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Northern Nevada military contractor warns of layoffs

Updated December 2, 2020 - 4:44 pm

Two employers with operations in northern Nevada have filed layoff notices with the state.

DynCorp International, a private American military contractor, said it has not been awarded the new contract supporting the Naval Air Warfighting Development Center in Fallon. As a result, the company said more than 250 employees associated with the NAWDC contract will be laid off by the end of January.

In early January, the U.S. Navy awarded DynCorp International with a contract extension of $21.9 million. The center houses the famous “Top Gun” program. “Employment may end sooner based on direction from our customer the U.S. Navy,” the company said in its Nov. 30, 2020 letter to the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

Representatives for DynCorp did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

The notices were filed under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which is meant to ensure employees have notice before significant layoffs so they have time to find work elsewhere.

Sodexo, a food service provider, said its 65 employees at the University of Nevada, Reno, were placed on temporary layoff status in March and it will continue that status for more than six months.

“The temporary layoffs may continue through February 2021 based on modifications of the academic calendar resuming,” according to Sodexo’s Nov. 9, 2020 letter to DETR.

A spokesperson for Sodexo told the Review-Journal that “wherever possible,” the company reassigns staff to other open Sodexo sites like grocery stores or warehouses that need extra help.

“We are utilizing a limited number of our University of Nevada, Reno team members to support catering efforts at the school and sporting events. When COVID regulations permit larger numbers of people in gatherings, we anticipate all our team members will be able to return to work,” the spokesperson said.

The layoffs come as new jobless claims for state unemployment benefits held steady last week from the prior week. DETR said on Tuesday that 15,419 new claims had been filed for the Unemployment Insurance and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance programs.

Contact Jonathan Ng at jng@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ByJonathanNg on Twitter.

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