Republic Services says layoff notice contained errors, Pasco facility will stay open

A Phoenix-based trash hauler says a notice it filed with the Florida Department of Commerce earlier this month contained errors and “inaccurately alluded to” a Pasco County hauling hub permanently closing. 

National solid waste management company Republic Services sent a letter to both the Florida Department of Commerce and Pasco County Commission Chair Kathryn Starkey Oct. 15 stating that the company planned to lay off 72 employees working out of its Hudson, Pasco County, hauling facility. The letter is called a WARN notice; companies are required to alert state authorities of mass layoffs under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. 

Those employees will be facing layoffs, a spokesperson for Republic Services confirmed to the Business Observer. However the WARN notice was incorrect in stating the company will “permanently cease operations” at the Hudson facility, which is at 8608 Arcola Ave.

“We are not closing our Hudson hauling location,” Melissa Quillard, senior manager of external communications for Republic Services, says in an email to the Business Observer. “The WARN notice inaccurately alluded to the Hudson location closing." 

Representatives from Republic Services did not respond to questions regarding how the inaccurate WARN letter came to be sent to the state or what steps will be taken to correct it. As of 4 p.m. on Friday, the letter with the incorrect information was still on the state's department of commerce website.

Quillard says that while the employees affected by the layoff work out of the Hudson facility in Pasco County, they actually collect residential waste in Hernando County. 

In May, the Hernando County Commission elected not to renew its contract with Republic for residential garbage and recycling pickup. Instead, the county has hired Coastal Waste & Recycling on a seven-year contract that starts Jan. 1. 

“The staff reduction is tied directly to the Hernando County residential waste bid,” Quillard says. “We will continue to service commercial and industrial customers in Hernando County and residential, commercial and industrial customers in Pasco County out of the Hudson location.”

Quillard also says Republic has been in talks with Coastal Waste & Recycling about hiring “as many of our affected employees as possible” when they begin servicing the county Jan. 1. 

Layoffs are scheduled to begin Dec. 31 and could continue for a 14-day period, according to the WARN letter. Those affected include 55 drivers along with driving instructors, administrators, operations managers, logistics analysts and eight “residential helpers.”

Those employees are not represented by a union and do not have bumping rights, the letter says.