Expected Layoffs To Hit Eastern Panhandle Coast Guard Center

Layoffs are expected to affect 110 workers at a Coast Guard operations center in the Eastern Panhandle.

The layoffs would affect workers at Guidehouse Digital LLC, a Virginia-based consulting company headquartered in nearby McLean. They currently employ workers under contract with the Coast Guard center in Kearneysville.

The Operations Systems Center keeps track of Coast Guard data across four buildings in Jefferson County. It had 600 employees as of its opening in 2014.

According to a public notice provided to West Virginia WorkForce, the contract expires and layoffs are expected to happen March 31. The notice was sent Jan. 30, with employees being notified that day as well.

The notice says options could extend the contract through the end of June, but those options were not extended at the time the notice was sent. It also mentions the employees on the contract are non-union, and that they do not have bumping rights, which are granted to senior employees to replace workers with less seniority whose jobs had not been affected.

Guidehouse could not be reached for comment prior to this story’s publication.