Aerojet Rocketdyne to Leave Thousands Jobless (AJRD)

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 27, 2017 / Warnact.com reports that Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc.’s (NYSE: AJRD) Sacramento location will cut over 1,100 jobs over the next year and a half. The rocket engine maker plans to relocate or cut positions in that facility and move jobs to Alabama, Canoga Park and other locations. Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Sacramento location currently employs 1,400 people. After the job changes, that facility will house shared services for the entire company, including issues related to the supply chain, finance and human resources.

Eileen Drake, Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Chief Execuctive Officer, says that these changes are the next phase of a multiyear plan initiated in 2015 to reduce costs and increase operational efficiency, and that these changes will move “common work with common facilities.” As part of this plan, Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Gainesville, Va., engineering facility, will close next year, and about 170 jobs will either be eliminated or relocated to Huntsville or another facility in Virginia.

The Los Angeles Times tells us by the end of 2018, defense-related program management, engineering and related support positions in Sacramento will move to Huntsville, Ala., where the company’s defense business unit is based. Huntsville is also the final assembly site for Aerojet Rocketdyne’s new AR1 rocket engine. All Sacramento based jobs in specifically the space programs are moving to Canoga Park, where a space headquarters has been built, as the company plans to develop several different kinds of rocket engines.

It is reported that this multiyear plan is expected to save the company around $230 million per year, whereas the consolidations in Sacramento and Gainesville will save about $85 million.

The company’s CFO, Paul Lundstrom, has said that the company has not yet determined the exact number of jobs that would be moving to the various locations or be eliminated, but the employees who are laid off will receive a severance package.

According to the law firm of Levi & Korsinsky LLP, an employee advocacy firm, similar mass layoffs may result in employment law violations. For example, the WARN Act is a United States labor law that protects employees of businesses with 100 or more employees. If an employer conducts a plant closing or mass layoff affecting 50 or more employees, who constitute at least 33% of the employees at that site, or more than 500 employees, the employer must provide 60 days’ advance notification. Employees are therefore entitled to full pay and benefits during such period prior to layoff and may also be entitled to various other protections under the law.

Notably, several states have enacted their own “mini-WARN Acts” with generally more stringent requirements. With regards to this particular case, California has implemented the Cal-WARN Act, which applies to any private business with 75 or more full- or part-time employees who have been employed at the business for at least 6 of the 12 months preceding the date notice was required. Under the Cal-WARN Act, 60 days’ advance notice is required to be given by the employer when closing a plant, laying off a substantial number of employees, or relocating their business.

Levi & Korsinsky believes that Zenefits might have violated the WARN Act, and/or the Cal-WARN Act, and believe affected individuals may be entitled to back wages and benefits from the company.

The advance notice is intended to give employees and their families transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and to obtain other employment, and, if necessary, to enter skill training or retraining programs that will allow these workers to successfully compete in the job market. Oftentimes, employees don’t receive the benefits they are due or are otherwise harmed during the layoff process and may have recourse under the law.

For more information about the WARN Act and other employee rights, contact:

Levi
& Korsinsky, LLP
www.WARNact.com
877-363-5972

SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP

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