Walmart recently notified state employment officials in Texas and California that a total of over 2,000 people in those states could be let go as part of previously announced corporate job cuts, though the company anticipates the number to land in the hundreds.
The notices come after Walmart last week confirmed corporate layoffs, with Chief People Officer Donna Morris saying in a May 14 memo that business changes “will result in a reduction of several hundred campus roles.” Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications filed this week with Texas state employment officials indicate that up to 1,472 people who work two Dallas area Walmart sites may lose their jobs. Walmart filed similar notices with California officials last week that up to 568 people may be let go from their employment in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
Many of the 388 people who could be impacted at Walmart’s San Bruno, California, location work remotely from home, according to a memo submitted to the California Employment Development Department provided to Retail Dive. An additional 180 people work at Walmart in Sunnyvale under similar arrangements.
The facilities are not closing, Walmart said in its memo to California employment officials and “we do not expect all impacted associates to experience employment loss due to this event. In the interest of providing appropriate notice, however, we are doing so at this time. We anticipate that many impacted associates will relocate or continue employment in a new position within the company before the end of a paid transition period.”
Walmart employees assigned to the affected California offices who are unable or unwilling to relocate or don’t get another job with the company will be let go starting Aug. 9. The layoffs may continue into early next year.
In Texas, Walmart said it plans to close one facility entirely and part of another. A Dallas location employing 1,266 will close completely. Another in Carrollton will see the portion of the site that operated as a call center close on Aug. 9, with 206 people potentially impacted. The Texas-based workers may also get laid off starting in August if they can’t relocate or find another job with Walmart.
The WARN notice numbers reflect the maximum number of people “affected in some way by the changes, but we are working closely with individuals on their specific paths forward, which include in most cases a new opportunity with Walmart,” a spokesperson told Retail Dive in a Thursday email.
“To ensure full compliance with the WARN Act, we included the total number of associates whose employment may be impacted by these changes,” the spokesperson said. “The vast majority of our associates affected by these changes have an opportunity to stay with the company and relocate to one of our three main hubs (and those associates are included in the WARN numbers).”
Walmart earlier this month asked most of its associates who work remotely, or from Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto-based offices, to relocate. Many of those asked to move will work from the company’s corporate headquarters in Northwest Arkansas or in existing offices in the New York and San Franciso regions.
