itself answer whether notice pay is also owed. If you have an offer in hand, the terms in front of you are the ones that matter, and they are worth reading closely before the deadline on them runs.

Am I owed severance from Five Guys Operations?

California law does not require severance on its own, and a severance offer is a separate thing from WARN pay. An employer cannot use contractual severance to satisfy its WARN obligation, so being offered a package does not answer whether notice pay is also owed.

Does taking the severance reduce what I could recover?

It depends on why the money is being paid. Severance the employer was already obligated to provide — under a contract, a policy, a benefit plan, or a union agreement — cannot be set against what the WARN Act requires. A payment that is genuinely voluntary and unconditional, one the employer had no legal obligation to make, can reduce that liability. Wages for work you actually performed during the notice period are not voluntary severance at all. Which category Five Guys Operations's offer falls into is a question about the document in front of you, not about the layoff, and it is one of the better reasons to have the paperwork read before the deadline on it runs.

Does it matter that this was filed as a closure?

It can. California's WARN Act covers a closure, a mass layoff, and a relocation, and the thresholds are not identical. A closure means the site itself is shutting down rather than shedding part of its staff, which can change who is counted and whether the statute applies at all. It also tends to mean there is no role to be recalled to.

Why do co-workers have different last days?

The filings here list 5 separate last days of work. Employers commonly stagger a reduction so some functions run longer than others. Your own notice period is measured against your date, not the earliest one in the filing, so two people at the same employer can be in genuinely different positions.

What if I did not get 60 days of notice?

California's WARN Act requires 60 days of advance written notice before a covered mass layoff, and its only statutory exception is a physical calamity or an act of war. That is far narrower than federal law, which has three exceptions. The shortest gap in these filings is 18 days, which is 42 short of 60. That is arithmetic on two published dates and not a finding that anyone broke the law: the recorded date is not always the date workers were told, and coverage depends on the employer's size and how many people were let go.

Can I still collect unemployment?

Yes. Under Labor Code section 1407, WARN-related payments are not treated as wages for unemployment purposes, so they cannot be used to deny or reduce your benefits in California. You do not have to wait for your last day — the filings here run through Jul 2, 2026 — and filing early is generally better than filing late.

Does taking a new job hurt my claim?

No. Wages you earn at a new job during the notice period do not reduce what Five Guys Operations may owe under WARN. That holds even if you start before Jul 2, 2026, the last day of work in these filings. You do not need to delay a job search to protect a claim.

How long do I have to act?

Generally three years. The federal WARN Act sets no limitations period of its own, so courts borrow the closest state deadline, which in California is the three-year period for a liability created by statute. The clock starts when you suffer an employment loss, not when the notice went out. Measured from the last day of work in these filings, Jul 2, 2026, three years runs to about Jul 2, 2029. If this was a layoff rather than an outright termination, the loss may not count until the layoff has lasted more than six months, which can start the clock later still. Treat all of it as an outer edge rather than a plan. Other claims arising from the same layoff run much shorter, and a severance offer usually carries its own deadline measured in days.

Where a layoff can raise a legal question

A layoff is lawful on its own, and nothing below is a statement about Five Guys Operations. These are the places California law can still come into play, depending on the facts of your own situation.

  • The severance you were asked to signA release can give up claims you did not know you had, and the terms are sometimes negotiable.
  • How you were selectedA reduction in force still cannot be used to cut someone for a protected reason such as age, disability, pregnancy, or a complaint they made.
  • Your final paycheckCalifornia sets when final wages are due at termination, and unpaid time or accrued vacation can carry penalties on top of the wages.
  • The length of the notice periodWhere a notice period turns out to fall short of what the law required, the question usually belongs to everyone in the same position rather than to one person.

General information about California law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.

What has been reported

Press coverage of this layoff, summarized and attributed. This is reporting rather than the filing itself, and we did not independently verify it.

Newsweek reported that Five Guys is permanently closing four California restaurants — Whittier (13 employees, effective May 25, 2026), City of Industry (15, May 26), Merced (13, June 26) and Hanford (14, July 2) — a total of 55 jobs, with the company citing "financial hardship" in its WARN filings.

Newsweek noted the closures amount to roughly 2 percent of Five Guys' more than 130 California locations, and placed them in the context of industry pressures including California's $20 fast-food minimum wage and inflation.

Details worth knowing

  • Tasting Table reported that affected workers' jobs will not be transferred to other Five Guys locations.

Sources: Newsweek (opens in a new tab)Tasting Table (opens in a new tab)

What the numbers show

  • The filings name 5 locations: Folsom, Whittier, City of Industry, Merced and A Hanford.
  • They cover 5 separate addresses rather than a single site, so co-workers at different locations may have received different dates.
  • Every notice is filed as a closure rather than a partial reduction, meaning the sites themselves are shutting down.
  • The jobs do not all end on the same day. The filings list 5 separate last days of work, running from November 25, 2025 to July 2, 2026.
  • The shortest gap between notice and last day here is 18 days, against a statewide median of 61 days across every notice on file.
  • The 71 workers leaving Five Guys Operations re-enter a job market where Los Angeles County unemployment stood at 5.3% in June 2026, above the 5.2% statewide rate (Bureau of Labor Statistics, not seasonally adjusted).
  • The filings came in waves: one notice in November 2025 covering 16 jobs, then 2 notices in April 2026 covering 28 jobs, then 2 notices in May 2026 covering 27 jobs.

These are counts and comparisons drawn from the published filings, not findings about Five Guys Operations.

Free job-search help near the affected sites

America's Job Center of California is the state's no-cost network for laid-off workers: help filing and keeping unemployment benefits, federally funded retraining, and résumé and interview coaching. Your WARN notice may name one; these are the closest to the sites in these filings.

Some locations in these filings are closer to other centers — find yours with the EDD's center locator (opens in a new tab). Directory: U.S. Department of Labor, Jul 31, 2026; distances are straight-line from the address in the filing.

Other layoffs filed in Los Angeles County around the same time

158 employers have WARN notices on file in Los Angeles County, covering 17,863 workers. These filed within about a quarter of this one.

Listed because they appear in the same county in the same public data. No connection between these employers is implied.

California wage claims filed against Five Guys Operations

California employers face claims under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), which lets an employee sue for civil penalties over Labor Code violations on behalf of the state. The state publishes every filing. 4 PAGA cases naming this employer are on that record, including the settlements below.

These are outcomes in other people’s cases, obtained by other lawyers, taken from the state’s public filing record. They are not results of this firm, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. What any individual recovers depends on their own hours, pay records, and dates.

  • Proposed settlement · 2019

    $515,000

    Employees who worked as non-exempt hourly staff at Five Guys fast food restaurants in California were not paid all wages, overtime, and meal/rest period premiums, and did not receive accurate wage statements or timely final paychecks. The plaintiff alleges the employer failed to reimburse business expenses and violated California labor laws. This document is a motion asking the court to preliminarily approve a settlement that would pay $515,000 to resolve the claims.

    Covered all non-exempt persons who have been employed by FGO in the state of California at any time from October 24, 2013 through the date of preliminary approval. The settlement resolved class claims as well as PAGA penalties.

    Employees covered
    6,000
    Attorneys' fees
    $169,950
    To the state (LWDA)
    $4,687

    Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Diego · 37-2017-00040515-CU-OE-CTL · Five Guys Operations denied liability; a settlement is not an admission.

A PAGA case is not a class action, and there is nothing to opt out of. A PAGA settlement resolves civil penalties owed to the state — most of which the state keeps — and it does not necessarily resolve your own unpaid wages, missed break premiums, or final-paycheck penalties. If you worked here and were not paid correctly, that is a separate question worth asking about. How California wage claims work.

Key points

Each point is explained and sourced above · Verified August 13, 2026

Key points from Five Guys Operations California layoffs 2026, verified as of August 13, 2026

  • Workers affected · Kings County, Los Angeles County, Merced County, Sacramento County · published since July 2025

    71

    CA EDD WARN report

  • Notices filed · California · published July 2025 to August 2026

    5

    CA EDD WARN report

  • Jobs end · As filed

    Jul 2, 2026

    CA EDD WARN report

  • Days between notice and last day · Arithmetic on two published dates

    18 calendar days

    CA EDD WARN report

  • Approximate outer claim deadline · 3 years from the last day of work — an outer edge, other claims run shorter

    About Jul 2, 2029

    Code Civ. Proc. § 338(a)

  • Los Angeles County unemployment rate · vs 5.2% statewide, not seasonally adjusted

    5.3% (June 2026)

    BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics

  • Notice California law describes · California

    60 days before a covered mass layoff

    Lab. Code § 1401

  • Available exceptions · California

    Physical calamity or act of war only

    Lab. Code § 1401

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