California layoffs / Monterey Mushrooms, LLC
Monterey Mushrooms, LLC California Layoffs 2026: What Employees Should Know
Monterey Mushrooms, LLC has a layoff notice on file with California's Employment Development Department (EDD) under the state's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, covering 253 jobs in Santa Clara County. That is what the state has published since July 2025. 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 Monterey Mushrooms, LLC reported them to the state. The EDD publishes every notice, and this page reflects the data as of Jul 31, 2026.
| Location | County | Notice given | Jobs end | Workers | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan Hill | Santa Clara County | Jul 17, 2026 | Sep 20, 2026 | 253 | Layoff 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
This filing shows 65 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.
Monterey Mushrooms 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. This notice falls after that date. 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 Monterey Mushrooms severance package?
The WARN notice Monterey Mushrooms 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 Monterey Mushrooms, LLC?
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.
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. This filing shows 65 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 Sep 20, 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 this filing, Sep 20, 2026, three years runs to about Sep 20, 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.
The reduction is at the Morgan Hill facility on Hale Avenue, and reporting is explicit that it is a realignment rather than a closure. The site is transitioning from a combined mushroom farm and packing facility into a packing facility only.
The company notified the Employment Development Department on July 17, 2026. It is described in coverage as North America's largest mushroom producer.
Details worth knowing
- The cuts are phased. Reporting describes 246 positions ending in September, with the remaining seven following in November and December.
- The September group is largely general laborers and fill line operators in the growing department, along with mechanics and harvesting technicians.
- The later group is supervisory and administrative, including a maintenance supervisor, a purchasing supervisor, a controller, and the farm manager.
Sources: FreshPlaza (opens in a new tab)VerticalFarmDaily (opens in a new tab)
What the numbers show
- The 253 affected positions are in Morgan Hill.
- By headcount it sits in the top 15% of the 593 employer layoffs tracked here.
- The EDD records the employer's sector as Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting.
- The 253 workers leaving Monterey Mushrooms, LLC re-enter a job market where Santa Clara County unemployment stood at 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 Monterey Mushrooms.
Other layoffs filed in Santa Clara County around the same time
72 employers have WARN notices on file in Santa Clara County, covering 11,407 workers. These filed within about a quarter of this one.
- Intuit Inc.910 workers
- LinkedIn Corporation606 workers
- ServiceNow, Inc.404 workers
- Vine Hospitality365 workers
- Flagship Facilities Services, LLC198 workers
- NetApp, Inc.77 workers
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 Monterey Mushrooms, LLC California layoffs 2026, verified as of July 31, 2026
Workers affected · Santa Clara County · published since July 2025
253
CA EDD WARN report
Notices filed · California · published July 2025 to July 2026
1
CA EDD WARN report
Jobs end · As filed
Sep 20, 2026
CA EDD WARN report
Days between notice and last day · Arithmetic on two published dates
65 calendar days
CA EDD WARN report
Santa Clara County unemployment rate · vs 5.2% statewide, not seasonally adjusted
4% (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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