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California layoffs / International Paper Company

International Paper Company California Layoffs 2026: What Employees Should Know

International Paper Company has 3 layoff notices on file with California's Employment Development Department (EDD) under the state's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, covering 329 jobs in Los Angeles County, Orange 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.

What the filing says

These are the details as International Paper Company reported them to the state. The EDD publishes every notice, and this page reflects the data as of Jul 31, 2026.

LocationCountyNotice givenJobs endWorkersType
Buena ParkOrange CountyJul 15, 2025Sep 13, 202571Closure Permanent
ComptonLos Angeles CountyNov 14, 2025Jan 14, 2026128Closure Permanent
Elk GroveSacramento CountyJun 26, 2026Aug 28, 2026130Closure Permanent

How much notice the law requires

California's WARN Act requires 60 days of advance written notice before a covered mass layoff. What makes the California version unusual is how few ways out it gives an employer. The only statutory exception is a physical calamity or an act of war. Federal law has three exceptions, including one for unforeseeable business circumstances, and the California Legislature deliberately declined to copy them.

What this filing shows

The shortest gap in these filings is 60 calendar days between the notice date and the date the jobs end. That is at or above the 60 days the statute describes.

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.

International Paper severance: what to check before you sign

A severance offer is not the same thing as the notice pay the WARN Act describes, and an employer cannot use one to satisfy the other. A release may also give up more than you expect, and an arbitration agreement you signed at hire can affect where a dispute is heard. Read our full guide to the California WARN Act before you decide, and consider having the paperwork looked at.

Two things worth doing this week either way. File for unemployment now, because WARN money does not reduce it. 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. 1 of the 3 notices here fall after that date; the earlier ones were not subject to the new content rules. If you kept your copy, it is worth reading down this list against it.

  • Everything federal law requires. A California notice has to carry all the elements the federal WARN Act calls for, including whether the action is permanent, the expected date, and whether bumping rights exist.
  • Whether transition help is being coordinated. The notice must say whether the employer is arranging services through your local workforce development board, through some other organization, or not at all.
  • A working email and phone number for that board, plus a short standard paragraph pointing you to an America's Job Center of California for help with a resume, interview practice, job searching, and training programs.
  • Services arranged within 30 days. If the employer said it would coordinate services, the statute gives it 30 days from the date of the notice to actually set them up.
  • CalFresh information. A description of the CalFresh food assistance program, the benefits helpline, and a link to the CalFresh website.
  • A working email and phone number for the employer. Not a no-reply address — a route back to a person.

Source: Labor Code section 1401, as amended by SB 617 (Stats. 2025, ch. 229), effective January 1, 2026. A notice missing something on this list is not automatically a violation with a remedy attached, and this page does not say that it is. Whether a gap matters depends on the employer, the action, and what else happened.

Questions people are asking

What is the International Paper severance package?

The WARN notice International Paper 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 International Paper Company?

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 an 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 3 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 60 days, at or above the 60 the statute describes. Notice can still fall short in practice if it did not reach you when the filing says, or if it lacked what the statute requires it to contain.

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 Aug 28, 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 a former employer may owe under WARN. 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, Aug 28, 2026, three years runs to about Aug 28, 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.

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.

International Paper is closing its Elk Grove converting plant at 10268 Waterman Road, with the shutdown beginning August 28, 2026. The Sacramento Bee reported the WARN notice covers 130 workers, including lift truck operators, customer service representatives, maintenance technicians, sales representatives and shipping technicians.

The Elk Grove closure is one of four International Paper facility actions announced together. Packaging Dive reported the group also includes a sheet plant in Aurora, Illinois, a converting plant in Barrington, New Jersey, and preprint operations in Richwood, Kentucky, totaling about 330 employees, and that the company described the moves as "strategic actions that aim to optimize its network, focus investments on the highest-value opportunities and better serve customers across North America."

Details worth knowing

  • International Paper said affected employees will receive severance, benefits and outplacement assistance, according to both The Sacramento Bee and Packaging Dive.
  • All affected employees have the opportunity to apply for available positions at any other International Paper facility, The Sacramento Bee reported.
  • Some employees may be required to work temporarily past the August 28 date to help decommission equipment and vacate the building, per the WARN notice as reported by The Sacramento Bee -- so an individual worker's actual last day may fall after the effective date on the filing.

Sources: The Sacramento Bee (via AOL) (opens in a new tab)Packaging Dive (opens in a new tab)

What the numbers show

  • The filings name 3 locations: Buena Park, Compton and Elk Grove.
  • They cover 3 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 3 separate last days of work, running from September 13, 2025 to August 28, 2026.
  • By headcount it sits in the top 10% of the 593 employer layoffs tracked here.
  • The 329 workers leaving International Paper Company 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).
  • The filings came in waves: one notice in July 2025 covering 71 jobs, then one notice in November 2025 covering 128 jobs, then one notice in June 2026 covering 130 jobs.

These are counts and comparisons drawn from the published filings, not findings about International Paper.

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

31 employers have WARN notices on file in Sacramento County, covering 3,478 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.

Key points

Each point is explained and sourced above · Verified July 31, 2026

Key points from International Paper Company California layoffs 2026, verified as of July 31, 2026

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

    329

    CA EDD WARN report

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

    3

    CA EDD WARN report

  • Jobs end · As filed

    Aug 28, 2026

    CA EDD WARN report

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

    60 calendar days

    CA EDD WARN report

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

    4.8% (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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