Laid off from Samsung: what to do now

Last updated July 23, 2026

Between July 19 and 21, 2026, Samsung Electronics America cut 839 US jobs: 739 in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and 100 in Plano, Texas. The roles sat in the sales and marketing organization that runs displays, phones, TVs, and home appliances. If one of those calls or emails was yours, this page is for you.

It covers what New Jersey law actually requires Samsung to pay you, whether the Texas relocation offer changes any of that, the unemployment and health insurance moves that matter this week, and how to talk about this in interviews when Samsung's chip business just posted record profits and your job still ended. Written by someone who's been through a layoff, not by a content team.

Who was cut

The cuts hit the consumer electronics sales and marketing side, not manufacturing: the teams that sell and market Samsung's displays, phones, TVs, and home appliances across the US. Manufacturing and Samsung's semiconductor business weren't part of this round.

The timing isn't a coincidence. Samsung is consolidating its US consumer electronics headquarters from Englewood Cliffs to Plano, Texas by the end of 2026, and Samsung told reporters most of the affected New Jersey employees were offered a chance to relocate. That's the second HQ move in under a year: the Englewood Cliffs campus only opened in September 2025, and Samsung's already packing up for a lower-tax state that also hosts its Austin chip fab and the new Taylor foundry.

The split says something too. Samsung's memory and chip division just posted a roughly 19-fold jump in quarterly profit on AI data center demand, while the consumer electronics arm that sells phones and TVs is the part getting cut. That's a business allocating money toward AI chips and away from consumer sales and marketing, not a verdict on how you did your job.

Where Samsung alumni are landing

This round is only a few days old as of this writing, so there's no real data yet on where the New Jersey and Texas cuts are landing. Take the rest of this section as a read on the market, not a confirmed pattern.

Consumer electronics sales and marketing skills transfer sideways more easily than most. LG, Sony, Vizio, and Roku all run similar display and device businesses and compete directly with the roles Samsung just cut. Whirlpool and other appliance makers hire the same channel and trade-marketing skill set. Best Buy and other big electronics retailers run vendor management and category teams that look a lot like what a Samsung account or brand manager already knows how to do.

Telecom carriers are worth a look too. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon all run device partnership and channel teams that work directly with manufacturers like Samsung, and that relationship experience carries over cleanly.

Prepping for the interviews ahead

You'll get asked why you left, and the answer fits in two sentences: Samsung is consolidating its US consumer electronics headquarters in Texas and cut sales and marketing roles that weren't relocating, while its chip division posted record profits the same quarter. Anyone hiring in 2026 has seen enough of these moves to not need more explanation than that.

If you spent years selling or marketing Samsung products, your resume and your interview stories are probably full of Samsung-specific program names, internal team names, and retail partner shorthand. Translate all of it before you apply. An outside interviewer, and an ATS, won't know what any of it means.

Behavioral and case-style interview muscles go cold fast at one company. Start running practice reps now, before the first recruiter call, not after the first one reminds you they're rusty.

If you want a second opinion on how that resume reads after the translation pass, there's a free ATS checker here. No account needed. Run the free resume check

Severance and unemployment questions

What severance is Samsung offering?

Samsung hasn't publicly disclosed severance terms for this round. But if you're one of the 739 New Jersey employees, you don't have to wait on Samsung to tell you: state law sets a floor.

New Jersey's WARN Act amendments, in effect since 2023, require employers to pay at least 1 week of severance per year of service to every employee cut in a mass layoff of 50 or more people within 30 days at one location. That payment is automatic and doesn't require you to sign a release. Any severance Samsung offers on top of that floor is a separate, negotiable agreement, and that part likely does require a signature, so read it before you sign anything. Texas has no equivalent law, so the 100 Plano positions don't get this floor and depend entirely on what Samsung agreed to individually.

Samsung offered me a relocation to Texas instead of a layoff. Does that change what I'm owed?

Get the specific terms in writing before you decide either way. A relocation offer and a layoff are different situations with different paperwork, and whether declining the move counts as a voluntary quit or a layoff for unemployment and severance purposes usually comes down to exactly how Samsung wrote the offer.

If the offer requires a decision by a hard deadline, treat that deadline as real. Ask HR directly, in writing, what happens to your severance and notice rights if you decline the move.

Did Samsung follow the WARN Act for this round?

New Jersey's WARN law requires 90 days of notice for a mass layoff at a company this size, longer than the 60 days federal law requires. The WARN notice for the 739 New Jersey positions became public July 19, though it didn't specify an exact layoff date beyond confirming the headcount reduction.

If your actual notice period ran shorter than 90 days, New Jersey law adds an extra 4 weeks of severance on top of the standard 1-week-per-year floor, and that's worth checking against what you were actually offered.

Can I get unemployment while receiving severance?

It depends on your state and how the severance is paid out. Some states delay or reduce benefits while severance pays out, others don't count it at all, and a lump sum is often treated differently than salary continuation.

File the week your job ends regardless, and let your state make the call. Benefits generally are not retroactive, so filing late costs you more than filing and finding out your payment is reduced for a while.

When should I file for unemployment?

The week your employment actually ends. If you're weighing the Texas relocation offer, note that your official separation date, whatever it ends up being, is what starts the clock, not the date you decide.

What happens to my health insurance?

You get 60 days after coverage ends to elect COBRA, which continues your plan at full cost plus a 2% administrative fee. Before committing to that cost, compare marketplace plans at healthcare.gov, since losing job-based coverage qualifies you for a special enrollment period outside the normal window. Check whether your household now qualifies for Medicaid too.

More that helps

Sources

Whether you're staying in consumer electronics or moving into a new industry, you're probably about to run applications across several companies at once. PrepVault keeps every role, note, and prep plan in one place, and the free tier covers the basics. Built by a laid-off engineer running his own search with it. Start free with PrepVault