RTI International, the nonprofit research institute, announced plans to furlough more than 1,100 workers across the U.S. and lay off another 48 because of the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption to its in-person fieldwork operations.

The North Carolina Department of Commerce received the notice of the impending furloughs and layoffs on Friday per the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. This law requires employers to provide 60-day advance notice of closings or mass layoffs.

The WARN report shows that RTI International will temporarily lay off approximately 1,152 workers and permanently lay off 48 due to COVID-19. The furloughs and layoffs are effective Aug. 28, the report shows.

In an emailed statement to North Carolina Business News Wire, RTI International said the furloughs and layoffs would impact field data collectors. RTI’s fieldwork, which involves in-person surveys often inside residential homes, schools, and other places, had been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic out of concern for community public health, RTI temporarily suspended in-person field work for all Field Data Collectors in RTI’s Data Collection Staff business segment. Consequently, effective March 19, 2020 most Field Data Collectors were placed on a temporary unpaid leave of absence and some have worked reduced hours,” a spokesperson for RTI International wrote.

RTI noted that its field team operates as a remote workforce across the U.S. and not out of its Research Triangle Park headquarters or regional offices.

What’s more, the suspension and reduced hours for its in-person fieldwork in March was initially anticipated to be temporary, but considering the current circumstances, RTI states, “these measures are likely to extend beyond six months from the initial actions taken in March.” RTI added that it still expects these employment actions to be temporary.

“If the public health situation improves, employees may be able to resume work earlier,” according to the spokesperson.

At the time of this writing, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. rose above 5.46 million. In North Carolina, 146,000 cases have been confirmed.

In the statement, RTI includes that it discontinued the employment of a small set of field data collectors due to changing project needs on a particular project.

RTI International is an independent nonprofit research institute “dedicated to improving the human condition.” The nonprofit has staff nearly 6,000 across more than 75 countries, according to its website.