It's been a rough beginning of 2025 for lots of workers across industries.

U.S. employers announced as many as 172,017 job cuts in February, according to outplacement services firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. That's a 245% increase from January 2025's announced job cuts, the highest total for February since 2009 and the highest monthly total since July 2020.

The biggest cuts came from the federal government, where President Trump has aimed to shrink employment significantly. Challenger tracked 62,242 announced job cuts by the government altogether. Retail saw a total of 38,956 announced job cuts for the month and tech announced 14,554 cuts.

If you find yourself unexpectedly out of a job, here are a few steps experts recommend you take.

Forward all layoff communication to a personal email

To begin with, preserve interactions or communications regarding your layoff that happened over company email, Slack or other platforms.

"Any emails, evidence, correspondence you have about that," says Arick Fudali, partner and managing attorney of the Bloom Firm, "forward to your personal email. Take screenshots. Whatever you have to do to preserve that is important, because once you're gone from the company, you no longer have access to those emails."

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How quickly you cease to have access to your work accounts can vary. In some cases, you may lose the ability to log in immediately. In others, you may have until the end of day or week.

If there's other emails or data from work that you want to send to your personal accounts, remember that any company policies around proprietary information will still apply.

Government workers or those who work with confidential or sensitive materials "should be mindful not to violate any laws or company rules of confidentiality upon termination to avoid giving the employer any potential claims of their own against the employee," says Fudali.

Read severance agreements carefully before signing

Do not immediately agree to any of the terms presented in the layoff, Fudali recommends.  

"My best advice is, do not sign any severance agreements, do not sign any acknowledgement forms," says Fudali. Do not even reply to an email saying, "Confirmed," he says.

Especially when it comes to cases where the layoff may have been unlawful due to discrimination based on protected characteristics like race, sex or disability, or a violation of the WARN Act, this could result in you signing your rights away, he says.

Read through what the company is offering, read through your HR policy to make sure you know the company stance on layoffs, and do some research on laws around human and employment rights in your state. If you suspect or aren't sure if you've been unlawfully terminated, speak to an attorney, he says. Some offer free consultations.  

"Recently, I have noticed an unfortunate trend of employers using 'layoffs' as an excuse to terminate employees who should have a protected employment status," says Fudali. "This includes employees on protected leaves such as disability, bereavement or parental. I have even seen 'layoffs' as an excuse to terminate employees who have made protected complaints about sexual harassment, discrimination and whistleblower issues."

He adds that, "If you believe you are a victim of this tactic, it is important that you immediately remind your employer (in writing) of your protected status upon learning of the termination and to save all relevant documentation regarding your protected status or the protected complaints you may have made."

'Make sure your basic conditions' are met

Do what it takes to make sure you're in a comfortable position and the bases are covered as soon as you can.

File for unemployment if you qualify. Look into your eligibility for COBRA, which provides the ability to keep the health plan you had through your employer for a limited period of time, or health insurance plans on your state's marketplace.

Start looking for another job and reach out to your professional networks.

Regardless of whether or not you decide to take any follow-up action with regards to your layoff, "make sure your basic conditions and yourself are taken care of" first, says Daniela Urban, executive director of the Center for Workers' Rights.

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