Meta Layoff Breakdown May 2026
Navigating the 2026 Meta Layoffs
Tech layoffs are officially back. 10% of Meta, 14% of Coinbase, 20% of PayPal, voluntary retirements at Microsoft… not to mention the increased rigor in performance reviews.
I was part of Meta’s May 2023 “year of efficiency” layoffs, so this is personal to me. I hate writing these posts. I am annoyed that layoffs are happening so often that creating a severance calculator makes sense.
Yet here we are.
For Meta employees, the date is set for May 20th, when 10% of Meta’s current workforce will be let go. That is roughly 8,000 employees impacted, with signs that this might not be the last layoff this year.
In today’s post, I want to lay out the specific timeline a Meta employee might experience, what to expect if you are impacted, and a simple Google Sheet to help estimate what your severance could look like.
My goal is to remove as much uncertainty as possible from the financial side, because the emotional side is hard enough.
Let’s start with the headline severance terms, then we’ll walk through what the actual timeline looks like.
The Severance Details
Base Pay: Affected staff will receive 16 weeks of base pay.
Service-Based Compensation: An additional two weeks per year of employment.
Health Insurance: Meta will cover the cost of COBRA healthcare coverage for employees and their families for 18 months.
While “16 weeks of base pay” gets the headline, it is worth understanding what that actually includes. In California, roughly 8.5 of those weeks overlap with the legally required WARN period where employees remain on payroll. In New York, that WARN period is closer to 13 weeks. The real incremental severance is the portion above WARN, plus the two weeks per year of service, accrued PTO, and 18 months of paid COBRA.
Still, there is a major bright spot: Meta did not cut the severance package from prior layoffs. They seem to have improved it.
Specifically, they expanded paid COBRA health insurance coverage from 6 months to 18 months. Props to the team who advocated for this improvement. It is a big deal.
Estimated Timeline:
Estimated Timeline for Typical 60-Day WARN Period
May 20th : Layoff Notification, WARN Period Begins
May 22nd: Normal Paycheck that includes 2-Days of WARN Period Pay
June 5th: WARN Period Paycheck
June 19th: WARN Period Paycheck
July 3rd: WARN Period Paycheck
July 17th: WARN Period Paycheck
July 19th: Last Day of WARN Period (no longer a Meta Employee)
July 31st: Accrued PTO Payout
August 1st: COBRA Health Coverage Period Begins
August 14th: Final Severance Lump Sum Payout
February 28th 2028: COBRA Health Coverage Ends
Full Estimated Breakdown with $200k Annual Base
Very important note for those assigned to the New York office, your WARN Act is 90 days! That would mean an additional RSU vest as well as pushing your final severance payout and COBRA start date into September.
New York Timeline:
May 20th : Layoff Notification, WARN Period Begins
May 22nd: Normal Paycheck that includes 2-Days of WARN Period Pay
June 5th: WARN Period Paycheck
June 19th: WARN Period Paycheck
July 3rd: WARN Period Paycheck
July 17th: WARN Period Paycheck
July 31st: WARN Period Paycheck
August 14th: WARN Period Paycheck
August 15th: RSU Vest!
August 18th: Last Day of WARN
August 28: PTO Payout + Remaining WARN Period Pay
September 1st: COBRA Health Coverage Period Begins
September 11th: Final Severance Payout
March 31st 2028: COBRA Health Coverage Ends
There isn’t a major difference in severance but the key difference is that the 90-day WARN extends past the August 15th RSU vest which can make a significant difference.
If your mind works like mine… the answer is no. You can’t move to New York now to fall under their provision and get one more vest. I may or may not have emailed the NY Labor Department who shot down the idea.
FAANG FIRE Severance Calculator (aka janky spreadsheet)
To help make the estimations a little less annoying, I built a very FAANG FIRE severance calculator, aka a slightly janky Google Sheet, to estimate your timeline, WARN pay, service-based severance, and PTO payout dates.
How to Use the Severance Calculator
A lot of the values in this calculator are hard-coded for the May 20th, 2026 Meta layoff. You can adapt it for other layoffs, but pay close attention to the WARN period, payroll dates, COBRA start date, and severance payout date.
To personalize the calculator, update:
Annual base pay: Your current annual base salary
Years of service: Use completed years of employment based on the last day of your WARN period.
Current PTO balance: Pull this from your most recent paystub.
WARN period: Select 60 days for the typical California timeline or 90 days if you are assigned to the New York office.
Important to note for those with a 90-day WARN period: the calculator does not include the August 15th RSU vest, but you would be eligible to receive.
Everything else will be calculated automatically
A lot of this was calculated based on my personal layoff in May 2023. Looking back at my old pay stubs to try and reconcile specific dates. It is very possible that the specific dates end up being different. Use this for educational purposes to give you a rough idea of how being laid off may impact you.
Practical things to think about:
Start by Building a Buffer
Between today and May 20th you will receive 1 paycheck and 1 RSU vest.
If you are laid off you will still receive roughly 6 normal paychecks.
I highly recommend that you prioritize building a cash buffer.
Now, more than ever, treat that RSU vest as income. Because it is income at vest regardless of whether you sell it or not.
Other Stream of Conscious Things to Factor In
If you get laid off, you are technically still employed by Meta through the WARN period. You will receive normal paychecks and can still make 401K contributions.
Your strategy around your 401k can vary depending on what your plans are for the rest of 2026.
If you know you will be getting another job, it could make sense to strategically contribute to your pre-tax only up to the match while maxing out the mega backdoor.
(see post: optimizing 401ks when you switch jobs).
The mega backdoor is capped at Meta, so regardless of what you do, the maximum you can contribute for 2026 is $35,250.
You will accrue additional PTO during your WARN period. I am estimating this to be 3.47 days for the 60-day WARN period and 5.2 days for the 90-day WARN period.
Apply for unemployment: The specifics will vary by state and how Meta codes your WARN-period pay. When I was laid off, my payments were treated as pay in lieu of work rather than a regular paycheck, which meant I was still eligible for unemployment under California rules. Don’t assume either way. Check the specifics and apply if eligible.
Don’t sleep on the 18 months of paid COBRA coverage! Even if you get a new job, it could make sense to stay on the META paid COBRA plan. Just look into when your COBRA coverage ends and when you can get new coverage. Loss of COBRA is not normally a qualifying life event to sign up to a new plan.
What if you are ready to FIRE?
What if this is your sign to be done with big tech?
Could this be the final push you need to fully FIRE?
First, congratulations. Go eat an avocado sandwich to celebrate. Severance FIRE can be a good way to exit the workforce. Depending on your tenure, WARN period, PTO, RSUs, COBRA, and service-based severance, you may be getting paid for months while only actively working for a very small part of that period. I personally ended up with 25% less comp for the year while only needing to work 4 months of the year. Not bad!
But please do the real math before you call it. Make sure you really understand whether you have enough! Make sure you understand your spending, your cash runway, your health insurance, your tax situation, your portfolio allocation, and whether you truly have enough. Not vibes. Real numbers.
And even if the numbers say you are ready, that does not mean getting laid off will feel good. Trust me, it doesn’t. It sucks.
It has been nearly three years since I was impacted by Meta’s year of efficiency. I have zero desire to go back to full-time work. In hindsight, the layoff accelerated the semi-FIRE life I was already moving toward.
But it still sucked.
So if you are impacted, I’m sorry. Be kind to yourself. Take a breath. Run the numbers. Give yourself some time before making irreversible decisions.
My hope is that this post helps remove a little uncertainty from the financial side, because the emotional side is hard enough.
Want to read about my layoff journey?
-Andre
Great writeup. Thank you, Andre!