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California layoffs / Southwest Key Programs, Inc.

Southwest Key Programs, Inc. California Layoffs 2025: What Employees Should Know

Southwest Key Programs, Inc. has 4 layoff notices on file with California's Employment Development Department (EDD) under the state's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, covering 171 jobs in Contra Costa County, San Diego 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 Southwest Key Programs, Inc. reported them to the state. The EDD publishes every notice, and this page reflects the data as of Jul 31, 2026.

LocationCountyNotice givenJobs endWorkersType
Pleasant HillContra Costa CountyJul 31, 2025Jul 31, 202547Layoff Permanent
El CajonSan Diego CountyJul 31, 2025Jul 31, 2025116Layoff Permanent
Pleasant HillContra Costa CountyAug 6, 2025Oct 5, 20253Closure Permanent
El CajonSan Diego CountyAug 6, 2025Oct 5, 20255Closure 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 0 calendar days between the notice date and the date the jobs end. That is less than 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.

Southwest Key Programs 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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Questions people are asking

What is the Southwest Key Programs severance package?

The WARN notice Southwest Key Programs 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 Southwest Key Programs, Inc.?

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 at some locations?

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 2 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 0 days, which is 60 short of 60. That is arithmetic on two published dates and not a finding that anyone broke the law: the recorded date is not always the date workers were told, and coverage depends on the employer's size and how many people were let go.

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 Oct 5, 2025 — 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, Oct 5, 2025, three years runs to about Oct 5, 2028. 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.

East County Magazine reported that Southwest Key Programs is no longer operating its El Cajon site on Broadway, which had housed unaccompanied immigrant boys, after the nonprofit received official notice from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that its Office of Refugee Resettlement shelter grants had concluded.

El Cajon's city manager told the City Council that the city had received a notice from Southwest Key saying it lost federal funding and would be shutting down, according to East County Magazine. The shutdown followed the federal government's decision in March 2025 to stop placing unaccompanied children in Southwest Key facilities and to review its grants with the organization.

Details worth knowing

  • Southwest Key's chief of staff told East County Magazine the organization is "committed to ensuring an orderly transition in close coordination with our federal partners" and thanked its staff; the reporting covered the El Cajon site and did not address the company's Pleasant Hill filings.

Sources: East County Magazine (opens in a new tab)

What the numbers show

  • The filings name 2 locations: Pleasant Hill and El Cajon.
  • They cover 2 separate addresses rather than a single site, so co-workers at different locations may have received different dates.
  • Some of the notices are filed as closures and some as layoffs, so whether a whole site is shutting down depends on the location.
  • The jobs do not all end on the same day. The filings list 2 separate last days of work, running from July 31, 2025 to October 5, 2025.
  • The shortest gap between notice and last day here is 0 days, against a statewide median of 61 days across every notice on file.
  • By headcount it sits in the top 20% of the 593 employer layoffs tracked here.
  • The 171 workers leaving Southwest Key Programs, Inc. 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).
  • The filings came in waves: 2 notices in July 2025 covering 163 jobs, then 2 notices in August 2025 covering 8 jobs.

These are counts and comparisons drawn from the published filings, not findings about Southwest Key Programs.

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 San Diego County around the same time

66 employers have WARN notices on file in San Diego County, covering 6,025 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 Southwest Key Programs, Inc. California layoffs 2025, verified as of July 31, 2026

  • Workers affected · Contra Costa County, San Diego County · published since July 2025

    171

    CA EDD WARN report

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

    4

    CA EDD WARN report

  • Jobs end · As filed

    Oct 5, 2025

    CA EDD WARN report

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

    0 calendar days

    CA EDD WARN report

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

    4.4% (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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