WARWICK – Hooper Holmes Inc., doing business as Provant Health, filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice, or WARN, with the R.I. Department of Labor and Training last week, alerting the state that the company is laying off 92 workers and is closing.
The company, which sold substantially all of its assets for $27 million to Summit Health Inc., a subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics in August, did not indicate then if the acquisition would affect staffing levels in Warwick.
The layoffs are scheduled for Dec. 31, and it was indicated that the company is closing.
Hooper Holmes is headquartered in Olathe, Kan. Provant Health Solutions LLC merged with Hooper Holmes in May 2017. At the time, Hooper Holmes CEO Henry Dubois said the new entity was a “true merger of equals,” with expectations that the combination would “yield more benefits.” Hooper Holmes rebranded to do business as Provant Health in January 2018.
Hooper Holmes also filed a WARN notice for 99 workers in Kansas last week.
The company petitioned for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday, in order to facilitate a “rapid 363 sale process.” The 363 bankruptcy sale process allows a company to sell its assets to pay back creditors under the protection of a bankruptcy court.
At the time of the acquisition announcement, Quest Diagnostic said that as part of the agreement, effective Jan. 1, Quest will consider offering employment to employees of Provant Health and will hire all employees that accept Quest job offers, although it did not give any details beyond that statement.
Provant Health is expected to continue to operate its business and provide its services to meet customer obligations for the fourth quarter of 2018.
In other Rhode Island employment news, Nordstrom filed its WARN to the DLT and is expected to affect 181 workers with layoffs to take effect Jan 4.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. Email him at Bergenheim@PBN.com.
A previous version of the story incorrectly identified the division of Nordstrom that filed a WARN notification with the DLT.
