At 11 a.m. on May 1, thousands of union workers and San Diego community members marched from Hillcrest Medical Center to Balboa Park for a rally commemorating International Workers’ Day, also referred to as May Day.

The event was primarily led by American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 3299 and University Professional Technical Employees CWA Local 9119. Both of these unions represent University of California employees across service, healthcare, and technical positions.

Both unions have been on strike for several months while they negotiate new contracts with the UC bargaining team. UPTE-CWA 9119 has been striking for nine months, and AFSCME 3299 has withheld labor for over a year at time of publishing.

Many other unions, including but not limited to the California Nurses Association, UNITE HERE Local 30, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 122, American Federation of Government Employees District 12, American Postal Workers Union joined AFSCME 3299 and UPTE-CWA 9119 to march in solidarity.

Though May Day is an international holiday for all workers, this rally specifically protested the UC system-wide hiring freeze instituted by exiting UC President Dr. Michael Drake on March 19.

Drake stated that the freeze is meant to help conserve funds as several federal funding cuts and executive orders threaten future research in public universities across the nation, including at UC San Diego.

Workers referred to the hiring freeze as a symptom of neglect from both the University and presidential administration as part of a system that prioritizes profit over the wellbeing of its workers.

Brigette Browning, president of UNITE HERE Local 30 and president of San Diego Imperial Counties Labor Council, spoke on the importance of solidarity among all workers against actions like the UC hiring freeze.

“I know a lot of you have been in negotiations recently,” Browning said to the crowd. “I feel like we could just videotape the boss, cause it’s all the same story. ‘We don’t have any money, inflation …’ But even when the economy’s good, they say the same bullshit. But there’s always money for them, do you notice that? [The chancellor] doesn’t have to worry about housing costs while he makes millions of dollars and he has 3299 workers making 18 bucks an hour.”

On April 15, UPTE-CWA 9119 filed an unfair labor practice charge with the California Public Employment Relations board against the UC Regents, demanding that UC rescind the hiring freeze and bargain in good faith.

The UC Office of the President did not address the charge until the day before the strike. Its April 30 statement confirmed that the hiring freeze only applies to future hires and will not impact the status of current employees.

“Each UC location is implementing the freeze based on its specific needs, financial situation and pre-existing protocols,” the statement read. “The University has informed stakeholders, including AFSCME and UPTE, that the hiring freeze doesn’t alter commitments under collective bargaining agreements or established policies.”

Throughout the day, union members gave speeches about their struggles in the workplace. Among the speakers were non-union San Diego community members and representatives such as San Diego city council member Sean Elo-Rivera and Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre.

Siu Mei Ma, a discharge pharmacist at UCSD Jacobs Medical Center and member of UPTE-CWA 9119, gave the first speech at Balboa Park. Ma described how she, like many other members in the medical field, feels overwhelmed at her workplace.

“As the UC opens up more facilities to treat more patients, we are only getting busier,” she said. “The number of prescriptions we dispense has doubled since COVID, but since then, we have not hired more staff to accommodate the work. While we would all like to be able to attend to our patients, every single one of them in person, we’re limited by the resources we are given.”

Anna Sindelar, a nurse at UCSD Hillcrest Medical Center, affirmed CNA’s solidarity with the striking unions. CNA is a union that represents over 100,000 nurses in more than 200 facilities across California, including UCSD hospitals.

Its current contract will expire in October, but it is already preparing to strike in anticipation of similarly long and difficult contract negotiations. Sindelar encouraged others in her union to be prepared to strike if necessary.

“As nurses, we see the dysfunction in our healthcare system every single day,” Sindelar said. “We see our coworkers struggling over an ever-increasing workload, with less and less help. And we see UC awarding 78% pay increases to the chancellor. … And now we see UC implementing a hiring freeze and refusing to bargain fairly with the most important workers in our organization. … We know our patients deserve better, and so do we.”

Many San Diego community members also joined the march and rally to fight for the fair treatment of workers, as well as to protest the Trump administration.

Ashley Michel is a substitute teacher who joined the march to support UPTE-CWA 9119 in its struggle to negotiate a contract with the UC bargaining team.

“As I understand, UPTE is on strike to make sure that their workers have better working conditions, fair pay,” Michel said. “I identify as a first-generation college student, and if it weren’t for my lecturers and my university professors, I would not have had half of the opportunities that I did, so I think that it’s important to see them as part of the labor movement and to elevate their struggle, as any other worker.”

Many union members indicated that their unions are planning future strikes, and they intend to continue withholding their labor until they see significant changes.

“We call upon UC to reset their jumbled priorities and redirect back towards their mission statement, which is ‘to deliver exceptional care that improves the health and well-being of all people in California, the nation, and the world,’” Ma said. “So, I am prepared to strike as many times as it takes to ensure our patients receive the exceptional care that UC promises to deliver.”

This is an ongoing story. The UCSD Guardian will continue to cover UPTE-CWA 9119 and AFSCME 3299 strikes.

The tech layoff wave is still kicking in 2025. Last year saw more than 150,000 job cuts across 549 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. So far this year, more than 22,000 workers have been the victim of reductions across the tech industry, with a staggering 16,084 cuts taking place in February alone.

We’re tracking layoffs in the tech industry in 2025 so you can see the trajectory of the cutbacks and understand the impact on innovation across all types of companies. As businesses continue to embrace AI and automation, this tracker serves as a reminder of the human impact of layoffs — and what could be at stake with increased innovation.

Below you’ll find a comprehensive list of all the known tech layoffs that have occurred in 2025, which will be updated regularly. If you have a tip on a layoff, contact us here. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact us here.

June

Intel

Says that it plans to lay off 15% to 20% of workers in its Intel Foundry division starting in July. Intel Foundry designs, manufactures, and packages semiconductors for external clients. Intel’s total workforce was 108,900 people as of December 2024, according to the company’s annual regulatory filing.

Playtika

Announced that it is letting go of around 90 employees, with 40 in Israel and 50 in Poland. The most recent round of job cuts comes after the Israel-based gaming company laid off 50 employees a few weeks ago.

Airtime

Has let go of around 25 employees from the 58-person team, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Evernote’s founder Phil Libin launched the video startup in 2020, offering Airtime Creator and Airtime Camera.

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Microsoft

Is laying off more employees, just a few weeks after announcing a job cut of over 6,500 in May, which was around 3% of its global workforce. The most recent layoffs affected software engineers, product managers, technical program managers, marketers, and legal counsels.

May

Hims & Hers

Plans to downsize its workforce by letting go of 68 employees, approximately 4% of its total staff, per Reuters. The San Francisco telehealth platform said that its layoffs were unrelated to a U.S. ban on producing large quantities of the weight-loss drug Wegovy. The startup said it intends to keep on recruiting employees who fit in with its long-term expansion plans.

Amazon

Is reportedly laying off around 100 employees from its devices and services division, which encompasses various businesses like the Alexa voice assistant, Echo smart speakers, Ring video doorbells, and Zoox robotaxis. The company has reduced its workforce by approximately 27,000 since the start of 2022 to cut costs.

Microsoft

Will cut over 6,500 jobs, affecting 3% of its worldwide workforce. As of June, the Seattle-headquartered company had a total of 228,000 employees globally. It would be one of the company’s biggest layoffs since it cut 10,000 employees in 2023.

Chegg

Reportedly plans to let go of 248 employees, or about 22% of its workforce, to reduce expenses and improve efficiency, it said. The San Francisco-based edtech startup, which offers textbook rentals and tutoring services, has seen a drop in web traffic for months as students opt for AI tools instead of traditional edtech platforms.

Match

Is reducing its workforce by 13% as part of a reorganization that aims to reduce costs, shore up margins, and streamline its organizational structure.

CrowdStrike

Is laying off 5% of its global workforce, or around 500 people. The company said the layoffs were part of “a strategic plan (the ‘Plan’) to evolve its operations to yield greater efficiencies as the Company continues to scale its business with focus and discipline to meet its goal of $10 billion in ending [Annual Recurring Revenue]” in its 8-K filing.

General Fusion

Has cut roughly 25% of its current workforce. The Vancouver-based company, which is developing a technology to generate fusion energy, has raised $440 million from investors, including Jeff Bezos, Temasek, and BDC Capital.

Deep Instinct

Reduced its headcount by 20 employees, accounting for 10% of its total workforce. In April 2023, the Israeli cybersecurity startup had previously laid off a similar number of employees during a round of layoffs.

Beam

Has shut down its operations months after announcing major expansion plans, per Sifted. The British climate startup has let go of approximately 200 employees, according to a LinkedIn post by James Reynolds, the head of talent.

April

NetApp

Is reportedly eliminating 700 jobs, affecting 6% of its total workforce, as it reorganizes for its operational efficiency. The company, based in San Francisco, provides data storage, cloud services, and CloudOps solutions for businesses.

Electronic Arts

Is reportedly letting go of approximately 300 to 400 employees, including around 100 at Respawn Entertainment, to focus on its “long-term strategic priorities,” according to Bloomberg.

Expedia

Is laying off around 3% of its employees as part of its restructuring. The job cuts will mainly affect midlevel positions in the product and technology teams. The latest round of layoffs comes after the company let go of hundreds of employees from its marketing team globally in early March.

Cars24

Has reduced its workforce by about 200 employees in its product and technology divisions as part of a restructuring measure. The India-based e-commerce platform for pre-owned vehicles provides a range of services like buying and selling pre-owned cars, financing, insurance, driver-on-demand, and more. In 2023, the SoftBank-backed startup raised $450 million at a valuation of $3.3 billion.

Is letting go of over 100 employees in its Reality Labs division, which manages virtual reality and wearable technology, according to The Verge. The job cuts affect employees developing VR experiences for Meta’s Quest headsets and staff working on hardware operations to streamline similar work between the two teams.

Intel

Announced its plan to lay off more than 21,000 employees, or roughly 20% of its workforce, in April. The move comes ahead of Intel’s Q1 earnings call helmed by recently appointed CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took over from longtime chief Pat Gelsinger last year.

GM

Is laying off 200 people at its Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck facility in Michigan, which produces GM’s electric vehicles. The cuts come amid the EV slowdown and is not caused by tariffs, according to a report.

Zopper

Has reportedly let go of around 100 employees since the start of 2025. Earlier this week, about 50 employees from the tech and product teams were let go in the latest round of job cuts. The India-based insurtech startup has raised a total of $125 million to date.

Turo

Will reduce its workforce by 150 positions following its decision not to proceed with its IPO, per Bloomberg. The San Francisco-based car rental startup, which had about 1,000 staff in 2024, said the layoffs will bolster its long-term growth plans during economic uncertainty.

GupShup

Laid off roughly 200 employees to improve efficiency and profitability. It’s the startup’s second round of layoffs in five months, following the job cuts of around 300 employees in December. The conversational AI company, backed by Tiger Global and Fidelity, was last valued at $1.4 billion in 2021. The startup is based in San Francisco and operates in India.

Forto

Has reportedly eliminated 200 jobs, affecting around one-third of its employees. The German logistics startup reduced a significant number of sales staff.

Wicresoft

Will stop its operations in China, affecting around 2,000 employees. The move came after Microsoft decided to end outsourcing after-sales support to Wicresoft amid increasing trade tensions. Wicresoft, Microsoft’s first joint venture in China, was founded in 2022 and operates in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. It has over 10,000 employees.

Five9

Plans to cut 123 jobs, affecting about 4% of its workforce, according to a report by MarketWatch. The software company prioritizes key strategic areas like artificial intelligence for profitable growth.

Google

Has laid off hundreds of employees in its platforms and devices division, which covers Android, Pixel phones, the Chrome browser, and more, according to The Information.

Microsoft

Is contemplating additional layoffs that could happen by May, Business Insider reported, citing anonymous sources. The company is said to be discussing reducing the number of middle managers and non-coders in a bid to increase the ratio of programmers to product managers.

Automattic

The WordPress.com developer is laying off 16% of its workforce across departments. Before the layoffs, the company’s website showed it had 1,744 employees, so more than 270 staff may have been laid off.

Canva

Has let go of 10 to 12 technical writers approximately nine months after telling its employees to use generative AI tools wherever possible. The company, which had around 5,500 staff in 2024, was valued at $26 billion after a secondary stock sale in 2024.

March

Northvolt

Has laid off 2,800 employees, affecting 62% of its total staff. The layoffs come weeks after the embattled Swedish battery maker filed for bankruptcy.

Block

Let go of 931 employees, around 8% of its workforce, as part of a reorganization, according to an internal email seen by TechCrunch. Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and CEO of the fintech company, wrote in the email that the layoffs were not for financial reasons or to replace workers with AI.

Brightcove

Has laid off 198 employees, who make up about two-thirds of its U.S. workforce, per a media report. The layoff comes a month after the company was acquired by Bending Spoons, an Italian app developer, for $233 million. Brightcove had 600 employees worldwide, with 300 in the U.S., as of December 2023.

Acxiom

Has reportedly laid off 130 employees, or 3.5% of its total workforce of 3,700 people. Acxiom is owned by IPG, and the news comes just a day after IPG and Omnicom Group shareholders approved the companies’ potential merger.

Sequoia Capital

Plans to close its office in Washington, D.C., and let go of its policy team there by the end of March, TechCrunch has confirmed. Sequoia opened its Washington office five years ago to deepen its relationship with policymakers. Three full-time employees are expected to be affected, per Forbes.

Siemens

Announced plans to let go of approximately 5,600 jobs globally in its automation and electric-vehicle charging businesses as part of efforts to improve competitiveness.

HelloFresh

Is reportedly laying off 273 employees, closing its distribution center in Grand Prairie, Texas, and consolidating to another site in Irving to manage the volume in the region.

Otorio

Has cut 45 employees, more than half of its workforce, after being acquired by cybersecurity company Armis for $120 million in March.

ActiveFence

Will reportedly reduce 22 employees, representing 7% of its workforce. Most of those affected are based in Israel as the company undergoes a streamlining process. The New York- and Tel Aviv-headquartered cybersecurity firm has raised $100 million at a valuation of about $500 million in 2021.

D-ID

Will cut 22 jobs, affecting nearly a quarter of its total workforce, following the announcement of the AI startup’s strategic partnership with Microsoft.

NASA

Announced it will be shutting down several of its offices in accordance with Elon Musk’s DOGE, including its Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy and the DEI branch in the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity.

Zonar Systems

Has reportedly laid off some staff, according to LinkedIn posts from ex-employees. The company has not confirmed the layoffs, and it is currently unknown how many workers were affected.

Wayfair

Announced plans to let go of 340 employees in its technology division as part of a new restructuring effort.

HPE

Will cut 2,500 employees, or 5% of its total staff, in response to its shares sliding 19% in the first fiscal quarter.

TikTok

Will cut up to 300 workers in Dublin, accounting for roughly 10% of the company’s workforce in Ireland.

LiveRamp

Announced it will lay off 65 employees, affecting 5% of its total workforce.

Ola Electric

Is reportedly set to lay off over 1,000 employees and contractors in a cost-cutting effort. It’s the second round of cuts for the company in just five months.

Rec Room

Reduced its total headcount by 16% as the gaming startup shifts its focus to be “scrappier” and “more efficient.”

ANS Commerce

Was shut down just three years after it was acquired by Flipkart. It is currently unknown how many employees were affected.

February

HP

Will cut up to 2,000 jobs as part of its “Future Now” restructuring plan that hopes to save the company $300 million before the end of its fiscal year.

GrubHub

Announced 500 job cuts after it was sold to Wonder Group for $650 million. The number of cuts affected more than 20% of its previous workforce.

Autodesk

Announced plans to lay off 1,350 employees, affecting 9% of its total workforce, in an attempt to reshape its GTM model. The company is also making reductions in its facilities, though it does not plan to close any offices.

Google

Is planning to cut employees in its People Operations and cloud organizations teams in a new reorganization effort. The company is offering a voluntary exit program to U.S.-based People Operations employees.

Nautilus

Reduced its headcount by 25 employees, accounting for 16% of its total workforce. The company is planning to release a commercial version of its proteome analysis platform in 2026.

eBay

Will reportedly cut a few dozen employees in Israel, potentially affecting 10% of its 250-person workforce in the country.

Starbucks

Cut 1,100 jobs in a reorganizing effort that affected its tech workers. The coffee chain will now outsource some tech work to third-party employees.

Laid off dozens of employees over the last few weeks, including around 10% of staff in one day, after failing to meet its sales growth targets. The “headless commerce” platform raised money at a $1.9 billion valuation just a few years ago.

Dayforce

Will cut roughly 5% of its current workforce in a new efficiency drive to increase profitability and growth.

Expedia

Laid off more employees in a new effort to cut costs, though the total number is unknown. Last year, the travel giant cut about 1,500 roles in its Product & Technology division.

Skybox Security

Has ceased operations and has laid off its employees after selling its business and technology to Israeli cybersecurity company Tufin. The cuts affect roughly 300 people.

HerMD

Is shutting down its operations amid “ongoing challenges in healthcare.” It’s unclear the number of employees affected. In 2023, the women’s healthcare startup raised $18 million to fund its expansion.

Zendesk

Cut 51 jobs in its San Francisco headquarters, according to state filings with the Employment Development Department. The SaaS startup previously reduced its headcount by 8% in 2023.

Vendease

Has cut 120 employees, affecting 44% of its total staff. It’s the Y Combinator-backed Nigerian startup’s second layoff round in just five months.

Logically

Reportedly laid off dozens of employees as part of a new cost-cutting effort that aims to ensure “long-term success” in the startup’s mission to curb misinformation online.

Blue Origin

Will lay off about 10% of its workforce, affecting more than 1,000 employees. According to an email to staff obtained by CNN, the cuts will largely have an impact on positions in engineering and program management.

Redfin

Announced in an SEC filing that it will cut around 450 positions between February and July 2025, with a complete restructuring set to be completed in the fall, following its new partnership with Zillow.

Sophos

Is laying off 6% of its total workforce, the cybersecurity firm confirmed to TechCrunch. The cuts come less than two weeks after Sophos acquired Secureworks for $859 million.

Zepz

Will cut nearly 200 employees as it introduces redundancy measures and closes down its operations in Poland and Kenya.

Unity

Reportedly conducted another round of layoffs. It’s unknown how many employees were affected.

JustWorks

Cut nearly 200 employees, CEO Mike Seckler announced in a note to employees, citing “potential adverse events” like a recession or rising interest rates.

Bird

Cut 120 jobs, affecting roughly one-third of its total workforce, TechCrunch exclusively learned. The move comes just a year after the Dutch startup cut 90 employees following its rebrand.

Sprinklr

Laid off about 500 employees, affecting 15% of its workforce, citing poor business performance. The new cuts follow two earlier layoff rounds for the company that affected roughly 200 employees.

Sonos

Reportedly let go of approximately 200 employees, according to The Verge. The company previously cut 100 employees as part of a layoff round in August 2024.

Workday

Laid off 1,750 employees, as originally reported by Bloomberg and confirmed independently by TechCrunch. The cuts affect roughly 8.5% of the enterprise HR platform’s total headcount.

Okta

Laid off 180 employees, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The cuts come just over one year after the access and identity management giant let go of 400 workers.

Cruise

Is laying off 50% of its workforce, including CEO Marc Whitten and several other top executives, as it prepares to shut down operations. What remains of the autonomous vehicle company will move under General Motors.

Salesforce

Is reportedly eliminating more than 1,000 jobs. The cuts come as the giant is actively recruiting and hiring workers to sell new AI products.

January

Cushion

Has shut down operations, CEO Paul Kesserwani announced on LinkedIn. The fintech startup’s post-money valuation in 2022 was $82.4 million, according to PitchBook.

Placer.ai

Laid off 150 employees based in the U.S., affecting roughly 18% of its total workforce, in an effort to reach profitability.

Amazon

Laid off dozens of workers in its communications department in order to help the company “move faster, increase ownership, strengthen our culture, and bring teams closer to customers.”

Stripe

Is laying off 300 people, according to a leaked memo reported by Business Insider. However, according to the memo, the fintech giant is planning to grow its total headcount by 17%.

Textio

Laid off 15 employees as the augmented writing startup undergoes a restructuring effort.

Pocket FM

Is cutting 75 employees in an effort to “ensure the long-term sustainability and success” of the company. The audio company last cut 200 writers in July 2024 months after partnering with ElevenLabs.

Aurora Solar

Is planning to cut 58 employees in response to an “ongoing macroeconomic challenges and continued uncertainty in the solar industry.”

Meta

Announced in an internal memo that it will cut 5% of its staff targeting “low performers” as the company prepares for “an intense year.” As of its latest quarterly report, Meta currently has more than 72,000 employees.

Wayfair

Will cut up to 730 jobs, affecting 3% of its total workforce, as it plans to exit operations in Germany and focus on physical retailers.

Pandion

Is shutting down its operations, affecting 63 employees. The delivery startup said employees will be paid through January 15 without severance.

Icon

Is laying off 114 employees as part of a team realignment, per a new WARN notice filing, focusing its efforts on a robotic printing system.

Altruist

Eliminated 37 jobs, affecting roughly 10% of its total workforce, even as the company pursues “aggressive” hiring.

Aqua Security

Is cutting dozens of employees across its global markets as part of a strategic reorganization to increase profitability.

SolarEdge Technologies

Plans to lay off 400 employees globally. It’s the company’s fourth layoff round since January 2024 as the solar industry as a whole faces a downturn.

Level

The fintech startup, founded in 2018, abruptly shut down earlier this year. Per an email from CEO Paul Aaron, the closure follows an unsuccessful attempt to find a buyer, though Employer.com has a new offer under consideration to acquire the company post-shutdown.

This list updates regularly.

On April 24, 2025, we corrected the number of layoffs that happened in March.

Google on May 6 laid off at least 200 people in sales and partnerships roles across its global business unit, according to a report by The Information, citing sources.

The report was also carried by Reuters, who in a statement from the company reported that Google is “making small number of changes across teams”, which are aimed at increased collaboration and customer service.

Notably, Silicon Valley tech giants are increasingly prioritising development of artificial intelligence (AI) and allocation for data centres that run their AI tools, while scaling back on other investments, the Reuters report added.

Google Layoffs: Android, Chrome, Pixel Employees Axed Last month, on April 10, Google laid off hundreds of employees working in its platforms and devices division, which includes work on Android OS, Chrome browser, and Pixel phones, sources told The Information. On April 15, Business Standard reported that these jobs included some roles at Google’s Bengaluru and Hyderabad offices.

The sources cited in the report also claimed that Google plans to cut jobs in India across advertisement, marketing and sales.

In a statement to The Information, a Google spokesperson said: “Since combining the Platforms and Devices teams last year, we’ve focused on becoming more nimble and operating more effectively and this included making some job reductions in addition to the voluntary exit program that we offered in January.”

Tech Layoffs: Hundreds of thosands of jobs cut since 2023 Since January 2023, Google has laid off at least 12,000 employees, or 6 per cent of its global workforce. This was announced by parent company Alphabet. As of December 2024, the tech giant had 1,83.323 employees, the report said.

Alphabet is not alone. In January 2025, Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook parent company Meta Platforms cut 5 per cent employees, it said were the “lowest performers”, it added. The company also announced increased hiring of machine learning engineers.

In September 2024, Microsoft gave pink slips to 650 Xbox employees, while Apple cut 100 jobs, and Amazon laid off whole units last year, the Reuters report added.

It’s done.

At yet another packed, raucous board meeting on Thursday night, Grossmont Union High School District Trustees voted to approve the layoffs that have for months roiled the community.

District officials have argued the layoffs were necessary to ensure the long-term fiscal health of the district, which is projecting a multi-million-dollar deficit over three years.

Reading from a statement sent to the community earlier in the day, Interim Superintendent Sandra Huezo said, “Adopting these resolutions will help address real, long- term structural issues, including projected structural deficits, warnings from the state of future budget shortfalls and the fact that we have over 200 more full time equivalent positions than in 2017-2018, even as enrollment has declined.”

Community members on the other hand have forcefully, and emotionally, pushed back against the plan, arguing that the scale of the cuts don’t match the deficit and that the district could turn to its sizable reserves to make up the difference.

“I think it’s been established that there are other motives than saving money, and I think it’s only fair to ask, what is that? What is the vision? What’s the direction? I’m on the board and I don’t know what it is,” Trustee Chris Fite said during the meeting.

A four-seat majority of Grossmont’s board has made no secret of its support of the layoff plan, so attendees knew which way the wind was blowing. Thursday was a last-ditch effort to change the board’s mind.

The scene in front of Grossmont High School’s theater before the vote was closer to a carnival than the lead up to a school board meeting. A dozen students from Grossmont High School’s dance team performed choreographed dances as speakers blared music. Hundreds of community members packed the space in front of the theater.

There was a nervous energy, even to the dancing. For the students on Grossmont’s team, the cuts were personal – their dance teacher Caryn Ipapo-Glass was one of the staff members slated to get a pink slip. The handful that spoke during public comment made as much clear.

“It’s like a funeral right now in the arts program,” Grossmont High sophomore Toby Mishler said.

Fite, consistently the board’s lone holdout on the move, tried to amend the layoffs out of the layoff resolutions, at one point inquiring if student Trustee Maggie Kelly was allowed to second his motion. Maggie Kelly, similarly, requested to cast a preferential vote on the issue. Both attempts were shot down.

Ultimately, the board approved the elimination by a four-to-one vote to a soundtrack of jeers, boos and pledges to recall members. The 61 positions impacted include teachers, counselors and librarians.

The decision seemed to let all of the anxious air out of the room. As the board called a 30-minute recess, many of the hundreds of attendees filed out of the theater, leaving only a few dozen community members, staff and students scattered about.

Maggie Kelly walked to the front of the stage and embraced a group of friends, her face bright red and streaked with tears. After returning to the podium for a moment, she stood up and walked out, boycotting the rest of the meeting.

Hobbs’ New Settlement

By 10 p.m., much of the crowd that attended the meeting had left. It was then the board announced they’d be retreating to a closed session. They didn’t return for about 40 minutes.

When the meeting was gaveled back into session, only Fite and Board President Gary Woods returned to the stage. Woods, haltingly, announced that in closed session the board had unanimously approved a settlement agreement.

The agreement stipulated that a district employee would resign as of June 30 and receive one year of severance, totaling $186,500. The agenda item didn’t, however, clarify who the settlement was for. But Jerry Hobbs, Grossmont’s chief of staff, whose return to the district has raised eyebrows and sparked concerns of a conflict of interest, did.

It was for him.

The day before the vote, Voice published a piece exploring Hobbs’ windy road back to the district. In 2018, Hobbs resigned from his position as a special education teacher at Grossmont while under investigation, though the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing ultimately closed its investigation into him without disciplining him.

Years later, Hobbs found work as a paralegal at the firm JW Howard Attorneys, which was subsequently hired by the district to conduct an internal investigation into his former boss at Grossmont who launched the 2018 investigation into him. Hobbs worked as a researcher on this investigation.

That investigation concluded that his former supervisor had engaged in retaliation against two dozen district employees, including Hobbs. So, the firm assigned Hobbs to craft a settlement that would clear his name and, importantly, allow him to be rehired at Grossmont.

That’s exactly what he did, and in December, the board approved the settlement. The next month, the district hired him in an administrative role. He was promoted to chief of staff a month later.

But in a leaked memo obtained by Voice, an attorney at the law firm suggested he deceptively altered that settlement without their knowledge, adding a stipulation that he receive tenure if the district rehired him. That language, the memo argues, may actually be illegal. Hobbs has strenuously denied that allegation, saying it was his understanding everyone had seen the addition.

The latest settlement, which Hobbs said was authored by the district and not him, nullified that tenure stipulation. Hobbs also said he’d signed the agreement.

In a text message, he wrote of the settlement, “There were no job performance issues at all. Absolutely NO allegations of misconduct. The position was distracting from the core mission of the district. The separation was amicable and fair.”

The jobs of more than 200 “team members” will be eliminated, officials at the health-care provider announced.

“On Monday, June 23, UC San Diego Health made the difficult decision to eliminate approximately 230 team member positions from across its clinics and hospitals.

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“The decision was made solely in response to mounting financial pressures caused by federal impacts to health care, regulatory uncertainty and rising costs of providing care combined with reimbursement rates from Medicare, Medicaid and insurers that fail to keep pace with the true cost of care,” the statement read, in part.

Officials said that about 230 positions were being cut, roughly 1.5% of its staff of more than 14,000 employees.

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It’s not known what, exactly, the terms of separation are for the affected workers, but the provider did say they “will receive all university benefits due to them through HR policies including transitional career support services.

Cuts to medical staffs are taking place around the nation, according to officials at UC San Diego Health.

NBC 7 reached out to UC San Diego for more information about the layoffs, including which departments were affected, and was told “we do not have any additional comment.”

UC San Diego’s statement is in full below:

On Monday, June 23, UC San Diego Health made the difficult decision to eliminate approximately 230 team member positions from across its clinics and hospitals.

The decision was made solely in response to mounting financial pressures caused by federal impacts to health care, regulatory uncertainty, and rising costs of providing care combined with reimbursement rates from Medicare, Medicaid, and insurers that fail to keep pace with the true cost of care.

UC San Diego Health is not alone. Reductions in personnel are being experienced by health systems across the nation. The reduction at UC San Diego Health represents approximately 1.5% of the total workforce.

Affected employees will receive all university benefits due to them through HR policies including transitional career support services.

We are grateful for the tremendous contributions of our affected employees, as well as the continued support of our extraordinary teams.

UC San Diego Health is proud of its long history of providing steady employment to tens of thousands of San Diegans. We continue to support an agile and resilient workforce of more than 14,000 team members who provide access to safe, reliable and high-quality patient care across the region.