Laid Off by Kaiser: Severance, the WARN Notice, and What Workers Are Owed

Short answer: No California law makes Kaiser pay severance. It comes from a union agreement, employer plan or policy, or release offer. The law gives you final wages, time to review a release, and COBRA. In a Cal-WARN mass layoff, affected workers employed at least 6 of the 12 months before notice was due get 60 days' written notice. Short notice means back pay and benefits per day missed, up to 60 days or half their days employed, whichever is smaller.

At a glance

• Kaiser filed four layoff notices with the California Employment Development Department (EDD), dated September 21 to October 19, 2026, covering 172 positions, 116 of them in Southern California.
• Cal-WARN counts layoffs site by site, so a company-wide total does not decide whether you were owed notice.
• Pay in place of notice that a union contract, plan or policy promised can delay unemployment benefits. Pay for a WARN violation does not, and severance generally does not, but the EDD looks at a payment's terms, not its label.
• Being in a union does not, by itself, bar a state-law claim such as discrimination or retaliation.

What people assume, and what California law says

Which Kaiser layoff notices were filed in 2026?

Kaiser's four 2026 notices, dated September 21 to October 19, 2026, are below. Each row below comes from the EDD WARN report as read on October 30, 2026. The report lists layoffs site by site.

The September filing appears under the company name "Kaiser", the October filings as "Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc." The remaining September positions are in Alameda and Sacramento counties. The EDD says it updates the report every Tuesday and Thursday, so check it for new rows. Delshad Legal does not represent Kaiser, and these counts come from public filings.

FOX 5 San Diego reported Kaiser's description of the September positions as business and administrative functions that do not provide direct patient care. Kaiser's statement on that round, as reported, reads: "We are supporting affected employees as they explore other opportunities within Kaiser Permanente and, where appropriate, providing severance, career support and outplacement services."

What should your notice include?

Labor Code section 1401 requires written notice 60 days before the order takes effect. Check that your notice:

1. Is in writing and was given to you 60 days before the layoff takes effect. Cal-WARN notice goes to the affected employees themselves, while federal WARN notice goes to the union representative where there is one.
2. Says whether Kaiser plans to coordinate services, such as a rapid response orientation, through the local workforce development board, another entity, or none, and gives the board's working email and phone number.
3. Describes CalFresh, the state food assistance program, with the CalFresh helpline and a link to its website.
4. Gives a working email and phone number for the employer.

The notice must also carry the details federal WARN requires. A missing item does not prove a violation, but it is worth raising with a lawyer. SB 617, which took effect on January 1, 2026, added items 2 and 3.

Does Cal-WARN apply to your Kaiser site?

Cal-WARN counts people at one site. Company-wide headcount does not decide it. Under Labor Code section 1400.5, a covered establishment is an industrial or commercial facility, or part of one, that employs or has employed 75 or more persons in the preceding 12 months. A mass layoff is a layoff of 50 or more employees at a covered establishment during any 30-day period. Cal-WARN counts someone as an employee only if they worked for the employer at least 6 of the 12 months before notice is required, and that rule decides both who is owed notice and who counts toward the 50. The law also covers a relocation of substantially all operations 100 miles or more away, and a site where operations stop or substantially stop.

In the September filing, only the Rio San Diego Dr. site lists 50 or more positions on its own (72). Every other site lists 22 or fewer. Neither fact settles coverage. That turns on how many people were laid off at the same establishment within 30 days, and how many worked there over the prior year. Each 2026 filing lists an effective date 60 days after its notice date.

Our guide to the Cal-WARN 60-day notice rule and SB 617 covers the rest of the law, including the exceptions.

What are you owed if the notice was short?

Under Labor Code section 1402, an employer that fails to give the required notice owes each employee entitled to it:

• Back pay at the higher of your average regular rate over your last three years of employment or your final rate.
• The value of your benefits, including medical expenses you incurred that the benefit plan would have covered.

Both run for the period of the violation, up to a maximum of 60 days, or half the number of days you worked for the employer, whichever is smaller. Some payments reduce that amount, including voluntary and unconditional payments the employer was not legally required to make. A lawyer can tell you whether a payment you received counts.

Under section 1404, an employee can bring a civil action for themselves, for others in the same situation, or both. The Cal-WARN sections do not set out their own filing deadline, so ask a lawyer early rather than waiting.

Does Kaiser have to pay severance?

No. The Labor Commissioner's guidance says: "There is no legal requirement under California law that employers provide severance pay to an employee upon termination of employment." At Kaiser, three things can control what you are offered.

The union agreements. The 1999 Employment and Income Security Agreement between Kaiser Permanente and its labor partners focuses on redeployment. Its core promise reads: "Our commitment is to re-deploy, not lay-off, employees who are displaced." Under the 1999 text, a displaced worker who cannot keep the same job is placed in the most comparable open position they qualify for. That is called transition status: current pay is kept for one year, or longer if agreed, and the protections can be lost if you turn down a comparable position. The 1999 text does not itself set a severance amount or formula. Kaiser's 2021 national agreement with the Alliance unions adopted it as amended by a 2013 clarification. National contracts, local contracts and later amendments can differ, so read your own contract.

Your local contract. Your local union contract may say more about layoffs than the national agreement or the 1999 text. Ask your union representative for the exact language that covers your unit.

A release offer. If Kaiser offers severance in exchange for signing away claims, our guides to how much severance is normal and how to negotiate severance in California cover the amount.

What should you check before signing a Kaiser release?

Under Government Code section 12964.5, the employer must tell you that you have a right to consult a lawyer, and give you at least five business days to do so. The agreement cannot stop you from disclosing information about unlawful acts in the workplace.

If you are 40 or older, a release of age claims must give you at least 21 days to consider it, or 45 days when the offer is part of a group layoff, and 7 days to revoke after you sign. Our guides to the OWBPA group layoff disclosure, severance agreement requirements and general release clauses cover the rest.

Ready to talk it through?

If you have a Kaiser severance agreement in front of you, ask for a free, confidential case review before the review period runs out.

What final pay are you owed?

When an employer discharges you, Labor Code section 201 makes the wages you have earned due immediately. The Labor Commissioner applies the same rule to a layoff with no specific return date within the normal pay period. Final pay is owed at the rate the law requires, including the healthcare worker minimum wage where it applies.

Vested vacation is paid out at your final rate under section 227.3, unless a collective bargaining agreement provides otherwise, so your union contract can set different payout rules. Wages that are due and not in dispute must be paid without requiring a release. See our guides to the California final paycheck law and vacation and PTO payout.

Can you collect unemployment after a Kaiser layoff?

The EDD treats three kinds of payment differently:

1. Severance pay is generally not wages for unemployment insurance purposes. That holds when it is paid under a company plan or policy, to a class or group of employees let go for reasons such as job elimination, to help them between jobs.
2. Pay in place of notice is wages when a union agreement, written plan or established policy entitles you to notice or pay instead of notice. You are then not eligible for benefits for the period that payment was meant to cover.
3. Payments owed because the employer missed WARN notice are not wages. Unemployment Insurance Code section 1265.1 says benefits may not be denied or reduced because you received them.

The EDD looks at what a payment is for, not what it is called. Report any payment when you certify for benefits. Our guide to filing for unemployment in California walks through the claim.

What happens to your health coverage?

Federal COBRA requires group health plans of employers with 20 or more employees to offer a temporary extension of coverage. After a layoff, that coverage can run for 18 months. California adds one more option for a former employee who is 60 or older when employment ends and worked for the employer for at least five years. If that person elects COBRA and stays on it until it runs out, a health care service plan must offer to continue coverage after COBRA ends. Anyone who did not elect COBRA, or who left it before it ran out, does not qualify. Do not assume coverage continues on its own. Ask the plan which rules apply to you.

Could the layoff be unlawful?

A layoff label does not settle why you were chosen. It can be unlawful if your selection was driven by something the law protects.

• Discrimination. FEHA, the Fair Employment and Housing Act, bars discharge because of protected traits, including race, disability, sex and age (Government Code section 12940). Age protection starts at 40. See our guide to age discrimination in a layoff.
• Medical or family leave. Government Code section 12945.2 bars discharging someone for taking leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).
• Complaints about care or conditions at a hospital. Health and Safety Code section 1278.5 bars a health facility from retaliating against an employee or other health care worker for presenting a grievance, complaint or report. The law says these protections apply primarily to the care, services and conditions of a facility. If the facility knew of the complaint and the discharge comes within 120 days of it, the law presumes retaliation, and the employer must produce evidence to overcome it. The section does not apply to long-term health care facilities.
• Whistleblowing. Labor Code section 1102.5 bars retaliation for reporting what you reasonably believe is a legal violation to a government agency or a person with authority over you, even if reporting is part of your job. See our Labor Code 1102.5 guide.

How long do you have? A FEHA complaint generally must be filed with the Civil Rights Department (CRD) (formerly DFEH) within three years of the date the unlawful practice occurred. Other claims run on other clocks, and deadlines can run early. Our guide to when a layoff is wrongful termination covers how selection claims are built.

Can a union member still bring a claim?

Often, yes. In Lingle v. Norge Division of Magic Chef, Inc. (1988), the U.S. Supreme Court held that federal labor law overrides (preempts) a state-law claim only if the claim requires interpreting the union contract. That is the main test for whether a union contract blocks a state-law claim, though other limits can apply. The Court said a typical discrimination or retaliatory discharge claim can be resolved without interpreting a contract's just-cause language.

Arbitration clauses can be another limit, at least for federal claims. In 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett (2009), the Court held that a union contract that clearly and unmistakably requires members to arbitrate federal age discrimination claims is enforceable. Have a lawyer read your contract for language like that, alongside any grievance you have filed.

What should you do first?

1. Keep the notice, write down when and how it reached you, and compare it with the EDD WARN report.
2. Call your union representative. Ask about redeployment and transition status (a comparable job at your current pay for a set period) under the Employment and Income Security Agreement, and for your local contract's layoff terms.
3. Do not sign a release on the spot. Use the review time the law gives you.
4. Check your final paycheck and vacation payout against your last pay stub.
5. File for unemployment and ask the plan about COBRA.
6. Write down anything that may explain why you were chosen, such as a recent complaint, a leave, or your age.

Our 7-step checklist for anyone laid off in California covers the general steps.

Frequently asked questions

Does Kaiser have to give severance pay?

No California law requires it. Kaiser said it would provide severance "where appropriate" for the September 2026 round. The 1999 Employment and Income Security Agreement focuses on redeployment and does not itself set a severance formula. National contracts, local contracts and later amendments can differ, so read your own contract and ask your union representative what it says about layoffs.

Does Kaiser have to give 60 days' notice of a layoff?

Under Cal-WARN, yes, for a mass layoff, relocation or termination at a covered establishment: a site with 75 or more persons in the preceding 12 months. A mass layoff is 50 or more employees there in any 30-day period. Notice is owed to affected workers employed at least 6 of the 12 months before it is due. Short notice means back pay and benefits for each day missed, up to 60 days or half your days employed, whichever is smaller.

Can I collect unemployment if Kaiser gives me severance?

Generally, yes. The EDD treats severance paid under a plan or policy to a group of workers as not wages, and pay owed for a WARN violation is not wages either. Pay in place of notice that a union contract, plan or policy promised counts as wages and can make you ineligible for the period it covers. The EDD looks at a payment's terms, not its label, so report every payment.

How long do I have to sign a Kaiser severance agreement?

California law gives you at least five business days to consult a lawyer. If you are 40 or older and the release covers age claims, federal law gives you at least 21 days, or 45 days in a group layoff, plus 7 days to revoke after signing.

Can I sue Kaiser if I am in a union?

Often, yes. The main test is whether deciding a state-law claim, such as discrimination or retaliation, requires interpreting the union contract. If it does not, federal labor law generally does not override it. A contract that clearly and unmistakably requires arbitration of federal age discrimination claims can be enforced, so have a lawyer read yours.

What if I was laid off after making a complaint at the hospital?

Health and Safety Code section 1278.5 bars a health facility from retaliating against an employee for a grievance, complaint or report, and the law says it applies primarily to the care, services and conditions of a facility. If the facility knew of the complaint and the discharge came within 120 days, the law presumes retaliation. Other complaints may fall under other laws, such as Labor Code section 1102.5.

Where to start

If something about your Kaiser notice, severance offer or selection does not sit right, the firm reviews cases from anywhere in California. Deadlines can run early, so tell us what happened for a free, confidential case review. You can also read more about our California severance agreement practice.

The Law Offices of Jonathan J. Delshad is a Los Angeles based employment law firm representing employees across California in wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and wage and hour matters. Representing employees is the core of the firm's practice. Mr. Delshad serves as Editor-in-Chief of the California Wrongful Termination Law Review and trained at Latham & Watkins. Recognition includes Super Lawyers (2022 to 2027), Best Lawyers (since 2017), and an Avvo 10.0 "Superb" rating. Reviewed for California employment law accuracy. Last updated: October 30, 2026.

Attorney advertising. This article is educational only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship, which exists only under a signed engagement agreement. Every case is different, and outcomes depend on the specific facts. Deadlines can run early, so consult a lawyer promptly about your situation.