Danone USA Files 135-Worker WARN Notice for Chatsworth Closure, Effective December 29, 2026

Danone USA PBC has filed a WARN notice covering 135 workers at its facility in Chatsworth, California, with the closure effective December 29, 2026. The notice was filed on October 30, 2026, giving workers exactly 60 days of advance notice — the minimum the federal WARN Act requires for a qualifying plant closing.

The filing appears in California's official WARN records, published through the state Employment Development Department (EDD). It is listed as a closure, not a temporary layoff, which means the affected jobs are reported as ending rather than paused.

The filing at a glance

• Employer: Danone USA PBC
• Location: Chatsworth, California
• Workers affected: 135
• Event type: Closure
• Notice date: October 30, 2026
• Effective date: December 29, 2026
• Notice period: 60 days
• Source: California EDD official WARN records

A 60-day notice period lands exactly on the federal floor. The WARN Act generally requires employers with 100 or more full-time workers to give at least 60 days' written notice before a plant closing or mass layoff. California's own mini-WARN law, Cal-WARN, applies at a lower threshold — 75 employees — and also requires 60 days' notice, so the filing satisfies both standards on timing.

Why the date matters

December 29, 2026 falls in the final week of the year, and it is already one of the busiest effective dates on the national WARN calendar. California's registry alone lists several other filings effective that week, including Roundabout Entertainment's 81-worker Burbank closure and iLEAD Lancaster's 119-worker layoff, both also noticed on October 30. Year-end effective dates are common in WARN data: employers often time closures to the end of a calendar year, and workers whose jobs end in late December face a benefits and job-search timeline that runs straight through the holidays.

For the affected workers, the notice period itself is the practical window. California's Rapid Response teams, run through the EDD and local workforce boards, typically contact workers after a WARN filing to offer job-search help, retraining information, and unemployment guidance before the effective date. Workers do not have to wait until their last day to use those services.

California in the national picture

California remains the state with the largest reported WARN total in the current 90-day window. As of the latest Layoff Atlas update on November 4, 2026, the national registry shows 687 notices affecting 65,404 reported workers, with 26 counts unavailable. California accounts for 21,216 of those workers, ahead of Washington at 17,320, Illinois at 3,649, Texas at 2,863, and Maryland at 2,395.

The longer California archive tells a different story from the 90-day window. The state page records 17,657 non-cancelled imported notices reporting 1,459,656 workers in total. In 2026 so far, California has 1,229 notices and 67,829 reported workers — below the 2025 pace of 1,591 notices and 94,948 workers, but still the largest state total in the country. Over the last 365 days, 1,325 official California filings reported 73,149 workers, and 147 notices carry future effective dates, meaning more California layoffs are already scheduled but have not yet taken effect.

Reading the number carefully

The 135 figure is the number of workers named in the filing — reported plans, not confirmed job losses. WARN counts describe what an employer told the state it expects to happen, and the final number of people who actually lose their jobs can differ if a closure is scaled back, delayed, or cancelled. That is why the registry treats every filing as a reported plan rather than a confirmed outcome.

It is also worth noting what this filing is not. The registry lists no union affiliation, severance terms, or transfer offers for the Chatsworth closure, and the WARN notice itself does not determine those questions. Severance, benefits continuation, and any transfer rights depend on company policy, individual contracts, and collective bargaining agreements — not on the WARN Act, which is a notice law rather than a payment law.

What comes next

The effective date of December 29, 2026 is the date the closure is scheduled to take effect, not the date workers stop being paid or lose benefits — those details depend on the employer's final pay and benefits schedule. Workers affected by the filing can check the California EDD's WARN listings for the official record, and can contact the state's Rapid Response program for help before the effective date arrives.

As more late-December filings land in the registry, the year-end cluster will keep growing. The Danone filing is the largest single California closure noticed on October 30, and it is a reminder that the busiest weeks on the WARN calendar are often set months in advance, one filing at a time.

Data source: Layoff Atlas