Macy's California Layoffs 2026: What Employees Should Know

What the filing says

These are the details as Macy'sreported 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.

Macy's 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 Mar 18, 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. This notice 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 Macy's. 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.

NBC 7 San Diego reported that the 30-year-old Macy's anchoring La Mesa's Grossmont Center would close, with the company citing low sales and a focus on higher-performing locations. "Closing a store is never easy, and we don't take these decisions lightly," Macy's said in a statement.

Axios reported the Grossmont Center store was one of 14 closures Macy's announced in January 2026 under its "Bold New Chapter" turnaround plan, which calls for shuttering about 150 underperforming stores by the end of 2026 while investing in roughly 350 go-forward locations.

Sources: NBC 7 San Diego (opens in a new tab) · Axios (opens in a new tab)

What the numbers show

• The 77 affected positions are in La Mesa.
• The notice is filed as a closure rather than a partial reduction, meaning the site itself is shutting down.
• The shortest gap between notice and last day here is 68 days, close to the statewide median of 61 days across every notice on file.
• The 77 workers leaving Macy's re-enter a job market where San Diego County unemployment stood at 4.4% in June 2026, below 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 Macy's.

Free job-search help near La Mesa

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.

• East County Career Center (opens in a new tab)

  151 Van Houten Ave, El Cajon, CA 92020 · 619-319-9675

  Affiliate center (partial services) · about 2.7 miles from the La Mesa 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 San Diego County around the same time

67 employers have WARN notices on file in San Diego County, covering 6,193 workers. These filed within about a quarter of this one.

• FormFactor, Inc.220 workers
• Legacy Supply Chain129 workers
• MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc.125 workers
• Intrepid Studios, Inc.123 workers
• Best Buy106 workers
• French Gourmet, Inc.102 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 Macy's

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. 2 PAGA cases naming this employer are 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.