GUESS? California Layoffs 2025: What Employees Should Know

What the filing says

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

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.

GUESS? 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 Dec 8, 2025, 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.

Questions people are asking

Where a layoff can raise a legal question

A layoff is lawful on its own, and nothing below is a statement about GUESS?. 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.

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.

The Orange County Register reported that Guess is "shifting responsibility for several business functions" from its downtown Los Angeles headquarters to its European headquarters in Lugano, Switzerland, and laying off 100 employees, with layoffs expected to begin on or about December 8.

The move came months after the apparel brand was taken private in a $1.4 billion deal announced in August 2025 involving co-founders Maurice and Paul Marciano, CEO Carlos Alberini and Authentic Brands Group, the owner of Champion, Eddie Bauer and Reebok, per the Register.

The Register noted Guess is the second major retailer to leave downtown Los Angeles in 2025, after Forever 21 closed its Fashion District headquarters and laid off 358 people in the spring.

Sources: The Orange County Register (opens in a new tab)

What the numbers show

• The 100 affected positions are in Los Angeles.
• The shortest gap between notice and last day here is 61 days, close to the statewide median of 61 days across every notice on file.
• By headcount it sits in the top 40% of the 599 employer layoffs tracked here.
• The 100 workers leaving GUESS? 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).

These are counts and comparisons drawn from the published filings, not findings about GUESS?.

Free job-search help near Los Angeles

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; this is the closest to the site in this filing.

• Vernon-Central/LATTC WorkSource Center (opens in a new tab)

  400 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015 (Primary Site), Los Angeles, CA 90015 · 213-763-5951

  Comprehensive center (full services on site) · about 1.3 miles from the Los Angeles site

Locations and hours change — confirm before visiting, or find another center 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.

• Amazon6,975 workers
• Meta Platforms, Inc.4,150 workers
• Oracle America, Inc.1,250 workers
• Adventist Health614 workers
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory543 workers
• Children's Hospital Los Angeles439 workers

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 GUESS?

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. 5 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 · 2025

  $450,000

  Current and former hourly non-exempt employees of Guess? Retail, Inc. in California allegedly were not provided suitable seats as required by Wage Order 7-2001. The plaintiff filed a PAGA action seeking penalties for these alleged violations. The parties have agreed to settle the PAGA claims for $450,000, with 75% of the net settlement going to the LWDA and 25% distributed to affected employees. The settlement includes a release of all PAGA claims based on the failure-to-provide-seats allegations, and the defendants deny any liability or wrongdoing.

  Covered all current and former hourly non-exempt employees of Guess? Retail, Inc. in California from January 1, 2021, through September 20, 2024. The settlement resolved PAGA civil penalties only.

  Employees covered

  4,218

  Attorneys' fees

  $150,000

  Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco · CGC-19-573181 · GUESS? denied liability; a settlement is not an admission.

• Proposed settlement · 2023

  $17,000

  A worker filed a lawsuit against Guess?, Inc. and Guess? Retail, Inc. for alleged wage and hour violations under California law. The document is a proposed settlement agreement between the individual employee and the company, resolving all claims including those under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). The worker will receive payments for lost wages, damages, and PAGA penalties, and must dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice. The company denies any liability or wrongdoing.

  Covered the Individual (the named employee only).

  Attorneys' fees

  $15,000

  To the state (LWDA)

  $75

  Superior Court of the State of California, County of Alameda · GUESS? 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.