Saturday, August 30, 2008 1:18 AM EDT
Severance packages announced by Garrity
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Flashlight company, which will be closing in March, has met with employees about their future
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 Garrity Industries in Ashaway will close its doors in March. HEATHER LADD / THE SUN |
ASHAWAY — A local flashlight manufacturer set to close this spring notified employees of its layoff procedures and severance package details this week.
Garrity Industries expects to close its 53-person plant on Chase Hill Road and 28-person facility in Madison, Conn. by March 31. Duracell, a subsidiary of Proctor & Gamble, purchased Garrity in 2006.
According to an employee question-and-answer packet dated Aug. 27 and obtained by The Sun, severance pay will be calculated based on an employee’s years of service through his or her termination date, and their base pay. Federal and state taxes are taken out of the check, which the statement says will be issued upon an employee’s termination date.
Workers are said to be notified 45 days in advance of their final day of work. The written notice will include detailed information about severance pay and benefits, according to the packet.
Two outplacement companies that are contracted with Proctor & Gamble — one for salaried-employees, and another for “nonexempt and hourly” workers — will host training sessions for laid-off workers beginning in September. Workshops will be offered in English and Spanish.
Employees are also eligible for a $5,000 reimbursement toward tuition costs at accredited colleges, trade and vocational schools for two years after their last day of work.
An unspecified number of employees will be offered jobs at other unnamed Duracell locations, according to Duracell spokesman Kurt Iverson.
Employees were notified of the local facility’s closing in July.
Garrity employee Carol Young of Westerly, who attended an employee meeting on Wednesday, said the first layoff round begins in September, followed by another in February. Remaining employees will be gone by March 31, she said.
A female worker standing outside the Chase Hill Road business by her car on Friday morning said that the company has been “helpful” by offering job training workshops. Another man, who declined to identify himself, interrupted her and ordered a reporter to leave the property. He referred the reporter to the company’s headquarters.
Iverson refused to offer details on Garrity’s timeline for laying off employees at the Ashaway facility, the severance package and other post-termination services — calling them “personnel issues.” He issued a company statement on the plant’s closure, which had already been provided to The Sun in July.
The statement says that “by consolidating operations to its Bethel, CT, headquarters the company plans to streamline processes and shared functions of this large and growing category.”
vgoff@thewesterlysun.com
Garrity Industries expects to close its 53-person plant on Chase Hill Road and 28-person facility in Madison, Conn. by March 31. Duracell, a subsidiary of Proctor & Gamble, purchased Garrity in 2006.
According to an employee question-and-answer packet dated Aug. 27 and obtained by The Sun, severance pay will be calculated based on an employee’s years of service through his or her termination date, and their base pay. Federal and state taxes are taken out of the check, which the statement says will be issued upon an employee’s termination date.
Workers are said to be notified 45 days in advance of their final day of work. The written notice will include detailed information about severance pay and benefits, according to the packet.
Two outplacement companies that are contracted with Proctor & Gamble — one for salaried-employees, and another for “nonexempt and hourly” workers — will host training sessions for laid-off workers beginning in September. Workshops will be offered in English and Spanish.
Employees are also eligible for a $5,000 reimbursement toward tuition costs at accredited colleges, trade and vocational schools for two years after their last day of work.
An unspecified number of employees will be offered jobs at other unnamed Duracell locations, according to Duracell spokesman Kurt Iverson.
Employees were notified of the local facility’s closing in July.
Garrity employee Carol Young of Westerly, who attended an employee meeting on Wednesday, said the first layoff round begins in September, followed by another in February. Remaining employees will be gone by March 31, she said.
A female worker standing outside the Chase Hill Road business by her car on Friday morning said that the company has been “helpful” by offering job training workshops. Another man, who declined to identify himself, interrupted her and ordered a reporter to leave the property. He referred the reporter to the company’s headquarters.
Iverson refused to offer details on Garrity’s timeline for laying off employees at the Ashaway facility, the severance package and other post-termination services — calling them “personnel issues.” He issued a company statement on the plant’s closure, which had already been provided to The Sun in July.
The statement says that “by consolidating operations to its Bethel, CT, headquarters the company plans to streamline processes and shared functions of this large and growing category.”
vgoff@thewesterlysun.com
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