BASF Corp., a chemical company, is laying off 53 employees as the company permanently closes two facilities later this year.
In a notice sent to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the company stated that all affected employees will begin separation on Dec. 31, with all separations accomplished by March 31, 2019.
The two Charlotte facilities facing layoffs are the BASF’s Care Chemicals facility and its paper and water chemicals business, which are laying off 27 and 26 workers, respectively.
The Care Chemicals facility deals with hygiene products.
The paper and water chemicals business will be combined with Solenis International LLC. All jobs at the Charlotte facility will either be eliminated or transferred to Solenis. The date of the first separation, Dec. 31, is the anticipated date of the closing with Solenis.
BASF notified the Department of Commerce of the upcoming layoffs in accordance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires companies to give a 60-day public notice of mass layoffs.
Employees at the Charlotte facilities will not be able to use seniority to bump employees at other facilities out of their positions. This is because they are not represented by a union.
According to BASF’s website, the German company creates chemicals for a sustainable future by combining economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility.
In addition to the lay offs in Charlotte, BASF operations in North Carolina have been in the news in recent months.
In early August, the News & Observer reported nearly 420 people who work in Research Triangle Park got a new set of bosses, thanks to a nearly $9 billion deal as BASF closed on a pair of previously announced acquisitions from Bayer AG that gave it control of Bayer’s seed and herbicide business.
BASF, which already employed about 1,000 people at its facility on Davis Drive, agreed to retain the permanent staff it inherited from Bayer for at least three years.
North Carolina has seen 10,794 employees laid off through WARN notices in 2018. North Carolina’s 2018 WARN summary can be found here.
