TCO, LLC in Corbin to close, layoff employees in stages beginning this spring

TCO, LLC in Corbin will soon begin laying off its entire workforce as it prepares to close its doors.

TCO, located just off the Corbin Bypass in Knox County, notified its employees earlier this month via a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letter dated Jan. 11. In the letter, TCO stated that the closure is “due to a restructuring and consolidation of sites within the ams-OSRAM group,” in which the company’s contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of 2023.

Employees will begin being terminated at “some undetermined time” between Apr. 1 and Dec. 31 of this year and the layoffs are expected to come in a number of stages, depending on the need for workers. The closure is expected to affect 212 employees.

“TCO does not recognize strict seniority rights but may take seniority into consideration as a factor in determining which employees to terminate and the timing of each employee’s termination. Seniority also will be considered as a factor in recalling employees, should TCO be successful in acquiring new contracts,” the letter reads. “However, seniority will be just one factor in these decisions, and other factors, such as business necessity, expertise, and past performance, also will be considered in making these decisions.”

According to the letter, TCO does not offer severance packages, though the company is offering retention bonuses for employees who do not leave before their position is eliminated.

The letter also stated that the company is making “every effort to acquire a contract with other businesses,” but noted that since the outcome of those efforts aren’t known, “no consideration of continued employment should be expected.”

The contract TCO has continued to work under has provided packing and distribution services to ams-OSRAM for the past 25 years.