Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools California Layoffs 2026: What Employees Should Know

What the filing says

These are the details as Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schoolsreported them to the state. The EDD publishes every notice, and these figures come from the state's report as retrieved on Aug 13, 2026. All 11 are listed below; the table scrolls.

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.

Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools 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 30, 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.

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. Every notice on this page falls after that date. 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

Where a layoff can raise a legal question

A layoff is lawful on its own, and nothing below is a statement about Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools. 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.

The Sacramento Bee reported that layoffs affecting 79 employees at Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools were set to take effect July 30 as the schools work to stabilize their finances long term. The cuts came days after the schools were spared closure, when the Sacramento County Board of Education voted May 19 to overturn Twin Rivers Unified School District's decision to revoke the schools' charters.

Executive Director Jonathan Raymond said in a statement reported by the Bee that the decisions "were extremely difficult and were driven by operational and financial realities as the organization continues its restructuring and long-term stabilization efforts under new leadership."

The Bee noted the schools came under scrutiny after the state auditor found they had received $180 million for which they were not eligible, and that enrollment dropped sharply after the audit findings, with Capital Public Radio reporting only 1,900 students were able to enroll in the following school year, down from 13,700 previously.

Sources: Sacramento Bee (via Yahoo News) (opens in a new tab)

What the numbers show

• The filings name 2 locations: Sacramento and Citrus Heights.
• They cover 11 separate addresses rather than a single site, so co-workers at different locations may have received different dates.
• The shortest gap between notice and last day here is 57 days, close to the statewide median of 61 days across every notice on file.
• The 79 workers leaving Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools re-enter a job market where Sacramento County unemployment stood at 4.8% in June 2026, below the 5.2% statewide rate (Bureau of Labor Statistics, not seasonally adjusted).
• All 11 notices are dated within a single month, June 2026, which reads as one event reported site by site rather than a rolling reduction.

These are counts and comparisons drawn from the published filings, not findings about Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools.

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.

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 Sacramento County around the same time

33 employers have WARN notices on file in Sacramento County, covering 3,618 workers. These filed within about a quarter of this one.

• Sentinel Transportation, LLC126 workers
• DASH Industries80 workers
• International Rescue Committee, Inc.56 workers
• Yerba Mate Co., LLC25 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 Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools

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. One PAGA case naming this employer is on that record.

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.