SSP America California Layoffs 2026: What Employees Should Know

What the filing says

These are the details as SSP America reported them to the state. The EDD publishes every notice, and these figures come from the state's report as retrieved on Sep 10, 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.

SSP America 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 19, 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. 1 of the 2 notices here fall after that date; the earlier ones were not subject to the new content rules. 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 SSP America. 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 the numbers show

• The filings name 2 locations: San Diego and Sacramento.
• 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 September 22, 2025 to May 19, 2026.
• 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 25% of the 630 employer layoffs tracked here.
• The 160 workers leaving SSP America 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: one notice in July 2025 covering 116 jobs, then one notice in March 2026 covering 44 jobs.

These are counts and comparisons drawn from the published filings, not findings about SSP America.

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.

• Metro Career Center (opens in a new tab)

  4389 Imperial Avenue, San Diego, CA 92113 · 619-319-9675

  Affiliate center (partial services) · about 5.5 miles from the San Diego site

• YoloWorks! Career Center-West Sacramento (opens in a new tab)

  500 Jefferson Blvd, West Sacramento, CA 95605 · 916-375-6307

  Affiliate center (partial services) · about 7.9 miles from the Sacramento 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

70 employers have WARN notices on file in San Diego County, covering 6,503 workers. These filed within about a quarter of this one.

• Amazon7,123 workers
• Republic National Distributing Company1,756 workers
• Intel Corporation1,423 workers
• Blue Shield of California493 workers
• Foundation for California Community Colleges465 workers
• Sharp HealthCare394 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 SSP America

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. 3 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.

• Court-approved settlement · 2025

  $6,500,000

  Employees who worked as non-exempt hourly workers for SSP America in California were affected by wage and hour claims. The court granted final approval of a class action settlement, resolving the lawsuit without the employer admitting any wrongdoing. The settlement provides payments to class members and a separate amount to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency for PAGA penalties.

  The settlement resolved class claims as well as PAGA penalties.

  Attorneys' fees

  $2,166,666

  To the state (LWDA)

  $150,000

  Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles · 19STCV08579 · SSP America denied liability; a settlement is not an admission.

• Court-approved settlement · 2025

  $840,946

  The court gave final approval to a class action settlement for non-exempt employees who worked for several SSP America companies. The settlement resolves claims about wage and hour violations. The employees will receive individual payments from a gross settlement of $840,946.36. The court also ordered payments to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, the settlement administrator, class counsel, and the named employee.

  Covered all non-exempt employees employed by SSP America, Inc.; SSP America FAT, LLC; SSP America OAK, LLC; SSP America ONT, LLC; SSP America SAN, LLC; SSP America SFO, LLC; SSP America SJC, LLC; SSP America SMF, LLC; and SSP America STS, LLC at any time during the Class Period.

  Attorneys' fees

  $280,315

  To the state (LWDA)

  $22,500

  Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Sacramento · 34-2023000336801 · A settlement is not an admission of liability.

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.