AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT GENERAL DYNAMICS IT - CSRA

MAY 21, 2021 — 180 EMPLOYEES IN ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA.

According to a WARN notice filed by the company, it appears that 180 employees are scheduled to be laid off in Arlington, Virginia on May 28, 2021. No other information is available at this time.

AUGUST 15, 2018 — Original post…

Falls Church, Virginia-based General Dynamics Information Technology-CSRA has notified the Virginia Employment Commission that it will be laying off 101 employees on its Chesapeake campus in Chesapeake, Virginia. The company is keeping quiet about the nature of the layoffs and whether they are aimed at customer service representatives in the user-help call center or more senior technical people. Or it could be a matter of routine cost-cutting and restructuring for the CSRA acquisition. 

CSRA was formed a few years ago from a merger between the public sector portion of Computer Sciences Corporation and SRA [Systems Research and Applications] International Incorporated. The key concept was to affiliate with Amazon’s web services group to provide advanced cloud services to government organizations.

CSRA was purchased for approximately $9.7 billion to capitalize on government organizations replacing antiquated IT infrastructure with cloud services that can be centrally administered, protected, and distributed to users. 

In other news, CSRA, operating as a General Dynamics subsidiary, plans to lay off 75 employees at Fort Carson by Oct. 31 after losing the Army Warfighter Focus contract for military training. The GOOD NEWS, all employees are expected to be hired by the new contract administrator, Lockheed Martin. 

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT iPAYMENT

Westlake Village-based iPayment, a credit card services provider recently acquired by London, England-based Paysafe Group, a global payments provider, has announced the layoff of 30 employees in its Westlake Village headquarters. Possibly to eliminate redundancies between the two organizations. 

What makes this company  interesting is the tale of management malfeasance, sex, fraud, and lies that played out in court leading up to the Paysafe acquisition. Unusual for a company that routinely touted its security and safety in the financial services sector.

June 2018 -- iPayment, Inc. Executives Named Semifinalists for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award

"iPayment, Inc., a trusted provider of payment and processing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), announced that CEO and President, O.B. Rawls IV, and CFO, Robert Purcell, have been named semifinalists for Ernst & Young’s 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Greater Los Angeles area. This award recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellent success in areas such as financial performance, innovation, and commitment to their businesses and communities.

June 2018 - Paysafe completes acquisition of iPayment

"Paysafe emerges as a top five, non-bank, payment processor in the U.S.
Paysafe Group, a leading global payments provider, announces today that it has completed the acquisition of iPayment Holdings, Inc. (iPayment) which was signed on April 12, 2018."

"iPayment, a U.S. based provider of payment and processing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, generated processing volumes of over $25 billion in 2017 from more than 137,000 merchant customers across the country. Combined with Paysafe’s acquisition of MCPS last year, the acquisition establishes Paysafe as a top 5, non-bank, payment processor in the U.S."

August 2017 - The Association for Corporate Growth 101 is offering its first ACG 101 Meet the Innovators field trip.

"The first stop will be Aug. 24 at iPayment with its chief financial officer, Robert Purcell, and other C suite executives at iPayment's corporate headquarters in Westlake Village. Participants will get a quick tour, lunch, and opportunity to learn all about iPayment's culture and business growth plans."

August 2017 - "After watching his reputation get dragged through the dirt in a lurid, yearlong legal drama, a former CEO has scored an $11 million payday.
Carl Grimstad, the ousted chief executive of payment processor iPayment, landed the fat settlement after battling allegations that he looted half a million dollars from the company’s coffers to fund his wife’s shopping sprees — as well as his own alleged penchant for strip clubs and escorts. Grimstad will get a cash payment of $3 million and $4 million in preferred stock. He also will be retained as a special adviser to iPayment, earning $220,000 a month for the next 18 months, court documents show."

March 2017 - "The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two former executives at a credit card processing company with masterminding a fraudulent scheme to steal millions of dollars through phony expense reimbursements, inflated invoices, and other improper accounting tactics."

"The SEC’s complaint alleges that iPayment’s then-senior vice president of sales and marketing Nasir N. Shakouri and then-executive vice president and chief operating officer Robert S. Torino routinely reimbursed themselves for payments that were never actually made to third-party vendors using their personal credit cards. They also allegedly conspired with vendors to inflate invoices and receive kickbacks from the overpayments and claimed improper commissions and bonuses related to other corporate funds they improperly diverted in various ways." 

Are you wondering, Am I Next?

LAYOFFS CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE, ANYTIME

Pikeville Medical Center in Pikeville, Kentucky lays off 130 employees … 

The recently (January 2018) named Pikeville Medical Center CEO Donovan Blackburn announced the elimination of 130 employees: 30 of whom quit or were fired and 100 layoffs. Claiming the layoffs were the result of over-ambitious hiring based on faulty business projections, it was now necessary to readjust to compensate for approximately two years of losses. It is believed that with the staff reduction, the hospitable will be profitable in six months. According to Blackburn the hospital may still be overstaffed by another 130 employees. This setback did not deter Blackburn from announcing that the medical center is still planning to start a $27 million dollar expansion to their heart institute.

T. Rowe Price in Tampa, Florida lays off 150 employees ...

Baltimore, Ohio-based investment advisory firm T. Rowe Price has announced 150 employees will be laid off as they close their Tampa, Florida operations center. The remaining workers will be transitioned to other company facilities in Owings Mills, Maryland and Colorado Springs, Colorado with approximately 30 with existing client relationships being allowed to telecommute. Part of the reason for the closure of the centralized operations center is many customers are choosing to rely on the connectivity of their computers and phones and thus the need for employee interaction is greatly reduced. 

CEO William Stromberg said, “While our balance sheet has never been stronger and demand for our approach to active management remains robust, we also need to thoughtfully manage our resources in an increasingly competitive environment. Enhancing our operational efficiency so that we can continue investing in our strategic priorities will enable us to further improve the client experience and grow the business for years to come."

Norfolk, Virginia-based Movement Mortgage lays off 100 employees...

In a second round of layoffs (75 employees in February 2018), Movement Mortgage is laying off 100 workers (52 at the Norfolk operations center, 26 in Tempe, Arizona, 18 in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and 4 in Richmond, Virginia) in a cost containment effort to balance business and staff. 

There is no doubt that the mortgage industry has taken a hit when it comes to mortgage originations, and those left in the marketplace find themselves competing with digital platforms that allow borrowers to select from a much wider range of loan options without loan officer assistance. 

According to CEO Casey Crawford, “This year, we are growing slower than we expected. This is a challenge, not just at Movement, but across the entire mortgage industry. We believe our decision to adjust our operations is in the long-term best interest of our entire Movement community. We also stand by our teammates who are affected and will make sure they have access to the multiple resources as they take their next career steps. We are confident in our vision to be the leading purchase mortgage lender in every market we serve,” Crawford said. “We are actively recruiting loan officers to grow our sales force are committed to long-term growth in all of our operations campuses. We have many years of growth and significant impact in our future.”  

DJO Global lays off 70 employees ...

Vista, California-based DJO Global, a provider of orthopedic devices used for rehabilitation, pain management, and physical therapy is closing their Plainfield, Indiana facility and laying off 70 workers.

The company has no comment on the decision to close this particular facility. It appears that the company is operating at a net loss and that a multi-year cost containment initiative is underway. 

In March 2017, we announced that we had embarked on a series of business transformation projects to improve our liquidity and profitability and to improve our customers’ experiences.  During 2017, this business transformation initiative focused on delivering productivity improvements throughout the Company, including eliminating an estimated 7% to 10% of annualized cost across the Company by the end of 2018.   In connection with this effort, we established a team of senior managers to direct this effort and engaged third party experts to assist in the planning and implementation of a significant number of cost-reduction, efficiency and other optimization activities.  We believe that the costs of the outside experts, tools and related activities have been significantly offset by the cost savings realized from the implementation of these transformation plans.  As a part of this transformation initiative, we took action to improve our liquidity through significant cost reductions, efficiency improvements and other cash flow best practices; improved our organizational effectiveness through the optimization of current organizational structure and opportunities to outsource certain activities; optimized our procurement of direct and indirect materials and services; improved our manufacturing, distribution, and sales and sales operations planning; and improved our profitability associated with the mix of our customers and products.  Our transformation projects will continue through the end of 2018 as we shift our emphasis to improving revenue growth, including increasing our new product development and increasing our investment in our reimbursement business; improving customer experience, including improving service levels and implementing online order entry; and achieving operational excellence, including improving production procurement spend, enhancing our distribution center network, optimizing our overall facility footprint in North America and improving our overall liquidity.  

Are you asking yourself, Am I Next?