Ameridial, an Ohio-based call center company with locations in Ohio and North Carolina, will permanently lay off approximately 160 employees at its Rutherford County location as of March 31, due to the loss of a major account.

The Spindale call center will retain 100 employees on a separate manufacturing contract.

Mike McCarthy, vice president of health care for Ameridial, confirmed the company lost a contract with a health insurance company moving the call center jobs to India.

“My heart breaks for any agent that’s impacted,” McCarthy said. “They’ve made decisions based on their best business interests and, unfortunately, it impacts us.”

Amerdial’s general manager flew down from Amerdial’s Canton, Ohio, headquarters to meet with employees on Jan. 9 and 10, giving them the news in person, the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce said.

McCarthy said Ameridial is looking for another health care client it could contract with since the 160 people being laid off are trained to take insurance calls and answer questions.

Rutherford County faced job cuts last year around this time. Last January, 200 people lost their jobs when Horsehead Corporation’s recycling plant closed.

Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce director Clark Poole remains optimistic more companies will come to the county, citing Everest Textile from Taiwan that is building a plant and will begin hiring in March.

“Over a three-year period, they will bring over 600 jobs,” Poole said.

Ameridial, founded in 1987, provides customer care services, which include customer surveys, market research, audits and thank you calls. The company serves organizations in the health care industry, satellite and wireless companies, non-profit organizations and direct response marketing companies.

Agents start between $10 and $11 an hour plus performance pay increases every six months for answering customer service calls. No selling is involved, and pay may be higher for evening and weekend work, the company said.

The notice was filed pursuant to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which must be filed 60 days in advance of a plant closing that affects more than 50 employees in a 30-day period or a mass layoff of at least 500 employees or between 50 to 499 employees if they make up at least one-third of the employer’s workforce.

All North Carolina filings under the WARN Act can be found here.