- March 25, 2026
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The first two-thirds of February were not kind to employees in Florida when it comes to layoffs: Through Feb. 19, 12 companies announced 1,479 local jobs would be cut.
According to Florida’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act database, the job cuts affected a wide swath of companies, ranging from health care firms to the Bahama Breeze restaurant chain to the Naples Grande Beach Resort.
While it has been a difficult month across Florida, the Tampa Bay region was hit particularly hard recently when in a manner eight days state and local governments were notified that four businesses in the region — DHL Supply Chain, TTEC, HCLTech and Clarifying — were ceasing operations locally, eliminating 461 positions.
Those followed the Feb. 5 announcement that Liberty Dental was cutting 95 jobs. A national dental insurance company, Liberty's announcement includes laying off 30 employees in Tampa as it moves to a third-party for operations.
The question now is, is what’s happened this month statewide or in Tampa Bay over several days a coincidence or a sign of things to come in 2026? Only time can provide that answer.
The layoffs in the region include:
DHL Supply Chain is closing a distribution center in Lakeland and laying off 203 employees.
It announced the closure and the job cuts in a Feb. 9 letter posted to the state’s WARN database Wednesday Feb. 11.
The job cuts will affect 166 laborers, 14 administrators and 23 in leadership positions.
In the federally mandated letter, the company says the facility, at 5360 Allen K. Breed Highway, will close in phases between April and December. Most employees, however, will be affected in April and then in June and July when “the work volume is significantly reduced.”
DHL did not share a reason for the closure in the letter.
DHL operated the distribution center for furniture retailer Ikea starting in 2018. Polk County property records show it paid $47.42 million for the 25.62-acre, 519,750-square-foot property at that time.
TTEC, a Colorado technology company, is laying off 57 employees in St. Petersburg who work on toll collection on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
The company announced the job cuts in letter to St. Petersburg Mayor Kenneth Welch, dated Feb. 13. It posted to the WARN database Feb. 16
The Florida Department of Transportation has announced that it is transitioning to all-electronic tolls to ease congestion on the iconic span that crosses Tampa Bay.
According to TTEC's letter, the company will cease operations at the north and south end of the bridge April 14. All but one of the employees — 47 toll collectors, eight supervisors and one custodian — will be laid off on that day. A senior supervisor will stay on until April 30.
HCLTech, based in India, notified state officials in a letter dated Feb. 17 that it was cutting 98 jobs at “a client worksite” in the city. According to the letter, which posted to the database Feb. 18, the site is at 1200 Bartow Road, building 302.
The company does not name the client and a spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
HCL, in its letter, says that the layoffs will begin April 20 and last through Nov. 15, with two service delivery leads staying on until next year.
As for those being laid off, the company says in the letter that they will be considered for other jobs in the company or with clients based on their expertise.
HCLTech employs 226,300 people across 60 countries.
Clarifying, a Clearwater insurance agency, is closing its corporate office and laying off 103 employees, including top level C-suite executives.
The company notified state and local officials of its intentions in a letter dated Feb. 18 and posted to the database Feb. 19.
The company says in the letter that Clarifying LLC and BizCare LLC, “are conducting a plant closure” of its corporate office at 18167 US Highway 19 N. in Clearwater. Layoffs are expected to begin April 19.
The two LLCs as well as the Clarifying Marketing Group all share the same Clearwater address, according to the state’s Division of Corporations database.
The list of employees affected ranges from top level executives to 21 life insurance agents and nine Medicare sales agents.
