Saturday, January 08, 2022

USA
QVC to close fire-damaged facility, lay off 2,000 workers

Qurate Retail Group, the parent company of QVC, said it will close its distribution center that was damaged by fire last month. 
Photo courtesy of Rocky Mount Fire Department/Facebook

Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The home shopping channel QVC has told state officials it will close its North Carolina distribution center that was damaged in a fire last month as well as lay off the nearly 2,000 employees who work there.

In a Notice of Closure dated Dec. 29, Qurate Retail Group, the parent company of QVC, notified the North Carolina Department of Commerce that it will be "closing and ceasing" all operations at its Rocky Mount facility, and as a result it "plans to terminate the employment" of all 1,953 employees at the location.

WRAL was the first to report on the closure.

"Employees are expected to be separated from employment beginning on Feb. 1, 2022, with all separations accomplished by mid-2022," the letter said. "The separation dates of a small number of employees may occur after Feb. 1, 2022, in order to facilitate an orderly wind-down of operations."

All staff will be notified of the layoffs "as soon as reasonably practicable," it said.

The company said the 1.2 million-square-foot facility was being closed as a result of the fire, which erupted at the center in the early morning of Dec. 18, resulting in the death of 21-year-old Kevon Ricks.

On Dec. 28, Qurate said in an update that "while we haven't made any long-term decisions about the site, we already know the building will be closed for an extended period of time and there will not be work there for the team for the foreseeable future" with so-called shutdown pay to be given to employees until Feb. 1.

"We will provide career transition services to impacted team members," it said.

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