Verizon Wireless on Wednesday announced plans to close its Lincoln call center, as well as four others in the U.S.
Wednesday's announcement affects 3,200 Verizon employees nationwide, including 320 in Lincoln.
"We have made a very difficult but necessary business decision to close our call center in Lincoln and relocate those jobs to other Verizon customer service call centers," Meagan Dorsch, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman, said in an email.
Dorsch said the company has extra capacity at other locations, and "we are in effect putting more positions in each call center." The other call centers closing are Bangor, Maine, Rancho Cordova, California, Rochester, New York, and Wallingford, Connecticut.
The Lincoln call center at 4600 Innovation Drive, which is near Interstate 80 in northwest Lincoln, will remain open until March 24, and Dorsch said Lincoln employees will be given the opportunity to transfer to other locations. The company is offering a $500 travel stipend to employees who want to visit other centers and $10,000 in relocation assistance for those who transfer.
People are also reading…
She also said those who choose not to relocate will be offered assistance in finding a new job as well as a severance package.
Lincoln Chamber of Commerce President Wendy Birdsall said she was "very disappointed" about the closure but added she was optimistic about the job prospects for those affected.
"We've got 4,000 open jobs and a 3 percent unemployment rate," Birdsall said. "I feel prospects are good."
In a statement, Gov. Pete Ricketts offered the state's support to workers who will be out of a job.
“Losing a job is very stressful on a family," he said. "The Department of Labor and Economic Development are ready to assist Verizon’s impacted team members to make this transition as smooth as possible.â€
Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler was out of town Wednesday and unavailable for comment.
This marks the third time in four years that Verizon Wireless has closed call centers. In 2014, it closed five centers and consolidated seven others, cutting 5,200 jobs nationwide. In 2012, it closed three call centers and consolidated two others, cutting more than 3,000 jobs.
Verizon also announced last week that it was cutting jobs at its retail stores as growth in its wireless business slows.
The Lincoln call center opened in October 2007 with about 200 employees. Employment locally eventually grew to 600 people, but it never approached the target of 800 set by the company when it announced plans to come to Lincoln in December 2006.
At the time, local officials said they believed it was the largest-ever project in terms of jobs in the city's history.
Employees who contacted the Journal Star on Wednesday said company officials cited the inability to fill the Lincoln center with qualified applicants as a reason for shutting it down.
The call center handled both customer service and tech support.
Before coming to Lincoln, Verizon applied for state tax incentives, which at the time were estimated to be worth $8 to $12 million if the company met all requirements.
It's unknown how much it actually received, however. According to the Nebraska Department of Revenue, there are no tax incentive agreements currently in effect for Verizon Wireless.
Nebraska Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton said that could mean the company met all requirements and received all its tax credits, or it could mean the company never followed through with the agreement.