Saks & Company LLC California Layoffs 2026: What Employees Should Know

What the filing says

These are the details as Saks & Company LLCreported 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.

Saks 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 May 6, 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 Saks. 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.

Saks Global announced on March 6, 2026 that it would close an additional 15 Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus stores by the end of May as it restructures under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy it filed in January 2026. The New York Post reported that the Southern California locations on the list were the Saks Fifth Avenue at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, the Saks Fifth Avenue at The Gardens on El Paseo in Palm Desert, and the Neiman Marcus at Westfield Topanga in Canoga Park.

Patch reported that the Neiman Marcus at 6550 Topanga Canyon Blvd. — the chain's only San Fernando Valley location — will close by the end of May 2026. CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck said the closures were meant to leave a portfolio of "the best performing and most desirable locations in markets with the highest concentration of luxury customers."

The Palm Desert store's status later changed. Hoodline reported that on March 30, 2026 Saks Global reversed course on three of the announced closures — including the Saks Fifth Avenue at The Gardens on El Paseo — telling CoStar News the stores would "remain open following recent productive conversations with our landlords and further evaluation." Hoodline reported that Simon Property Group, which owns the malls housing all three spared stores, had entered talks with Saks.

Sources: New York Post (via Yahoo Finance) (opens in a new tab) · Patch (opens in a new tab) · Hoodline (opens in a new tab)

What the numbers show

• The filings name 3 locations: Canoga Park, Costa Mesa and El Paseo Palm Desert.
• 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 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 15% of the 599 employer layoffs tracked here.
• The 231 workers leaving Saks & Company LLC 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).
• All 3 notices are dated within a single month, March 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 Saks.

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.

• South Valley WorkSource Center

  20920 Warner Center Lane, Woodland Hills, CA 91367 · 818-237-9099

  Affiliate center (partial services) · about 1.4 miles from the Canoga Park site

• Orange County Workforce Solutions Center- Mobile Unit - (opens in a new tab)

  1300 S. Grand Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705 · 866-500-6587

  Affiliate center (partial services) · about 3.6 miles from the Costa Mesa site

• Indio Youth Opportunity Center (opens in a new tab)

  44-199 Monroe Street, Indio, CA 92201 · 760-802-6059

  Affiliate center (partial services) · about 8.4 miles from the El Paseo Palm Desert 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.

• Intuit Inc.910 workers
• TeamOne725 workers
• Snap Inc.320 workers
• Foreside Home Care & Nursing300 workers
• Phillips 66298 workers
• Supernal, LLC296 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 Saks

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. 8 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 · 2017

  $5,000,000

  Employees who worked at Saks Fifth Avenue stores in California sued over wage-and-hour violations. The parties reached a settlement of up to $5,000,000. The court is asked to finally approve the settlement, including attorney fees, costs, service awards, and a PAGA penalty payment.

  Covered The Named Plaintiffs and any person who is or was employed during the period from April 24, 2010 until July 29, 2016 as a non-exempt or hourly-paid employee in Saks & Company's (or SCCA Store Holdings, Inc.) 'Saks Fifth Avenue' stores in the State of California.. The settlement resolved class claims as well as PAGA penalties.

  Attorneys' fees

  $1,750,000

  To the state (LWDA)

  $18,750

  Superior Court of the State of California for the County of San Francisco · Saks denied liability; a settlement is not an admission.

• Proposed settlement · 2025

  $2,200,000

  Current and former non-exempt employees of Saks OFF 5TH and SFA in California allegedly experienced wage and hour violations. The settlement agreement proposes to resolve class and PAGA claims for unpaid minimum wages, overtime, meal and rest break premiums, and related issues. The document seeks court approval for a settlement that includes monetary payments, attorney fees, and releases without admission of liability.

  Covered all current and former non-exempt employees who worked for Saks & Company LLC d/b/a Saks OFF 5TH in the State of California at any time during the Class Period and/or for Saks & Company LLC d/b/a SFA from August 26, 2022, until March 24, 2025. The settlement resolved class claims as well as PAGA penalties.

  Employees covered

  1,204

  Attorneys' fees

  $733,333

  To the state (LWDA)

  $75,000

  Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles · 23STCV25980 · Saks denied liability; a settlement is not an admission.

• Proposed settlement · 2023

  $1,190,000

  Sales associates and brand ambassadors at Saks Fifth Avenue stores in California alleged they were not paid all wages, overtime, meal and rest breaks, and other labor code violations. The parties reached a settlement to resolve these claims without admitting liability. The court granted final approval of the settlement, which provides monetary relief to the affected employees and pays a portion of the settlement to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency.

  Covered all Saks non-exempt employees who worked in sales positions with the following job titles and associated codes: Sales Associate (SAL102or SAL 104) and Brand Ambassador (SST100) at Saks Fifth Avenue Stores in California during the Class Period (the time between May 26, 2016 through August 25, 2022, the Date of the Preliminary Approval Order). The settlement resolved class claims as well as PAGA penalties.

  To the state (LWDA)

  $75,000

  Superior Court of the State of California, County of Orange · 20SMCV01252 · Saks denied liability; a settlement is not an admission.

5 further settlements are on the record for this employer.

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.